2013 MLB Hall of Fame Screechfest

Sure, but perhaps in 10 years, or five years, PEDs will be more mainstream. Perhaps we'll think we were silly for ever fretting about them in the first place. Or perhaps we'll go the other way. It is going to take some time for me to figure out what it all mean, ethically.

 

It shouldn't. Bonds took what he took. So did Clemens, Bagwell, Piazza and everybody else you think should be kept out of the Hall of Fame whether there is actual evidence to back up the accusations or not.

Complete and utter foolishness.

 

Surprised no one posted this yet.

keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2012/11/29/wait-whos-that-guy-on-the-hall-of-fame-ballot/

 

As opposed to what?

Letting every candidate in because "everyone was doing it?"

 

How about not counting rumors and unsubstantiated accusations as "evidence?" A bunch of journalists should know better.

 

You were responding to Dick's suggestion that by waiting a few years for the 'Steroid Era' to be clarified, time would bring more information about who did what and when.

Seems to me more information is better than less information. And that you and Dick support exactly the same approach.

 

Then you need to improve your reading skills. If you follow Dick's ridiculous approach to its logical conclusion, we should just wait the full 15 years on every single player from here on out, because information about PED use or some other problem might just come out.

Take Bagwell for an example. He's a Hall of Fame player. He had dominant seasons. He has outstanding career numbers, including a unique element of speed that you normally don't see in slugging first basemen. He was a hell of a defensive player. On the merits of his game, he should get there. The only thing holding him back is the era he played in and speculation that has no real facts to back it up. That's bullshit. Again, journalists should know better.

 

Unique era, unique situation.

I don't buy your parade of horribles argument here.

 

I enjoy this instruction especially.

Why not wait fifteen years? It's no more arbitrary than waiting 5.

 

Were I voting, I wouldn't necessarily wait 15 years. I might end up waiting two. Or six. Or 11. Who knows? I just wouldn't be comfortable voting for some of them yet. But neither would I be comfortable saying I never would.

BuckWeaver made an interesting point about putting the ignonimies of guys like Rose and Jackson and Bonds on their plaque. I like idea, too, in theory. The problem is, the tenor of induction has become so celebratory - and maybe it's always been that way - that the HOF isn't just thought of as a museum dispassionately documenting the game's greatest players.

 

Associated Press contacted 112 Hall voters — Bonds got 45 percent, Clemens 43 percent and Sosa 18 percent.

 

Interesting about Bonds and Clemens.

I expect Sosa will never make it. I guess I stand corrected, I thought the other two would get in first-ballot. I still think it's dumb because so many people are just going to turn around and vote for them in Year 2 or Year 3 -- Rosenthal said as much in the LAT story, he didn't want those guys to go in as first-ballot HOFers. But it's hard to lose sleep on behalf of those two.