Swing, and a miss!
The Baseball Writers Association of America failed to hit the mark on Wednesday, Jan. 9, by not electing anyone to the Hall of Fame class of 2013, despite having the all-time home run leader and a 354-game winner on the ballot.
This year’s ballots held extra controversy due to the first-time eligibility of players such as Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, all of whom have long been linked to performance-enhancing drugs. All three fell far short of the 75% of votes needed to get into the HOF, with Clemens receiving the highest total of 37.6% and Sosa receiving a mere 12.5% of the vote.
The writers’ failure to elect Bonds and Clemens into the Hall is a disgrace to the game. Bonds is a seven-time MVP winner, while Clemens is a seven-time Cy Young winner and an MVP winner, both a record number for an individual player. Yet they were shut out due to the widespread public opinion that their career numbers were achieved with the help of PEDs despite receiving no punishments from Major League Baseball.
Both deny ever using PEDs and were never busted by the league for any drug violations, making it unacceptable that a group of writers gets to decide whether or not to inflict their own punishments.
The writers publicly announced in the weeks leading up to the official unveiling that they will not vote for any player linked to PEDs, but they have missed the obvious flaw in their logic: no one can be sure exactly who took PEDs and who didn’t. This policy creates a situation in which dirty players can slip into the Hall of Fame by staying ahead of the tests, while those who got caught are left out in the cold regardless of their career numbers.
The Hall of Fame itself has a sign posted in a gallery laying out their stance on the Steroid Era in baseball. It reads: “This museum is committed to telling the story of PEDs within the game’s historical context.” If the HOF is willing to admit artifacts and recognize players with tainted histories, the writers should adapt the same mentality when casting their ballots and put players such as Bonds and Clemens in.
Cheating has always been a part of baseball, which puts another hole in the argument used by the writers. Cheating has developed from hiding extra baseballs in the outfield to doctoring the baseball to using PEDs, but there is no denying that cheaters already have their plaque up in the Hall of Fame. Giants Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry was widely known around the league for throwing spitballs – an illegal pitch – and otherwise doctoring baseballs, yet he got into the HOF despite his cheating.
Clemens and Bonds were already on the path to the Hall of Fame before they were ever linked to PEDs, a fact that shouldn’t be overlooked by writers who refuse to vote for players with inflated numbers. PEDs may have jacked up the numbers, but those numbers were already better than 99% of the league.
Bonds and Clemens had unparalleled talent that they turned into record setting careers, which should earn them a spot in the Hall of Fame. Unfortunately, the writers struck out on their ballots, when the decision should have been as easy as hitting a fastball down the middle.
