Cooperstown: The Enduring Joke Continues

The baseball writers inducted two new members into the baseball Hall of Fame; Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken Jr. Gwynn received 97.6% of the vote, while Ripken garnered 98.5%, the third highest percentage of all time. These two men were the cream of the crop throughout the mid 1980’s to the late 1990’s. Gwynn ended up with a lifetime batting average of .338, which is incredible in any era. Ripken broke Lou Gehrig’s record game streak of 2,130, which he would extend to over 2600 games, an incredible feat in any sport. These two men deserved the sport's highest honor, but evidently, some were not for reasons that are yet unclear to me.

The annual induction into the hall did not come without controversy. Mark McGwire did not make it in his first time on the ballot. McGwire, who is 7th all time in homeruns with 583, and a 12 time perennial all-star, only appeared on 23.7% of the submitted ballots. What is odd about McGwire’s situation is that every person who has ever been at least a 12 time all-star is a member of the hall. He also holds the all time record for home runs per every 100 at bats with a staggering 10.6 and is 9th all time in slugging percentage. His career numbers are more than sufficient to get him into the hall. So why in the hell didn’t McGwire make it into the hall?

Personally, I am a fan of McGwire, as him and Sammy Sosa single handedly resurrected the game of baseball in the summer of 1998 with their prolific chase of the single season home run record. Yet, the writers will not allow McGwire entrance due to his alleged use of steroids. He admitted to using a legal supplement called androstene in 1999 after it was discovered in his locker. Granted, the supplement is now banned by MLB, but at the time it was legal. The metaphorical nail in the coffin for McGwire occurred in 2005 at a congressional hearing concerning steroids in baseball. At the hearing he stated that he did not want to talk about the past, which led many to believe he was guilty of ingesting steroids at some point in his career.

The writers vote is based off of heresy, plain and simple. McGwire never failed a drug test while active in MLB. He has never admitted to using steroids, even though it may seems to many that he is guilty of it. The baseball writer’s community needs to show the man some respect, as their constant badgering and belittlement of his great career has forced him to live a life of perpetual exile. No one deserves that, not after the career he had. I am unsure as to why it is up to the writers to vote on who should get into the hall. Who made these people judge, jury, and executioner? They may write about the sport, but their logic is based off of opinion. Every person in America knows as much about baseball as some of these idiots.

Look at some examples from the past. Joe DiMaggio did not make it into the hall until his third time on the ballot. This is Joe DiMaggio, not your common every day no name. Evidently the writers did not vote him in because he retired at age 37, which signaled to them that he may have made a come back. Even the all time leader in wins, Denton True Young, otherwise known as “Cy” Young did not make it in until his second time on the ballot in 1937. Lee Smith, second all time in saves with 478, did not make it in this year as well. I really do not get it? What are the criteria that these hacks use to decide who makes it in? Obviously, opinions are biased in this case and something needs to change. Maybe we should have computers do it like we have them do everything else! A more subtle solution would be to establish a firm set of criteria that all of the writers or those whom are selected to vote should follow.