The Good Guys Should Get the Headlines
Something wasn't right about the Baseball Hall of Fame announcements last week. Normally when we get to see the results of the baseball writers' vote, all the talk is about who got in, and a lot of the time about who just missed getting in. This time around, all the press went to a guy who didn't even come close.
Mark McGwire got just 23% of the vote in his first time on the Hall of Fame ballot. I knew he wasn't going to get the required 75% to get in, but that was stunning that so many writers voted against him because of the cloud of suspicion surrounding him concerning steroid use. At the same time, it sent a message that I think needed to be sent. The baseball community does have a way of cleaning up its messes, although many think it doesn't. While the actual Major League rules on drug and steroid use were weak and ineffective for so long (and many think they still are), baseball acts as its own high society, willing to shun you if you slip up.
That's exactly what has happened with the Boys of Steroids from the last decade. McGwire went from hero to anti-hero in the amount of time it took to say, "I'm not here to discuss my past" to Congress a couple years back. Rafael Palmeiro swore up and down that he never used performance-enhancing drugs, promptly tested positive for a banned substance, blamed it on a teammate, and as Mike Tyson might say, faded into Bolivia. Sammy Sosa suddenly went from 50-60 home runs a year to barely getting the ball out of the infield as Palmeiro's Baltimore teammate the first year of steroid testing. Now Sosa's trying desperately to come back but nobody wants him. And as for the poster boy for steroid use, Barry "I Thought It Was Flaxseed Oil" Bonds... well, we find out this week that he may have tested positive for amphetamines last season, and he promptly did the Palmeiro thing and blamed a teammate, then apologized for that but wouldn't deny testing positive. Before that, there was the story that one of the anonymous urine samples that tested positive for 'roids in 2003 belonged to Bonds. In a recent ESPN.com poll, there were about as many people who wanted Bonds to even play this year as writers who wanted Big Mac in the Hall of Fame. In other words, we can't wait for Bonds to just go away like his peers have.
Oh by the way, in case you weren't paying attention, two guys DID get in the Hall of Fame this year, with two of the highest vote totals in history. Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn embody everything that is good about the game, but they had to take a backseat to all the talk of McGwire, which is unfortunate. How quickly we all pointed to Sosa and McGwire's pursuit of the home run record in 1998 as the real reason that baseball recovered from the 1994-95 players strike, and forgot about Ripken's pursuit of a different record. In 1995, when Cal passed Lou Gehrig for most consecutive games played, THAT is what made fans remember what baseball was all about. Tony Gwynn hit about 135 home runs in his career. That wasn't his game; he got you hits, he always got you hits. He cranked out over 3000 hits from a body that looked like it was fueled by cheeseburgers rather than by "the cream" or "the clear". Both played the game with child-like enthusiasm, a smile, and a dedication that grumps like Bonds don't understand and never will understand. Gwynn now coaches baseball at his alma mater, San Diego State, in a stadium that bears his name. Ripken had a whole level of Little League Baseball named after him. The only way Bonds will ever have anything named after him is if they open some sort of institute for failed marriages, tax evasion, and steroid abuse.
As for who didn't get in but should... well this is getting away from the original subject (which I tend to do anyway), but I think the people who deserved to get in got in this time around. There's a lot of talk about Jim Rice and Goose Gossage, but all I ever seem to remember from Rice is 4 great years (1975-78) followed by several average years followed by several baserunning blunders that helped cost Boston a world championship in '86. All I remember from Gossage is giving up the home run to George Brett in the 1980 ALCS, giving up the "pine tar" home run to Brett three years later, and giving up a World Series-clinching homer to Kirk Gibson in 1984. Maybe it's because of the eras they played in, when saves and home runs were less plentiful, but I don't see them ranking among the "dominant" players of their generation. Opponents feared Bruce Sutter. They feared Eddie Murray and Dave Winfield. Those guys are in the Hall.
Unfortunately, some of the "dominant" and "feared" players from that era aren't even mentioned anymore because of their drug problems, but baseball took care of them in their prime, before we had to worry about whether it would keep them out of the Hall of Fame. The real tragedy of the Boys of Steroids is that we didn't catch on to them until the end of their careers, when the numbers were in the books, the records were broken, and we had to wonder what we would do with them five years after retirement when their names appear on the Hall of Fame ballot. This will be as tough to stomach as it is now ridding the game of these people. Then again, some people will never be for that. I leave you with one question: which is the bigger travesty, that there were voters who DIDN'T vote for Ripken or Gwynn this year, or that there were 6 people who DID vote for Jose Canseco, the original Steroid Boy who started this whole mess?
