The most important Hall of Fame ballot in my lifetime
The Hall of Fame released its 2013 ballot recently, and it reads like a who’s who of the greatest players of the 1990′s. The most important player on the list is Barry Bonds, statistically speaking the greatest hitter since Ted Williams and arguably the greatest ever, but Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa will be making their first appearances on the ballot as well and last I checked they could play a little. Bluntly put, all three deserve enshrinement.
Rather than argue for each player individually, I’ll make my argument for them all using Bonds as the example. Once upon a time I’d be able to write: All Time Home Run King, and that would be enough, but Bonds’ obvious steroids use may keep him out of the Hall. The Baseball writers need to be smart enough to avoid that. The argument for Bonds based on his performance is clear. From his svelte days with the Pirates all the way through his masher days with the Giants Bonds was a constant offensive force. Forget all the home runs, the man had an OBP of .456 is 1992! That’s nuts. His OPS+ of 182 is third all time. He is still the all time leader in dingers and walks. He was must-see TV for two decades.
Typically that would be the end of the argument, but for baseball Hall of Fame voting these are atypical times. Let’s be clear, Bonds wasn’t just a steroid user. He was steroid pioneer, and he was in your face about it. Alex Rodriguez and Mark McGwire tried to conceal their drug use; not so Bonds. Barry is perhaps the ultimate example of a player whose entire physique changed during his career. Bonds famously argued once that he wasn’t on steroids because his head never got any larger. That’s fine, but it was also the only part of his anatomy that remained the same size. He looked like a WWE reject by the end of his career. Steroids alone seem to be the kiss of death in baseball Hall of Fame voting. Such flagrant steroid abuse has made many players pariahs.
In the case of Bonds, and every other icon from that era, it doesn’t matter. What are the writers going to do? Are they really going to keep Bonds out of the Hall of Fame without deleting him from the game entirely? One day I hope to have a son who I will then brainwash into being as obsessed with baseball as I am. Will I be forced to explain to him why the home run leader isn’t enshrined in Cooperstown? This “pretend it never happened” approach is untenable. Just ask fans of Pete Rose. No one can edit Bonds or all the other steroids users out of the game’s history. Trying to do so via the Hall of Fame vote is asinine. The smart thing to do would be to acknowledge their accomplishments, tainted or otherwise, and move on, but I’ve come to expect the asinine from the administrators of all sports, not just baseball.
Bonds, Sosa, Clemens, McGwire, maybe even Rafael Palmeiro, should all be elected into the hall of fame because they were all the reason to watch baseball for a decade (maybe not Palmeiro). Speaking as a member of this generation, I don’t like being told that my childhood memories of baseball don’t count because some old guy said so. There is a strong case to be made arguing how hypocritical this stance is. I can only imagine the impact segregation had on the statistics of the players who benefited from the game’s Apartheid, but that is the subject of another post. These guys should be elected into the hall of fame because they were great players who won’t be forgotten. The harder the baseball establishment tries to pretend that they weren’t great the more difficult it becomes to ignore just how great they were. Bonds is the ultimate example.
Tagged with: Barry Bonds
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In fact, your “childhood memories of baseball” don’t count, not just “because some old guy said so” but for reasons you yourself put on the table: the transfiguration of Bonds into the Hulk and his sneering, in-your-faceness about it all.
As for the old guy, you know, don’t you, that there is a view, historically powerful across many cultures, that the old have accumulated a certain amount of useful experience, sometimes even wisdom–certainly much more than childhood has to offer. Or young adulthood. Drop the old guy shit and stick with arguments. In this case the “old guy” (who is he?) knows better than you do.
As for talking to children (“Will I be forced to explain to him why the home run leader isn’t enshrined in Cooperstown?”). Is this a serious question? Has the common moral sense in N. America declined so far that it’s not possible for an adult to explain to a child why Bonds might be problematical for “enshrinement”? He was a three-dollar bill and proud of it. He’s out. Shoeless Joe is out. And Rose is out. Good riddance to all.
Oh go suck on an egg you sanctimonius blowhard.
‘Real simple why Barry Bonds is a Hall Of Famer.
BarryBonds.com – See pics of current Barry. Realize people who take steroids don’t look like that after they stop taking them.
Bonds was the 1990, 1992, and 1993 NLMVP and was the runnerup for the 1991 NLMVP. EVERY MLB player who has won three MVP awards is in the Hall Of Fame.
If he took steroids, how’d he possibly fool the MVP voters, all baseball beat writers, into giving him FOUR CONSECUTIVE NLMVP AWARDS? Ya think one of them would’ve thought “How is this guy so damn good?” after he won his third straight NLMVP? They sure didn’t then or right after giving him his fourth.
Roger Clemens is a Hall Of Famer because he won the 1986, 1987, and 1991 AL Cy Young Awards and was robbed of the 1990 and 1992 ALCYAs. What a joke that Bob Welch won the ’90 ALCYA when Clemens led the league in strikeouts and ERA which was over a run lower than Welch’s with far more innings pitched, and Clemens had over 100 more strikeouts than Welch. What a joke that Eckersley, a closer who comes into games with the lead and has to pitch no more than an inning most of the time, won the ’92 ALCYA when Clemens posted a 2.41 ERA in over three times the number of innings Eckersley pitched. 51 saves = your team didn’t hit enough for you to save the usual 35-40 a closer saves.
