Baseball's Hall of Fame

Voting is a privilege not a right. 

A few voters in baseball need to remember or be reminded of that.

When the Hall of Fame ballots are finally all counted up and announced on Wednesday we should hear the names of Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine announced.  Both of these former Braves pitchers should be locks to make it on their first go around.  In the case of Maddux he should be a unanimous choice... He should be the first unanimous choice ever... however he won't be.  It has already been reported that at least one writer has left him off their ballot. 

Voting for awards, and not unlike speculating who will make a certain country's national hockey team can and will be very subjective.  One's person's list likely differs from the next, but only moderately. Can you imagine a Team Canada roster that does not include Sidney Crosby on it?  Probably not. Why? Common sense, he's the best player in the world how could he not be included? The same thing applies to Maddux? The greatest pitcher in his generation, over 300 wins, no suggestions of steroid abuse, just a great pitcher with great numbers, gold gloves, All-Star selections a World Series title and a professor like mentality every time he takes the ball on the mound. Sounds pretty much like Hall of Fame credentials doesn't it?  And yet he would not be unanimous decision because some fool decided he wanted to be the story he wanted the limelight.  In actuality he has brought shame and disrespect to the Hall of Fame the American Baseball Writers Association and himself.  For that he should have his vote taken away and anyone else who decide to use their position to make a silly statement and clearly not take this more seriously should lose their vote too.

This is not an open vote, this is a particular honor given because of his job title. You would like to see a media member, a journalist show some integrity when given an opportunity such as this. When they teach sports journalism one would think that the first lessons would be let the story be the story, don't you be the story. Be objective, be critical if it is warranted but be fair, be honest do not show a bias. 

Now as it relates to the Hall of Fame voting, if this is going to continue to happen reform needs to be made to either the voting process or the members who vote or the criteria required.  If some idiot who covers the Dodgers can make a mockery of the system he should lose his vote, Vin Scully does not even get a vote and I think most will admit he has probably forgot more about baseball that a lot of people know. Dan Shulman, the leading broadcaster on ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball, does not have a vote. You're giving guys way too much power who probably do not deserve it.  Ever seen or been in a newsroom before? There are usually a lot of people who are severely under qualified to be given this much responsibility. 

Each ballot should be reviewed upon completion by some sort of 'quality control' group or committee and any questionable ballots should be set aside and those who sent it in should be called in and ask to rationalize and defend their decisions, explain why they made the choice they made and if they can't do so that either revoke their right to vote and have the vote completely discounted and then lose their right to vote in the future or perhaps give them the opportunity, a second chance, as it were to make it right going forward.

The other issue in the Hall of Fame voting as to whether or not to allow players from the steroid era to be inducted.  This is an interesting dilemma because it also takes in not just numbers or even perception but also more only issues.  Does Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa or Rafael Palmero deserve to be in the Hall of Fame?  Based on what they do on the field the answer's yes. What they did off the field to make themselves better, that is a different question. There were no rules of the time or testing that prevented them from taking any questionable substances nor did they test positive.  It is naive to think that they were clean, but whose responsibility was it to ensure that they were.  Major League Baseball clearly turned a blind eye to the rampant drug use among their players.  The players association fought tooth and nail to keep drug testing it out of the game.  The baseball writers, the same ones that have the final vote of who is hall worthy did not do anything about it either.  If they are so ethical now and they suspected there was wrong doing at the time either should have done some investigatory journalism and exposed the players or the culture at that time.  They were writers during the steroid era, so by extension shouldn't be subjected to the same standards that they're holding the players to.  Because they were writers during the steroid era all their Hall of Fame votes should be discarded under the same cloud of suspicion and speculation, maybe 87% of the writers were `juicing too`.
Clearly a new system used to be put in place where there is a committee made up of baseball professionals former players and managers and executives something needs to be done.  It is sad when politics and greed and indeed for attention enter into sports and corrupts it. Leave politics to the politicians.


As a side note it is probably about time to open up the doors for Pete Rose.  Sure he is probably not a great guy but the hall is filled with probably not great guys.  But what he was able to do between the white lines is clearly Hall of Fame worthy.  You want him out of baseball, not be able to work in baseball that's fine keep him banned from the game, but a Hall of Fame without the all time hits leader just does not make sense. Not from a game that holds numbers in such high regards. You can have it both ways. 