Mark McGwire got just 23% of the vote in his first time on the Hall of Fame ballot. I knew he wasn't going to get the required 75% to get in, but that was stunning that so many writers voted against him because of the cloud of suspicion surrounding him concerning steroid use. At the same time, it sent a message that I think needed to be sent. The baseball community does have a way of cleaning up its messes, although many think it doesn't. While the actual Major League rules on drug and steroid use were weak and ineffective for so long (and many think they still are), baseball acts as its own high society, willing to shun you if you slip up.
That's exactly what has happened with the Boys of Steroids from the last decade. McGwire went from hero to anti-hero in the amount of time it took to say, "I'm not here to discuss my past" to Congress a couple years back. Rafael Palmeiro swore up and down that he never used performance-enhancing drugs, promptly tested positive for a banned substance, blamed it on a teammate, and as Mike Tyson might say, faded into Bolivia. Sammy Sosa suddenly went from 50-60 home runs a year to barely getting the ball out of the infield as Palmeiro's Baltimore teammate the first year of steroid testing. Now Sosa's trying desperately to come back but nobody wants him. And as for the poster boy for steroid use, Barry "I Thought It Was Flaxseed Oil" Bonds... well, we find out this week that he may have tested positive for amphetamines last season, and he promptly did the Palmeiro thing and blamed a teammate, then apologized for that but wouldn't deny testing positive. Before that, there was the story that one of the anonymous urine samples that tested positive for 'roids in 2003 belonged to Bonds. In a recent ESPN.com poll, there were about as many people who wanted Bonds to even play this year as writers who wanted Big Mac in the Hall of Fame. In other words, we can't wait for Bonds to just go away like his peers have.
Oh by the way, in case you weren't paying attention, two guys DID get in the Hall of Fame this year, with two of the highest vote totals in history. Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn embody everything that is good about the game, but they had to take a backseat to all the talk of McGwire, which is unfortunate. How quickly we all pointed to Sosa and McGwire's pursuit of the home run record in 1998 as the real reason that baseball recovered from the 1994-95 players strike, and forgot about Ripken's pursuit of a different record. In 1995, when Cal passed Lou Gehrig for most consecutive games played, THAT is what made fans remember what baseball was all about. Tony Gwynn hit about 135 home runs in his career. That wasn't his game; he got you hits, he always got you hits. He cranked out over 3000 hits from a body that looked like it was fueled by cheeseburgers rather than by "the cream" or "the clear". Both played the game with child-like enthusiasm, a smile, and a dedication that grumps like Bonds don't understand and never will understand. Gwynn now coaches baseball at his alma mater, San Diego State, in a stadium that bears his name. Ripken had a whole level of Little League Baseball named after him. The only way Bonds will ever have anything named after him is if they open some sort of institute for failed marriages, tax evasion, and steroid abuse.
As for who didn't get in but should... well this is getting away from the original subject (which I tend to do anyway), but I think the people who deserved to get in got in this time around. There's a lot of talk about Jim Rice and Goose Gossage, but all I ever seem to remember from Rice is 4 great years (1975-78) followed by several average years followed by several baserunning blunders that helped cost Boston a world championship in '86. All I remember from Gossage is giving up the home run to George Brett in the 1980 ALCS, giving up the "pine tar" home run to Brett three years later, and giving up a World Series-clinching homer to Kirk Gibson in 1984. Maybe it's because of the eras they played in, when saves and home runs were less plentiful, but I don't see them ranking among the "dominant" players of their generation. Opponents feared Bruce Sutter. They feared Eddie Murray and Dave Winfield. Those guys are in the Hall.
Unfortunately, some of the "dominant" and "feared" players from that era aren't even mentioned anymore because of their drug problems, but baseball took care of them in their prime, before we had to worry about whether it would keep them out of the Hall of Fame. The real tragedy of the Boys of Steroids is that we didn't catch on to them until the end of their careers, when the numbers were in the books, the records were broken, and we had to wonder what we would do with them five years after retirement when their names appear on the Hall of Fame ballot. This will be as tough to stomach as it is now ridding the game of these people. Then again, some people will never be for that. I leave you with one question: which is the bigger travesty, that there were voters who DIDN'T vote for Ripken or Gwynn this year, or that there were 6 people who DID vote for Jose Canseco, the original Steroid Boy who started this whole mess?
Labels: baseball, Hall of Fame, steroids
posted by Dave | 12:24 PM
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