Graham's Word: The Steroid Cloud Rolls Over The Baseball Hall of Fame; No One Voted in on 2013 Ballot
Submitted by Chris Graham on Wed, 01/09/2013 - 11:14pm
For the first time since 1996 and only the eighth time in history, Cooperstown will not be welcoming anybody to the hallowed ground of the Baseball Hall of Fame, and we could be seeing a lot more years like this to come unfortunately. The 2013 ballot saw many newcomer names that were superstars in their playing days.
Some examples: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Craig Biggio, Curt Schilling, and Mike Piazza. Yet none of them made it to the 75% vote needed to get in. Some of these players who were at one time thought to be ‘shoe-in’ first ballot hall of famers played in an era that has plagued baseball for the last two decades. The ‘Steroid Era’, to many fans, has come to an end but it will live on for a long time to come.
Now the players who played in it are coming up for Hall of Fame consideration. It has been made clear by a vast majority of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) that if you were involved in taking any type of performance enhancing drugs (PED) you will not be voted in, and the writers seem to be sticking by their word.
On the other hand, there are a lot of players on the ballot that deserve serious consideration because they were not involved with PED’s. So, why did the writers not vote any of those players in? Players like: Jack Morris, Lee Smith, Alan Trammell, Don Mattingly, Fred McGriff or Edgar Martinez? All of whom I believe are good enough to get the call. The writers seemed to have taken the steroid talk a little too much to their heads this year. So much so, they forgot to give attention to those players that stayed out of the PED discussions.
Look, I am a strong believer in; “If you used, you lose.” I don’t believe Barry Bonds deserves to get in (and I am a die-hard Giants fan), I don’t believe Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro deserve to either and a lot of other players I could list as well. I believe strongly in holding up the integrity of what is the Hall of Fame.
Could it be that a few of the players that are already in did some things to give them an advantage during their playing days? Sure. But baseball was never as artificial nor full of lies as it turned out to be in the 90’s to the early 2000’s, and maybe somewhat still is.
In today’s game, it’s a business. It is all about the money. This has a lot to blame for why players really looked or look for an advantage. Players like McGwire, Bonds, and Palmeiro will lie to or withhold information from the fans just to save whatever they think they have left to save.
Back in the days of Ruth, Ford, Mantle, Mays, and Robinson it was all about the game, just baseball. They didn’t sign for millions of dollars, they couldn’t, and they never took advantage of the game for that big contract because there was no such thing. I would do anything to see Robinson take the field, see a Ruth home run, see Mays make that basket catch but those days are long gone.
Cooperstown may not see a steady flow of players for a while. It is truly sad, and it does not seem the writers will back down nor should they. But, they need to turn their attention to the players who were not in the discussion of PED’s.
This should be a message to all players currently in professional baseball or want to be. You will not win in the end. The Baseball Hall of Fame is a place of honored or revered players and the writers will do everything they can to keep it that way.