Jones Joins The WNBA

From the files of " You Gots To Be Kidding Me"

Disgraced sprinter once called the world’s fastest woman was introduced Wednesday as the newest member of the WNBA’s Tulsa Shock. Marion Jones who once starred at the Sydney Olympics, winning gold in the 100 meters, 200 meters and 1,600-meter relay, and bronze in the long jump and 400-meter relay. Jones was stripped of all five medals after admitting in 2007 that she was using performance-enhancing drugs -- It was the same drug that has been linked to Barry Bonds and the whole BALCO fiasco. The drug in question is known as the "clear". In addition to that she spent about six months in prison for lying to federal prosecutors about doping and her role in a check-fraud scam. Now she is looking to "redeem" her career by joining the - and lets be gentle here, less then popular WNBA.

The WNBA is not well supported in the stands, on TV or for the most part even respected as a league by most media outlets. The only people who seem to care are those in the NBA who are financially linked to the league and have little choice but to try to make it look better then it is. The NBA is like a parent of a delinquent child but have to love them because they are family. I guess even the WNBA can jump the shark Fonzie style - If nothing else, Jones could be a draw.

Big Mac Himself, Who’d Of Thunk It?

Yesterday was the day that we all figured would come at some point, we just didn’t know when. Former Oakland A’s and St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire finally admitted in a phone call with the Associated Press and followed by an interview with Bob Costas that he had in fact done steroids as well as HGH on and off over the course of his career. SHOCKER. This was not news to anyone. He was always suspected to have been involved in performance enhancing drugs but never admitted it nor did he ever test positive for anything. It is like a girlfriend accusing you of cheating ‘I know you did it, just admit it, I know you did it, just admit it, It’l be ok if you just admit it ’. Then you admit it and they flip out and start yelling at you saying ‘I didn’t believe it until I heard it come from you!

I am not an apologist for what he did, but what he did was perhaps not ‘legal’ but it wasn’t banned either, it was more of a moral issue then anything else. Should that exclude him from the Hall of Fame? Some say yes, some say no. I think he should be in. If there is no policy to break how can you punish him for breaking a policy...he was never suspended either. The only thing that isn’t going to help his case is the fact that he didn’t acknowledge that his use didn’t make him better. His natural talent may have been great but there was still room for enhancement and he got that from the steroids and HGH. The only thing he did was play by the ‘rules’ that were there or not there at the time. I hate to think that the idea of "if you aren’t cheating you aren’t trying" or "it is only cheating if you get caught" is true but it is hard to dispute that fact.

It is easy to sit back and judge the decision that he made, but it wasn’t just him that made that decision. If you take a serious look at it, a professional athlete will do what they need to do to become better. There were no steroids in the 1950’s, because they were not available. You can bet that if they were and it would have made a difference players then would have been all over it. Stimulants are a great example of that. Cold medication, caffeine and other like products were rampant in baseball dugouts throughout the years. Those were also performance enhancing, just not as ‘immoral’ as ‘roids and HGH, but at that point you are just splitting hairs. We now are beginning to see that this was and epidemic throughout the sport for a long time and if baseball wanted to do something about it they would have and could have done so. Truth is, steroids were good for baseball and good for the sport. After the strike in 1994 baseball’s image was in the dumps and any growth that may have come to get the game back into the good graces with fans came in the form of the Sosa/McGwire home run race of 1998. That chase of Roger Maris’ 61 home runs brought people back to the sport. From there baseball has continued to grow and has reached record attendance over the years.

It is clear that money greatly influenced the position that baseball has taken in regards to performance enhancing drugs. Even as a casual fan you can see that something wasn’t right with these players and that they were getting help from an outside source. It helped them and it helped sell the game so to turn a blind eye clearly was an easy thing to do. If you are concerned about the records that the hitters put up, just think about doing that versus pitchers that were doing the same thing. The only real issue is how fair it was for the ‘clean’ player to compete with those that were juicing. My question to that is if so many were on the juice, why would you play clean. If there was no rule to break how could you be breaking a rule? It truly was an internal code of conduct that governed the players that played clean...not baseball.

McGwire's admittance had to be done. He is looking to become the hitting coach for the Cardinals and for that to happen he had to say something before spring training to defuse the situation. Now that he has at least come out and admitted that he used, perhaps we can move on from him and any speculation. It seems like every player that has come out and admitted or have been outed for PEDs has been, not necessarily forgiven but the anger towards them has been greatly reduced. Only the ones that have continued to say nothing or deny are the one that people are still bitter at (Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds). Others such as Andy Pettitte, A-Rod...even Manny who was suspended for 50 games only last season seems to be much more accepted.