Clemens is a HOF on his first three CYAs alone. Had he been a 3.30-4.50 ERA, 140-160 SO workaday for the next 10-15 years, he still would’ve made the HOF cuz he was hands down the most dominant pitcher in MLB 1986-96 (esp.1986-92) before he came to Toronto.
BTW Pete Rose belongs in the HOF because he bet on baseball as a gambling addict which he still is, besides that everyone deserves a second chance save a murderer which Rose wasn’t. Also if Rose is banned, so should Comiskey for being the owner of a team who threw the 1919 World Series. Yeah sure he wasn’t in on it, whatever.
While I’m not going to be as malicious as “Tom H” who obviously took offense to your “old guys” comment and is, most likely, and old guy himself I do have to agree with most of what he said. I don’t really like this notion that is floating around the Blogosphere that suggests we treat the Steroid Era, like any other era in Baseball and acknowledge the players and their accomplishments. This notion that “everyone else was doing so what’s the big deal?” is, I think, harmful to the game and just harmful to moral and social integrity in general. I’m 22 years old and did not have the same knowledge or appreciation for 90′s baseball because I was only 6 when the Yankees started their dynasty run. My baseball memory really starts after the Steroid era was winding down so maybe I don’t have as much appreciation for these players as you do but saying that you don’t want your childhood memories to not count is just as untenable as you claiming that the writers for the hall are asinine. They’re asinine because they don’t use the advanced metrics you want or don’t vote for your favorite childhood players? Get over it man. The cases of truly great (and innocent) ballplayers stuck on the outside looking in are few and far between (I apologize to the great negro-league players for that comment). What I think is asinine is legitimizing the careers of players who CHEATED. I can’t stress that enough. These guys CHEATED. I think its a complete travesty that someone would want Bond’s record to stand above Hank Aaron’s who achieved those heights without performance enhancing drugs and in a climate of sever societal racism. Barry Bonds CHEATED, and guess what he was an all time un-apologetic asshole about it. The Hall of Fame is for the greatest and most immortal of Baseball Players, those who represent the gold standard of the sport. So what is everyone was taking steroids? There were still players who weren’t and were great (i.e. Derek Jeter). What you should worry about telling your future son or daughter is how CHEATING is never acceptable and should always be frowned upon or punished. Would you want them doing drugs or plagiarizing their school work just cause everyone else was doing it? I don’t think so. So why don’t we put all the baseball stats and apologies aside and stand up for what is right, that CHEATERS don’t get rewarded with baseball immortality. I also think that you could make the case that Bonds, McGwire, Sosa etc… all would have made the Hall without CHEATING, they made their bed and now they have to sleep in it. Sorry guys but you shouldn’t have CHEATED! (also sorry for the rant)
Anyone who says that they have never cheated is also a liar. If you really think about it, to survive in this world you need to have and apply techniques such as lying and cheating to survive and get far. Pure honesty generally gets you only so far when the others out there are stabbing you in the back to get what’s rightfully yours.
I’m not saying one should be a total degenerate either. There are lines out there that should never be crossed. Society defines these lines and apply the punishments when ones does get caught in crossing them.
These three players won’t get into the Hall of Fame in their lifetimes because society will want to teach our youth that cheaters never win. (also they are all unlikable persons with fairly rotten personalities) Their punishment will be the banishment from the HOF and hopefully will be ashamed by that if they some how actually care with their millions of dollars they’ve earned over the years.
Yet, think about all the long dead people we worship who has done far worse things. Presidents, painters, authors, scientists, etc. Time forgets that these people owned slaves, raped kids, killed, etc on top of cheating and taking drugs. Over time society wants to remember the great things about a person and forgive the bad, assuming you are not considered pure evil like Hitler.
So I think they’ll all get into the HOF, but I doubt in our lifetimes. Society has not degraded enough to let the obvious villains get immediately rewarded like that, but I do think we will always be a forgiving one and will someday pay some form of respect to the numbers they put up. Time heals all wounds.
If you want to reserve enshrinement for players who didn’t cheat, the Hall of Fame would have almost no members.
And Sammy Sosa shouldn’t be kept out of the Hall of Fame because he also used a corked bat……
the Hall of fame should be based upon popularity and not excellence in athletics…..
Jesse Owens shouldn’t be honored because he was soooo unpopular in Germany.
You know, actions do have consequences.
I’m not gonna cry in my beer over any of these men either way, and I think Bonds and Clemens will get in for sure eventually. But if they have to wait a little while, well, sorry folks. You made your own bed.
And if they get in this year, fine.
Also, no one ever tuned in to see Rafael Palmeiro
Baseball’s most hallowed ground should honor those who honored the game; the steroid junkies didn’t. Every time I think of how McGuire burned the trust of Maris family when he pilfered Roger’s record, I burn. The greatest players are more than just well-medicated stat machines. I’ll take Bernie Williams over any of these guys. He was a classy, kind, team-player who was at his best when it mattered most. He honored the Yankee Universe, and baseball, on and off the field, and in doing so, he elevated his team, and the game.
Mark McGwire is not a Hall of Famer and it has nothing to do with any substance, legal or otherwise, that he may or may not have taken. All he could do was hit home runs. He could not do anything else. He only twice had more than 22 doubles in a season and never more than 28. That is horrid for any Hall of Fame candidate, but especially a power hitter. He also once had a season in which he played 154 games and had a .201 batting average. That is just plain horrid. I haven’t checked, but I doubt any player in the Hall of Fame has had a season in which they played that many games and had a batting average that low.
Rafael Palmiero, who seems to the be afterthought in the discussion about this group of players, was exponentially better than McGwire.