ClubberSpeak: I Don't Care If Baseball Players Cheat

((HT: jimlangblog))

Nothing touches off a heated debate like voting for the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Today the Baseball Writers Association of America voted in Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas as the newest members of the baseball Hall of Fame.

No sane person would ever argue the merits of the three newest inductees. All three, especially Maddux, boast a resume that is beyond reproach.

That leads us to the two biggest omissions; Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds. Both players possess some of the greatest career numbers in the history of the game. And both players are doomed to never be voted into the Hall of Fame.

Clemens was far and away the most dominant pitcher of my generation. Clemens won 354 games, had a staggering 4,672 strikeouts and won seven Cy Young awards.

Meanwhile Bonds all but obliterated the MLB record book. Bonds ended his career with 762 home-runs (1st all-time), 2,538 walks (1st all-time), a career OPS of 1.051 and seven MVP awards.

Now do I think both of them used performance enhancing drugs during their playing career? You bet your frozen polar vortex butt I do.

Do I care that they used PED’s during their career? Not at all.

Major League Baseball players are not role models. They are grown men willing to do whatever it takes to keep making money and help their team win.

http://espn.go.com/page2/s/list/cheaters/ballplayers.html

Back in the day pitchers used spit balls to gain an advantage. Then players took amphetamines to get up for games. Then they corked their bat to hit more home-runs. You name the method of cheating and I guarantee you somebody in baseball has thought of it in order to gain a competitive edge.

When I was in high school I watched “The Natural” and imagined all my baseball heroes were men like Roy Hobbs. Then reality quickly set in as I realized that baseball players live by the age old credo, “If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying”.

To make a long story short, if I had a vote for the Hall of Fame I would vote for Clemens and Bonds. So many players were taking some sort of PED during that era that it is next to impossible to sort out the clean players from the dirty players.

Ty Cobb once jumped into the stands and beat up a man with no hands and he was still voted into the Hall of Fame.

I don’t need a baseball writer to tell me about morality. I just want them to vote for the finest players on the ballot and make sure the Hall of Fame is filled with the best of the best.

Why is it alright for pitchers to scuff the ball, doctor the ball and throw spitballs?

Is that not cheating?

According to the rules of baseball it is:

8.02
The pitcher shall not –
(a) (1) Bring his pitching hand in contact with his mouth or lips while in the 18 foot circle surrounding the pitching rubber. EXCEPTION: Provided it is agreed to by both managers, the umpire prior to the start of a game played in cold weather, may permit the pitcher to blow on his hand.
PENALTY: For violation of this part of this rule the umpires shall immediately call a ball. However, if the pitch is made and a batter reaches first base on a hit, an error, a hit batsman or otherwise, and no other runner is put out before advancing at least one base, the play shall proceed without reference to the violation. Repeated offenders shall be subject to a fine by the league president.
(2) expectorate on the ball, either hand or his glove;
(3) rub the ball on his glove, person or clothing;
(4) apply a foreign substance of any kind to the ball;
(5) deface the ball in any manner

Despite all of this pitchers did it often and still do it to this day.

Prior to 2003 players were not tested for PED’s. Not that doesn’t make it right. But by taking them they were not violating any MLB rules at the time.

A few things emerged from the steroid era. First off the numbers posted by players, especially hitters, were greatly inflated. Secondly the television ratings and attendance were greatly inflated. The boost in TV ratings results in a massive financial windfall for Bud Selig and MLB.

Not only is MLB raking in the money, but individual teams have signed enormous regional television contracts that will ensure their financial stability for years to come.

Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds played a big role in reviving baseball after their labour shut-down in 1994. If baseball writers want to punish Clemens and Bonds for taking PED’s (allegedly) then that is their right.

I just hope the writers understand that fans don’t care if a player cheats. In they end they all cheat in some way, shape or form. Fans only care if their team wins or loses.

The writers can choose to do what they want when it comes to Clemens and Bonds. The fact remains they put up numbers that may never be matched, let alone broken. Those numbers will live on for all to see for years to come; whether or not they ever get voted into the Hall.

