Maddux, Glavine, Thomas elected to Baseball Hall of Fame; Biggio just misses

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

Gurnick's catching hell on MLB Network from Millar now. Millar: "Hey, Ken! You know they had steroids in East Germany in 1968, don'tcha?"

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

What's worse, leaving Maddux off the ballot or voting for someone like Jim Deshaies?

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

If you dislike his vote, fine. But Ken has been a well-known -- and well-respected -- baseball writer for more than three decades. No one works harder.

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

Leaving off Maddux. I don't care about throwing a guy like Deshaies a vote when there are not 10 worthy candidates on the ballot (which was probably the case when he received a vote).

But with the current logjam, they're both wildly irresponsible.

And one does not excuse the other.

Jimmy The Greek was a well-known and well-respected football broadcaster until he got drunk and popped off about black people.

Obviously, it's a matter of degree --- but Gurnick's ridiculous Hall of Fame vote seems to have undone most or all of the goodwill he's built up over his career.

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

He's lost every ounce of that respect.

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

Gurnick is a very good reporter who will now forever be known as a complete douche.

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

He might be known within the industry, but not to the general public. He put himself on the map with this. And all it does is reinforce baseball writers as out-of-touch Neanderthals who hold grudges. I mean, really, to put Jack Morris and no one else on because everyone else played in the steroid era? It's simply NOT TRUE.

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released



I'm going assume that Ken Gurnick thinks that the PEDs era started in the 1998 season with the McGwire/Sosa HR chase of Maris. So using Gurnick's logic that anyone who played during the PEDs era isn't worthy of a HOF vote just because of the era they played in, then any BBWAA member who was an active baseball writer during the same era should be ineligible for the J. G. Taylor Spinks Award as they either looked the other way or didn't do enough to expose it.

So let's start by taking the Spinks Award back from every honoree since 1999. That would be: Hal Lebovitz, Ross Newhan, Hal McCoy, Murray Chass, Peter Gammons, Tracy Ringolsby, Rick Hummel, Larry Whiteside, Nick Peters, Bill Madden, Bill Conlin, Bob Elliott and Paul Hagen. Strip that Award from their record and eliminate their notation in Cooperstown. Better yet let's just eliminate that award as it's an embarrassment to honor writers during a baseball HOF Induction weekend.

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

Gurnick said "early 90s" during his Sirius XM interview. But that still encompasses a huge chunk of Morris' career.

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

He's a douche. He did this intentionally to get attention.

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

You guys take this HOF voting too personally. There's a reason the threshold is 75 percent and not 100 percent. People are allowed to have differing opinions, even if they seem idiotic to most people. It doesn't turn someone into a douche or overshadow someone who's had a great career as a sports writer.

As long as the character clause is in the voting guidelines and as long as it's called the Hall of Fame and not the Hall of Statistical Achievers, then it will remain a subjective process. I'm ok with that.