36 Yankees.com
OPINION PAGE
BASEBALL
BUICK
Hall
of Fame and Steroid Chatter
FIRST OF ALL - CONGRESS - BUTT OUT! The nation is in crisis on several fronts. Serious, serious stuff. This is a figgin' game. Don't waste another penny of my tax dollars on baseball, you idiots. If there is something illegal going on contact the Justice Department. Stop politicizing a game. Don't you get it? You make me blow chunks!
OK, I am calm now. As a baseball fan I am calling out Baseball's "establishment" (Commissioner, Owners, Players Union, Baseball Writers, Hall Of Fame Members et al) on steroids and The Baseball Hall of Fame. Baseball acts too self-righteous for me when it comes to Baseball's Hall of Fame. I think the Hall should be given a new directive to base enshrinement on player accomplishments on the field, PERIOD. Drop the morality crap. Let God sort out the moral issues. Otherwise some current enshrinees need do-overs and need to be banished.
Nobody condones or thinks that using performing enhancing drugs (PED's) or that betting on baseball or throwing games is acceptable. But, you cannot re-write history. When bad things happen baseball needs to deal with it within the game, but the Hall of Fame and the voting baseball writers need to stop being asked to make moral judgments about players and start basing votes on player accomplishments. Let he who has not sinned cast the first stone.
When Richard Nixon resigned in shame we didn't strip him of being called a President, ban his name from history, referring to him only as the 37th President or remove his portrait from the White House. He was forced to resign and that was his punishment. But he was also punished by loss of reputation and loss of respect just as tainted ballplayers are for their actions.
Some fans think ballplayers need to be held to a higher standard because they are role models for our children, I say HEIFER DUST, toss my cookies. Those fans and others who believe such nonsense need to do some serious soul searching about who role models really are. Role models are Parents, Teachers, Clergy and the like, not ballplayers. Teach your children such.
Relax folks. Baseball is a "game" and the participants are not perfect.
It's time we separate the "Hall of Fame" from "The Hall of Morality" and end this hypocrisy. Or, as an alternative let's rename The Baseball Hall of Fame to "The Baseball Hall of Morality."
Where is the fine line? Separate baseball "the establishment" from The Baseball Hall of Fame "the guardian of baseball history" and a clear and distinct line is drawn.
The legal case against "Shoeless" Joe Jackson was thrown out of court. But Joe was banished for life anyway. So be it. Baseball prodded and goaded Pete Rose to admit to betting on baseball. When Pete did admit betting on baseball they didn't forgive him and they didn't put him in the Hall of Fame. They use his contrition to justify keeping him out of the Hall of Fame.
Baseball made a sucker out of Pete Rose. Hypocrites. Where is the incentive for being honest and admitting a mistake? Admitting a mistake was the single most valuable and lesson I learned from my Parents. And where is the forgiveness? What kind of lesson is that for our children? Huh? Earl.
A-Rod admits PED use and baseball is talking about keeping him out of the Hall. Fact -steroids have been used in all sports since the 1970's.
And Bud Selig is thinking about declaring Henry Aaron the "Home Run King" again if Barry Bonds is found guilty. You can't be serious! Barry Bonds holds the record and that no one can change that even if it's not very palatable to many. You had ample chances to address that issue while Barry Bonds was playing Mr. Selig and you chose not to ($$$). It's a very slippery slope to start changing statistics and facts. I just want to Ralph in the China Sea.
Baseball "the game" is about statistics, it's about seasons, it's about winning and losing teams, it's about league leaders, great plays, great players, rooting for teams and players, it's about the history of the game. When baseball glosses over those things in favor of being morality's keeper of the flame it is not a game worth following anymore. I feel like flashing my hash!
Maybe I just don't understand - if The Baseball Hall of Fame is not purely about the history of baseball, what is it about? Please educate me. Baseball "the establishment" needs to get their heads out of the sand or wherever they keep them.
Cheating (depending on your definition of cheating) and seeking an edge has always been a part of the game. Some examples of good and bad edges include Candy Cummings developing the curveball. That was a good edge. Pitchers then developed spitballs, emery balls, mud balls, shine balls and other pitches to gain an edge. All of these pitches were banned in 1920 as they were decreed a bad edge.
Players have broken the rules throughout baseball history to gain an edge. Hall of Fame pitchers Whitey Ford scuffed the baseball and Gaylord Perry threw spitballs. They were cheaters. They were looking for an edge just as a hitter with a corked bat or managers stealing signs. Should we take Whitey Ford and Gaylord Perry out of the Hall for cheating? The answer is so incredibly easy. They and their accomplishments belong.
Others who may need do-overs include Cap Anson and Kennesaw Mountain Landis who were significant in keeping baseball segregated for 80 years. Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker for fixing a game in 1926, and Babe Ruth broke federal laws by drinking during prohibition.
Americans are known for kind hearts and forgiveness. I guess baseball in its great wisdom thinks Americans should exclude forgiving ballplayers.
It's time to enshrine Joe Jackson, Pete Rose, Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and others based on baseball accomplishments and not on someone's imperfect moral judgment.
Note on their Hall of Fame plaque that this player was banned from baseball for life for whatever or this player was known to have taken PED's on his plaque. Don't let the tainted player be involved in the ceremony if that makes you feel really swell. Put a skull and cross bones above their plaque. There is a solution out there if you will just use common sense. Baseball, just get out of the business of casting moral judgments on players, some of whom you enabled.
This is about baseball, a friggin' game, imperfect as it is, it's not about church.
I must stop now. I have the dry heaves.
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