Baseball Hall of Fame Voting: Baseball Writers are Idiots

NY Times Thu-Ctsy: Kevin Neghandi

Ahhhhhh!@#%^

Where do you start on such an idiotically stupid subject that pretty much everyone---except for the allegedly holier than thou group of Sportswriters who vote on it--is angry about.

For the 1st time in a long time, the Baseball Writers of America failed to gather a 75% coalition to vote any players into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame.

And quite honestly, that unto itself isn't really a tragedy. No, the tragedy is that there were actually quite a few guys worthy of the honor who were eligible.

Yes, we know that a lot of it was framed by the eligibility of supposedly tainted players such as Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmiero. And while all, arguably except Palmiero PED tainted or not, are Hall level players, the exclusion of guys like Dale Murphy, Jack Morris and Tim Raines is mind boggling.

The BBWA is saying that they have no regrets and all is fair with the voting process. And maybe it is. But the vote tally was odd, to say the least.

Somehow, Craig Biggio, a very good, but not MVP level player, was the closest to election with over 68 pct of voters picking him. But to say Biggio was more Hall of Fame worthy than Jack Morris, Mike Piazza, Lee Smith, Allen Trammell, Fred McGriff and Dale Murphy? No, we aren't buying that.

Honestly, the one that mystifies us is Murphy's case. What more did he need to do? He's a 2-time NL MVP, he hit nearly 400 home runs, he was absolutely clean as a whistle and was the primary reason baseball stayed relevant in Atlanta during the 1980's when the franchise resembled a train wreck.

But Murphy's 15-years of being on the primary ballot has ended. His only chance, a vote by the "Veterans Committee".

Here's really what gets under OUR skin. The BBWA. We have a difficult time understanding how a group comprised of mostly irrelevant Baseball Writers have final say on this. We aren't blanketing ALL of them with the sanctimonious, holier than thou label, but there are quite a few who take themselves entirely TOO seriously.

Yes, we understand, getting into a Hall of Fame is a BIG deal. It should be. Not everyone SHOULD be able to make it. Yet only baseball has such strict criteria.

Heck, even the head of the BBWA admits they may have to revisit the voting process.  5 writers with ballots couldn't even be bothered to vote. And their blank ballots count against the nominees. That alone should tell you why the BBWA shouldn't be the FINAL voice in this. But yet they are.

No, what angers us, are the writers who are going on Twitter and patting themselves on the back for NOT voting for the "Tainted" players. Many of them were the same guys gushing and fawning over them during their prime. Quite a few, spoke of the legendary greatness of guys like Bonds and McGwire, Sosa and Clemens, none of whom have been actually proven to be guilty of anything. But yet the accusation and assumption is there, and that alone seems to be enough to convict.

And even if the "Tainted" players aren't considered worthy of inclusion, it's the exclusion of others who arguably are that has most of us angry. Why do they get penalized? If a Dale Murphy can't get in, what does it take to convince the beer swilling, free food eating writers that someone should?

Just wondering?

Oh, by the way, next years eligible class includes two of my favorite players, guys who are incredibly worthy of the hall, Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine. It will be REAL interesting to see if they get in. As much as there is a general hate of the voting process now, it would be chaos if 2 of the most worthy guys in the history of the game don't get in.

Barry Bonds sentenced....sort of

Barry Bonds

There is almost an end in sight for the never-ending Barry Bonds steroid saga.

Yes, we actually thought it was over today when a U.S District Court judge in San Francisco sentenced Bonds to 30 days of house arrest, 2-years of probation and 250 hours of community service plus a $4,000 fine.

All because Bonds was convicted of giving misleading testimony in front of a grand jury.

However...

Shortly thereafter, the judge delayed the decision pending an appeal by Bonds, which could take upwards of a year.

Quite honestly, we aren't quite sure what the cost of this prosecution is, but is it really worth it? The grand jury appearance was 8-years ago. Bonds has already lost most all of his credibility which is a far greater punishment then being confined to his house.

But then again, who are we to say.