Wednesday, January 9, 2013

No One Elected To Baseball Hall Of Fame

From the Chicago Tribune: The 569-member jury of the Baseball Writers Association of America issued its version of a guilty verdict Wednesday to those confirmed, admitted, accused or suspected of participating in what has become known as baseball's Steroid Era.
And while some assumed innocent players may have suffered, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and the Cubs' Sammy Sosa — despite record-breaking accomplishments — were left on the outside looking in at the nation's shrine to the national pastime.
For only the eighth time in history, and the first time since 1996, no players were selected to the Baseball Hall of Fame after the 2013 ballots were tallied.
The only inductees for the July 28 ceremonies on a grassy lawn in quaint Cooperstown, N.Y., will be those three selected by the special veterans committee.
"Obviously, no one in Cooperstown was rooting for a shutout," said Hall of Fame President Jeff Idelson, "but we have a great respect for the process."
Closest to reaching the 75 percent vote necessary for induction were former Astros second baseman Craig Biggio (68.2 percent), former World Series hero Jack Morris (67.7), Biggio teammate Jeff Bagwell (59.6) and longtime Dodgers catcher Mike Piazza (57.8).  http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/ct-spt-0110-baseball-hall-of-fame--20130110,0,3682541.story
I have mixed feelings.  I have no doubt that Barry Bonds used performance enhancing drugs, but it hasn't been  proven.
Even if Bonds did take the PED's, he still has to have the talent to hit a 95mph fastball or a curve ball.  His hand-eye coordination had to be brilliant to be able to hit so many baseballs and so far. 
As far as Roger Clemens goes, he still had to make his pitches dance so that baseball hitters could not hit the ball.  He also had to have the ability to change the speed of the pitches to keep[ the hitters off guard.  Clemens also says he never took steroids.
So, was it the right decision by the baseball writers to keep these superstars out of the Hall of Fame?  Short of an admission or evidence of wrong doing then they deserve to be in the Hall of Fame.

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