2013 MLB Hall of Fame Screechfest

Cran, I think the NFL will have to be the first to take the steps you suggest because of the enormous damage the sport does to human bodies.

 

The funny part is, relative to my reputation, that's true. Y'all read far too much emotion into words on a message board.

 

Again, terrible comparison. There is a big damn difference between the taking of a human life, even a person who has committed a terrible crime, and your silly idea that people should be kept out of the Hall of Fame based on suspicion and unsubstantiated accusations.

 

You're framing it that way, and I'm not. I'm looking at it as a bigger question about drugs generally and drugs in sports, specifically. Is that capital punishment? No. Is it nonetheless still worthy of some serious philosophical engagement? Yes.

 

WOW!

http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/8695611/survey-shows-barry-bonds-roger-clemens-sammy-sosa-likely-miss-first-hall-fame-vote

 

Except that your thought also involves keeping guys out when you don't actually know that they did anything. So again, the logical conclusion from your foolish approach would be to make every single player from the steroid era wait the full 15 years. And if you can't see how ridiculous that is, you are beyond help.

 

Maybe.

At some point, obviously, decisions have to be made.

But perhaps not yet. Particularly on known or suspected users.

 

That's the problem. You aren't distinguishing between known and suspected users.

 

In my last semester of college, my Dramatic Literature professor held up my grade for several hours. I had no idea until it was over with, but the reason was because he suspected me of plagiarism, and wanted to check it out to make sure. Ultimately, he said he wished my in-class contributions had been as insightful as my paper, which apparently was quite good.

He suspected me of cheating.

He investigated it, causing a delay in his decision.

Satisfied it had not taken place, he released my grade.

 

Neither did Major League Baseball.

 

So be it if guys who are suspected have to wait a while. Odds are good they could have shed light on the whole stinking era while they were playing, except for the code of silence and no-snitching ethos more typical of street gangery.

The game's clean stars should have spoken up on their own behalf, as well as for the players who preceded them (establishing records that got dashed) and for the fringe players who felt pressure to juice merely to stay out of the minor leagues. They could have applied more pressure to their union.

To varying degrees, they let themselves get painted by the big brush stroked across the "steroids era" now. If clean, there must be things that Piazza, Bagwell and others could have shared that would have us all in a more clear-eyed place today.

This wasn't any Hollywood/commie/McCarthy thing, either. When the bad guys are actually doing something wrong -- rather than, say, exercising freedom of speech -- the moral high ground is not to clam up but to eradicate the wrong.

 

So you think every player from the steroid should have to wait the full 15 years. Not just the ones somebody decided to make up a rumor about, but ALL of them. Because that is the logical conclusion to the argument you are backing.

That, and Dick just made a terrible comparison and you put your little rubber stamp on it. He compared waiting a few hours to waiting 15 years. Please people. Read the shit you are agreeing with.