It is also interesting to mention that this is really just a baseball, track and cycling issue. This happens just as often in football but it gets nearly no play in the media. A headline that states a player in the NFL has been banned 4 games for a substance violation. They do their time and then are back and not another mention is made about it. A double standard for sure but it is what it is. You want to see bigger, stronger, faster in football and the majority of fans would be more upset if players weren’t doing everything at their disposal to become even better. Maybe it is because baseball is seen as more a game of numbers and is held in a higher regard, who knows.

MAN-SHAM!

When they say that it is Just Manny Being Manny I don’t think this is what they had in mind.

In shocking news LA Dodgers outfielder Manny Ramirez has been suspended immediately for 50 games after testing positive for a banned performance-enhancing substance. Up until this point there was never a finger pointed toward Manny and his name was never in the forefront. Who would have thought that Manny would get suspended while ARod has not, despite much publicised reports of past use. Of all the players that could suffer the wrath of the performance-enhancing crackdown one would think that Manny and Albert Pujols would be the 2 biggest and most unlikely to become linked. There has not been much attention given to either of these two but at least in Manny’s case there is.

In the Steroid era I guess nothing should be surprising but I find this, for lack of a better term a little shocking just because Manny is such a pure hitter. I stress hitter, not power hitter. He has one of the best eyes in all of baseball, the most patients at the plate and probably the smoothest right handed swing of all time. Of all the superstars who may or may not be using one would have thought that Manny wouldn’t need it. I mean if he doesn’t have the same power numbers he is still going to be a dominant hitter. Why take the risk of killing your reputation. You are not going to make more money then you are already making. How big must your ego be to jeopardize your career and place as one of the games all time bests? Is it due to injury or rehab, perhaps but how could we ever know for sure.

You can be sure that Theo Epstein and the Boston Red Sox are glad to have Jason Bay in left and not Man-Ram. I don’t think he will be getting too much support in this matter from Beantown that’s for sure.

This only goes to prove that no one can be above suspicion and that the drug cloud is still looming over baseball.

I feel bad for those who actually do it right and do it clean...but I guess how do we know if there are any in the game that are, how can we not paint everyone with the same brush?

Gone Are The Days That The Sports Are The News

So yesterday was an interesting day in sports, but for the most part it wasn’t for on-field or on-ice issues. It is getting to the point when you are watching shows like SportsCenter or Sportsnet Connected where it takes 10 minutes of news before you get any highlights. It isn’t just the fact that it is news but it has little or no impact on the games but is more like an episode of E! Now or Extra or one of those gossip shows.

First there was the news that Jets QB Brett Favre has decided to call it a career...again. For this player who has had more speculation of "will he or won’t he" then Friends Ross and Rachel and an episode of The Young and the Restless combined. I think that maybe this one may stick just because this time he has a legitimate injury and even with the use of his trusty Bow Flex it will be difficult for him to make a recovery to get to the point where he is healthy enough to get back into game shape. It doesn’t hurt that there is little options for a banged up 40+ year old starting QB. In any event I will go ahead and set the over/under date before speculation starts up about a possible return at July 8.

Next there is the startling lawsuit brought against former Blue Jay great Roberto Alomar by an ex-girlfriend. A $15 million dollar civil suit. She claims that Alomar has AIDS, and insisted on having unprotected sex with her. This seems similar to the Trevis Smith situation in Regina for the former CFL player. Whether it was as predatory will be interesting to find out. But I guess we wait to see how it plays out. It is sad to hear on both a sports level / social level/ and a personal level, both for Alomar himself as well as the ex-girlfriend. Until more info comes to light we won’t know all the facts but whatever direction it takes it is an unpleasant situation. (Alomar was on time engaged to former French tennis star Mary Pierce who was born in Montreal)
What says Spring is coming like pitchers and catchers reporting, like they are to do this Friday to get the baseball season off and running? Well that isn’t this issue, again a couple off field issues that have taken that out of the headlines.

First it was Joe Torre’s book about his time managing the Yankees. Early quotes from the book made it sound like it was a tell all expose with things like -the players called ARod (Alex Rodriguez) A-Fraud and things of that nature. In actuality it wasn’t as bad as it first sounded but I don’t think that Torre is far enough removed, time wise to come out with a book. Thankfully for Joe his book has gone to the back burner after the SI revelation followed by the admission from ARod that he took performance enhancing drugs (possibly steroids and/or HGH) between 2001-2003. Some people have commended him for admitting use others criticize him for only kind of apologizing but still more ducking many questions. It is hard to give credit for telling the truth, something that you are supposed to do but it is more then many players before him. It was a no win situation for him in whatever he had said but at least he went a little further then Jason Giambi did when he apologized but never said what he was apologizing for. ARod had a blueprint on what to do after seeing how Clemens, McGuire, Palmero, Pettite, Tejada, et al.