Hall Of Fame And The Myth Of Honor; Ken Rosenthal Offers Illogical Comment Of The Early Year

No one made the baseball Hall of Fame this year.

And it's causing quite the discussion among fans most notably because of Bonds, Clemens and Sosa.

Let me open with this comment made by someone on ESPN:

"So the baseball writers who were covering the sport every day and watched guys' numbers and muscles inflate at an inhuman rate for years and didn't say anything about it are punishing the guys who aren't even suspected of using PEDs for not snitching on their friends and teammates? Because they didn't feel like doing their own job as journalists, they're blacklisting an entire era of players for not doing something they weren't willing to do themselves. Great, shut out anyone who played in the steroid era. Just take away the HOF votes of any journalist who covered the sport during the steroid era too."

Exactly. That's the problem I have with all these writers connected to the steroid era. They didn't do their jobs but boy did they cash in celebrating the cheaters. It irritates me listening to them and former players act holier than thou now.

All are complicit (including the fans) in my view and it's largely why I view sportswriters with skepticism. Too many of them are too star struck to report properly. Too much access breeds idolatry it seems.

I really hope guys like Biggio and Raines weren't frozen out because these jackals wanted to make a point. If so, fuck them in the ear with pencil.

***

Onto the voting.

Player	Votes	Pct
Craig Biggio	388	68.2
Jack Morris	385	67.7
Jeff Bagwell	339	59.6
Mike Piazza	329	57.8
Tim Raines	297	52.2
Lee Smith	272	47.8
Curt Schilling	221	38.8
Roger Clemens	214	37.6
Barry Bonds	206	36.2
Edgar Martinez	204	35.9
Alan Trammell	191	33.6
Larry Walker	123	21.6
Fred McGriff	118	20.7
Dale Murphy	106	18.6
Mark McGwire	96	16.9
Don Mattingly	75	13.2
Sammy Sosa	71	12.5
Rafael Palmeiro	50	8.8
Others receiving votes: Bernie Williams, 19; Kenny Lofton, 18; Sandy Alomar Jr., 16; Julio Franco, 6; David Wells, 5; Steve Finley, 4; Shawn Green, 2; Aaron Sele 1. Ok. Here's my take. The people who voted for anyone at the bottom should get their votes revoked immediately. To me, 10 maybe 11 guys on the list belong. Bonds, even with the scandal, was a dominant player before the steroids already. He belongs I'm afraid. Same is true for Clemens. Just going down the list and off the top of my head. Biggio is a Hall of Famer I think. Piazza is a definite Famer. Bagwell as well. Morris is borderline to me but it's hard to keep him out it will be argued- wild pitches notwithstanding. I think they satisfy most metrics needed to get in. Smith will probably get in but brut Hall numbers he's iffy. How Morris is ranked ahead of Raines is a little beyond me to comprehend. Raines belongs in my mind. It starts to get dicier around Larry Walker (good Canadian lad that he is), Edgar Martinez, and Alan Trammell. Tim Raines I hope gets in but it'll be tough. *** Like how Clarence Thomas is irrationally attacked, the Tea Party (not the OSW you see), is the new pink for politi-sport references in the media. Ken Rosenthal's remarkably connects the lack of votes for Jack Morris to the divisive political discourse brought on by the Tea Party. Personally, I think it's the Red Republican-gnomes living under our gardens but hey... There's nothing to be said. I can't dissect this logic because it's incoherent.