Baseball Writers Disgrace Hall of Fame

On January 9. 2007 the ballots cast for the Baseball Hall of Fame by the Baseball Writers' Association of America were tabulated. It was no surprise that Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn were elected. It was no surprise that neither Mark McGwire nor Harold Baines received enough votes.

Then  there is the matter of Dante Bichette receiving three votes and Albert 'Joey' Belle receiving 19 votes. Obviously someone, actually 22 someones were mistakenly given ballots. Now do not get me wrong. Bichette was a player who loved the game, a fan's player who hit 40 home runs one year and 274 in his career. He was fun to watch and he played with zest. He is just not a Hall of Famer.

Belle was a jerk. He had power and he finished with a .295 lifetime batting average. But he is not a Hall of Famer.

But this is not about the players; it is about the baseball writers who voted for these guys. Giving them a ballot is like letting a child run with scissors, letting George Bush run a war, or putting Ben Masel in charge of the Mifflin Street Block Party.

Come to think about it, Ben running the block party is not such a bad idea.

Earlier this week Dave Zweifel at The Capital Times came to the same conclusion, though he had a different perspective. Writers off base on baseball steroids :

And then there was that dope from the Daily Southtown, a suburban Chicago paper, who refused to vote for anyone - Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn included - because he wasn't sure whether they, too, might have been on steroids. Please spare me. Steroids have proven to be destructive to the human body; that's why we don't want kids taking them. If ironman Ripken set his longevity record while on steroids, he would be a medical miracle. The Southtown baseball writer ought to have his Baseball Writers Association of America credentials revoked for stupidity.

Comments

[Tim Swanson]

Here's what I love about baseball: While I am politally aligned with you, Paul, many are not. I can talk with my right-wing brother in Ohio about the Reds all day, but we'll only yell about politics. Baseball cuts across all political lines, is truly part of our culture. I propose we conduct all political activities at baseball games. I'll bet we'd get more done.