Another Cooperstown election has come and gone, and this time no one made the cut. Were alleged PED users like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Sammy Sosa shut out to keep the Hall safe of cheaters and not based on their performance? Because if thats the case, they have been dropping the ball from the very beginning.
According to Rule 5 of the Baseball Hall of Fame election process, inductees must be ballplayers of ability whose careers embody “integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s)” on which they played. If that’s truly the case, then Ty Cobb has no place in the Hall. Cobb “was suspended for fixing a game, and bragged of literally getting away with murder on the streets of Detroit” (Zev Chafets, Cooperstown Confidential). Not to mention, several players that were elected to the Hall have very sketchy backgrounds and bad reputations on and off the field. However, based on performance they were inducted into the Hall. Players should be judged on one thing and one thing only, their performance.
Another ridiculous notion that is being constantly mentioned, is that the players on the ballot are not well known. That they almost need to be more approachable in order to be elected, or even considered. Is there some new clause that was just added to the Hall of Fame rules that says a player must be an outgoing, charming, well liked individual with a great personality!? Where does this stem from? The two responsible parties are the BBWAA voters(some not all), and the Veterans Committee .
The BBWAA seems to be getting snobbier by the year, turning their collective noses up at player after player on not so much as a whim. Sure, intolerance to PED’s and cheating are noble stands to make. I get that. But as I mentioned earlier, there are already players who have been inducted that have done worse. If you are going to hold to rule 5, you need to really pay attention to the words integrity and character. Was Ty Cobb a man of integrity, and character? No way. And yet he’s a hall of famer. Babe Ruth was caught using a corked bat. Cap Anson was a racist. Of course all of these players were inducted before the Character Clause(Rule 5) was added. However, that doesn’t change the facts. They were cheaters, liars, horrible people, but they are all in the Hall because of their performance.
The Veterans Committee may also be one of the biggest problems in the voting process. Mainly because this talk of the whole “well we really don’t know so&so” phenomena which basically makes this a “kiss our @$% and you’ll get in” mentality. No one should have to kiss butt to get into the Hall. Their performance should be the determining factor. For example, Goose Gossage had the numbers, he had the integrity, but was left off for many years. Finally, he basically had to go on the campaign trail with the Veterans Committee to secure the vote. That is utterly ridiculous.
This process needs to stop. Players who have the numbers, such as Craig Biggio, Mike Piazza, Jeff Bagwell, should be getting voted in the Hall because of their performance only. I’ll leave with this thought from the author of Cooperstown Confidential, Zev Chafets, “The Hall should get out of the moral-judgement game by repealing the Character Clause. Nothing drains an institution’s integrity like false claims of integrity. Honesty clears the way of judging players solely on their professional excellence, meaning that Bonds, Clemens, and the other ‘steroid boys’-and there will be more-go in. Keeping them out is the surest way to transform Cooperstown from a vital and relevant institution into a joke.”
