2013 MLB Hall of Fame Screechfest

Because they didn't elect someone just to elect someone.

They were wrong on Raines.

They might have been wrong on Biggio.

They might have been wrong on Schilling.

And Piazza.

And Bagwell.

But it's not like those guys got zero support. They didn't reach the arbitrary 75 percent threshold.

This was a perfect storm year. I'm more upset about the level of Jack Morris support than I am about the lack of Craig Biggio support, at least for now.

But, again, individually, each player got the level of support one might reasonably expect.

 

"Just to elect someone?"

Not following you, Dick. Either someone deserves it, or they don't.

 

Football elects a minimum number of players each year.

Baseball does not.

Could voters have put Jack Morris on their ballots just to help push him over the threshold and avert a no-inductee year, which everyone knew was a possibility? Sure. But they didn't. And that's to their credit, not their detriment.

 

Bonds (inarguably) and Clemens (arguably) are in the top five all time in their respective disciplines and they got less than 40 percent of the vote.

That isn't reasonable unless voters just want to throw away the whole fucking 20-year era or grandstand for their own blog purposes.

 

I just disagree. I think it's perfectly reasonable to hold out on known PED users, particularly this early in their candidacy. I wouldn't have voted for either one. Not this time. I don't know how I feel about that era yet, and I'd wait on it as I sorted through my own thoughts on it. And waited for a fuller picture to emerge.

 

That line of reasoning (and I'm applying it to the voters too) is just mealy-mouthed garbage. It's been almost 10 years. These guys did it. Figure out how you feel about the damn era already.

 

What fuller picture? What news could possibly emerge that would alter your opinion?

If voters are waiting for the HOF or MLB to bail them out on this, they're going to be waiting a long time.

 

What fuller picture? A definitive survey where they hand a card to each player who played in the majors from 1995 to 2003 and have them check "used" or "didn't use"?

 

Understand that if it were my actual job to do so, I might approach the task with a little more urgency.

That said, if Bonds and Clemens were on my ballot, all of them would be. Sosa. McGwire. Palmeiro. Bagwell. Piazza. None of this parsing PED users stuff.

 

Other than the possibility of a very specific revelation about a player -- and I think we're down to Piazza and Bagwell on this point, unless something comes out of left field about Thome or Griffey or Frank Thomas -- I can't think of what can possibly be gained by waiting for more perspective.

 

It is completely possible that more evidence will emerge over 15 years, perhaps in the form of magazine, television, or book reporting, that suspected users did or did not actually use. That's what I mean by "fuller picture."

 

But in the case of Clemens or Bonds, it's pretty much a closed case.