In case you didn't catch up on the baseball headlines yesterday Carlos Beltran was voted into the Hall of Fame. The sign stealing legend and head schemer of the 2017 Astros cheating scandal will become part of baseball's greatest honor.....let that sink in for a minute.
The man with no honor and integrity will forever be enshrined amongst the greatest names in the game. He's a disgrace to those who played the game with honor and passion like Derek Jeter. Jeter IS a hall of famer, Beltran is a horrible mistake with no honor. Will the Hall of Fame will ever be seen as a legitimate institution ever again? It's a fair question.
Beltran disgraced the game and should be shunned from baseball history just like Pete Rose was. Pete Rose, cheated OFF of the field and was banned from the sport and WAS ineligible for Hall of Fame consideration until May of 2025. He was made an example of. Nothing Rose did impacted the game during his playing time. He paid a high price that Beltran will never pay.
And you can't talk about scandals without talking about Shoeless Joe Jackson. He was banned from baseball in 1921 for his involvement in the "Black Sox Scandal," after he and some teammates conspired with gamblers to intentionally lose the 1919 World Series. He was permanently banned by newly appointed MLB Commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, to preserve the integrity of the game.....imagine that. Jackson cheated as a player and was held accountable. This is not the world we live in anymore.
However here we are a century later and Beltran cheated ON the field and has no consequences. He wasn't banned, weak pansy Rob Manfred protected him! The integrity that previous MLB commissioners fought to preserve has vanished. Two years after the scandal, Beltran was rewarded with a manager job for the Mets and just over two months later is removed from that role....all thanks to his involvement in the cheating scandal. He wasn't honorable enough to manager, but now he is honored by being inducted into the Hall of Fame? It's asinine.
So now that the writers have voted Beltran in, they have set a precedence that integrity doesn't matter. Honor can be lost and you can still be rewarded with a place in baseball history. Now let's just add Manny Ramirez, Jose Canseco and Alex Rodriguez to the inductee list! I don't care WHAT form of cheating it is. I don't care if you think it's not the same....it's still a disgrace to the game. One disgrace is not "less" than another. Greats belong in the Hall of Fame, not just great stats but also great stewards of the game itself and with good character.
So Beltran may be feeling himself right now. He may be standing tall but being in the hall doesn't erase history, and Beltran will always be known as the architect of a massive and blatant cheating scheme. He brought disgrace to the game and that should NOT be rewarded for that by getting a place amongst the true greats of this game.
That's just my two cents. Agree with it or not, it doesn't matter to me. Integrity over anything else.....period.
The Hall of Fame is now tainted. It is DEAD. I will never look at it the same again.
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