January 10th: Deck the Hall

On Tuesday, four baseball players were inducted into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. Pitchers Randy Johnson, John Smoltz, and Pedro Martinez, along with second baseman Craig Biggio, joined the ranks of the games best, cementing their legacies in Cooperstown forever.

It took a little while, but Biggio eventually
punched his ticket for the Hall of Fame

Once again, the likes of Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, and Mark McGwire all missed the Hall, receiving less than 35% of the ballot each, far south of the 75% necessary for induction. This means that the home run king, the most decorated Cy Young Award winner, and the two most exciting players of the turn of the century are all on the outside looking in.

This has sparked serious unrest among voters, many of whom argue that there needs to be a change in perspective as we evaluate the worth of these players.

The old-fashioned idea is that cheaters have no place in baseball’s hallowed halls. This is, of course, an understandable approach, considering these individuals violated the very rules of the game they claimed to cherish, and shouldn’t reap rewards for being better than their clean peers if it was done through an unfair advantage.

The new argument is that the statistics and records they own belong in the hall, if nothing else, and that each of these players should be placed in the Hall of Fame, while their connection to steroids should be displayed prominently on their plaques.

Things get even murkier for players who have been discussed in the steroid conversation, but who haven’t ever been found to be nearly as guilty as the likes of Bonds or Clemens. Jeff Bagwell is an excellent example. Bagwell has the stats to get in. Tim Kurkjian referred to him Tuesday as quite possibly one of the top 5 first basemen of all time.  Yet his connection to steroids has kept him out of the hall, with very little evidence to his guilt.

The reality is that there are cheaters already in the Hall of Fame. We don’t know who they are, or else they probably wouldn’t have gotten in. But they are there, and it is incredibly ignorant to assume that the Baseball Writers of America have properly kept out all of the steroid users. They are, then, faced with the challenge of figuring out where to go from there.

One of the other issues with the Hall of Fame voting was brought up by Curt Schilling the day of the announcement. Schilling was on the ballot for the third time. This year, he received 39.2% of the vote, which was up from his first year. His comment was that he hasn’t thrown a pitch in the past year. What makes him one, two, five percent more qualified for the Hall of Fame this year than last? Why make people wait to be in the Hall if they are eventually deserving?

As a whole, the Hall of Fame process is quickly becoming a problem that could drastically belittle the greatness of baseball. As an avid fan, it would be a travesty to see the beautiful game tarnished even further by those who chose to forsake the rules, instead choosing personal advancement over the integrity of the game. That being said, we have reached the Catch-22 where baseball is only doing itself a disservice by continuing to prevent entry for those who hold the greatest achievements in the baseball world. To continue to bar them from the Hall does no further damage to their image, and only works to dilute the value of those already in the Hall.

The door needs to be widened to give entry to all who statistically are among the best in the game. As much as it saddens true baseball lovers, it is important that even the cheaters be granted entry, so that their statistics can give the proper context for all that makes baseball so great. If possible, we need to identify the cheaters and make sure that they’re legacies are known to be tainted, but we cannot take away the fact that the Hall of Fame is meant for the players who performed at the highest level, regardless of the means used to accomplish their feats.