WHY I'M ASHAMED TO BE A BASEBALL FAN TODAY

Well, the BBWAA has done it. They have made their point. These dudes have created such a mess of the Hall of Fame voting that I’m on board with revamping the entire process. What am I talking about? Read on...

For just the eighth time, the baseball writers have failed to give enough votes to anyone on the ballot thus the only three inductees this year come from the Veterans Committee. They are Deacon White, umpire Hank O’Day, and former Yankee owner Jacob Ruppert, read HERE.

That’s all well and good, but here’s my problem. First year ballottees (is that even a word?) and cheaters guilty in the court of public opinion, Barry Bonds & Roger Clemens, received 36% & 37% of the vote respectively. The leading candidate this year was Craig Biggio with 68%, but if I recall. weren’t he and Jeff Bagwell (60%) accused together? (Read HERE.)  Despite all of the posturing, I really thought Biggio & Bagwell were going to make it, as well as Jack Morris, who was in his last year of eligibility.

I was only a kid when Morris was in his prime, but I'll always remember him beating the Yanks. He was never overpowering but dominant when he needed to be.

Now, if I had a vote, without question Clemens & Bonds WOULD have been on my ballot. You read that right. Did they cheat? Technically no. Did they use PEDs? Probably. None of this stuff was illegal at the time. Up until the 1970’s, Amphetamines were a rampant problem and all those guys got in.

The Hall of Fame is supposed to honor the best of their time and leaded or unleaded Clemens and Bonds were the best of their time. Sammy Sosa (12%) & Rafael Palmeiro (9%) were not and the voting reflects that.

Now, here’s the thing, each year the writers are limited to just 10 inductees. If they lift their self-imposed ban on the "Steroid" guys, Clemens and Bonds are in. Let's say they come around and vote Bagwell & Biggio in... unlikely, but that’s 4.  Here are next year’s first ballot nominees who SHOULD get in: Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Frank Thomas, and Mike Mussina. Now we’re up to 8.  I’ve been watching Tom Verducci, Bob Costas, Peter Gammons and all the other writers on MLB Network recently and they’ve all said they "only really vote for 6 guys every year."  So, if that’s true, how are 6 guys going to get 75% of the vote, let alone all 8? You following me?  These guys have really made a circus of this.  And let me state one more nutty point to this... This tweet from CBS Sports.com's Jon Heyman really seems truly ridiculous to me. This came after the results were revealed:

Jon, no offense, you're not a superhero and you're not that important.  We don't need you protecting us fans. We have brains in our heads and we have our own opinions.  All you guys have done is created a boys club and a true mess of this stuff. That's my opinion of course... clearly you have yours... you Tweeted it.

But back to my analysis... Other losers of this precarious position the writers have put us in are:

• Bernie Williams, who failed to get the minimum 5% to remain on the ballot
• Dale Murphy who has always been borderline HOF material, but has reached the end of his 15 years of eligibility 
• Curt Schilling, who as much as it pains me to say, probably deserves to be in for being so good in so many clutch situations. He’ll probably get lost in the middle of future ballots.

The whole thing is nuts and us fans are just as confused as we were before.  Good luck next year boys because this year you really screwed the pooch!

 

--Lem Allen, BYB Contributor

Email me at: bybcurmudgeon@gmail.com

Please comment, we have DISQUS, it's easier than ever. Let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.

HALL OF FAME BLAH: NO ONE ELECTED IN

The frame grab above is from the film History of the World Part I.  It's a Mel Brooks flick that was way ahead of it's time in the world of comedy.  But I sit here today starring at the "Nothing" sign in the guy's cart and I think about the writers, the voting and the Baseball Hall of Fame and how this is the first time since 1996 that no player was voted in.  Shocking? Not really. If you really think about it, the PEDs situation has really mucked things up.  It's clear these writers are struggling with how to vote for these guys. It's become an issue.  Don't believe me? You should have seen Bob Costas and the gang on the MLB Network today.  Alot of head scratching.  Very interesting.

(In Photo: Jacob Ruppert)
Now, that being said, the Hall of Fame will induct 3 new members in this summer, Umpire Hank O'Day, catch Deacon White and owner Jacob Ruppert.  As the New York Times (HERE) puts it, "All three died in the 1930s and were voted in by the veterans committee in December. As a result, baseball will hold its annual Hall of Fame ceremony next July in an awkward context — without a single living honoree on stage."

Craig Biggio received 388 votes today and he was on top, but it wasn't enough. When it came to guys like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, Bonds was on 36.2% of the ballots and Clemens has 37.6%.

It's a weird day.  I always get psyched watching the guys who we watched as kids get voted in.  I, of course have been preaching about how much I'd love to see Pete Rose get inducted. 

It's time. He's paid his dues, he's taken his lumps and when he played the game, he played harder than anyone I ever saw.  Read ENOUGH'S ENOUGH. TIME FOR PETE ROSE TO GO TO COOPERSTOWN for my opinion on that.

(In Photo: Lou Brock 1985)
Last year I loved seeing Barry Larkin standing up there and years ago as a kid, I was lucky enough to be at the Hall of Fame when Lou Brock was inducted. I honestly thought Craig Biggio would have been voted in.  He wasn't. I was surprised. Again... seeing these players get voted in is always a thrill.  But not today.  Today, the Hall of Fame elected Nothing, no one and it's an odd day.

 Please comment, we have DISQUS, it's easier than ever. Let me know what you think and follow me on Twitter @BleednYankeeBlu and join the group Bleeding Yankee Blue on Facebook, just type it in.