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5. Voting: Voting shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.
I think the info which you highlighted above sums it up. This would have to do with being a player. It doesn't state anything about personal conduct 'away from the game'. You do have to realize that players years ago didn't have the same risk with contact with the press that they do today. If a guy in the 60's fought a reporter, it wasn't going to be on the 5 o'clock news.
Integrity is the main characteristic that would nullify a lot of the steroid era gang.
The beat writers lack character and integrity, at times, when it comes to HoF voting.
Beat writers can be nothing but huge jerks at times if they don't like the coach or a player etc. Always has been this way and it goes way beyond any HOF vote and flows right into their daily columns and radio shows.
I would suspect that the baseball writers would collectively reflect the same distributions of personality that you find in any occupational group. Some bright and fair minded, some bright but driven by personal agenda, a large segment of mediocre conventional wisdom distributors, and a few dim bulbs.
Regardless of their personal integrity, or lack of it, collectively they appear to be trying to take character and integrity into account when executing their Hall voting function. Two thirds of them didn't vote for Clemens or Bonds, and of course the only possible reason for not voting for either of these hyper accomplished players is their PEDs use. And they are not drawing a line between levels of stardom. Mark McGwire started at 25% and has lost votes each year since. Palmiero drew next to nothing, as did Sosa. The message has been consistent and unambiguous....the known roiders are in disgrace and we're not going to honor them.
I'm satisfied with their call, like them I feel no urge to watch honors being bestowed upon people who have spent years lying to the public.
Seems like the hall would just make itself increasingly irrelevant over time if it tries to "exclude" players like Bonds or Clemens. Baseball history itself certainly doesn't exclude them, and if the hall starts to seem like a whitewash, fans will stop caring about the hall.
I would suspect that the baseball writers would collectively reflect the same distributions of personality that you find in any occupational group. Some bright and fair minded, some bright but driven by personal agenda, a large segment of mediocre conventional wisdom distributors, and a few dim bulbs.
Regardless of their personal integrity, or lack of it, collectively they appear to be trying to take character and integrity into account when executing their Hall voting function. Two thirds of them didn't vote for Clemens or Bonds, and of course the only possible reason for not voting for either of these hyper accomplished players is their PEDs use. And they are not drawing a line between levels of stardom. Mark McGwire started at 25% and has lost votes each year since. Palmiero drew next to nothing, as did Sosa. The message has been consistent and unambiguous....the known roiders are in disgrace and we're not going to honor them.
I'm satisfied with their call, like them I feel no urge to watch honors being bestowed upon people who have spent years lying to the public.
I'm not sure if that's what they did. It could be, or it could be the voters assuring that the guys don't make it on the first ballot. By numbers alone Clemens and Bonds should be in, but I agree that cheating should keep them out. With new stories coming out all the time, you never know what a few years might do; but maybe it wont change at all. To be continued...
Seems like the hall would just make itself increasingly irrelevant over time if it tries to "exclude" players like Bonds or Clemens. Baseball history itself certainly doesn't exclude them, and if the hall starts to seem like a whitewash, fans will stop caring about the hall.
In the last 20 years, I think there has been a major dropoff anyway when it comes to the hall appreciation.
In this era, you get the good with the bad. It's never fair, especially when a player isn't caught up in that steroid thing. At the same time, and Craig Biggio pointed this out at his Houston press conference, the Hall of Fame should be hard to get into. Period. Even Biggio said that he doesn't think that the voting process should be changed.
So, let's see what happens next year with Biggio and the 2014 first ballot candidates (Tom Glavine, Frank Thomas, and Greg Maddux), along with Jeff Bagwell. The two former Astros deserve to be in there and ought to go in together.
And I still can't believe that Dale Murphy hasn't been voted in already. That is not right.
Hey, let's not just assume with Maddux and Glavine, that just because we've got Cy Young winners over here that they are going to get in on the first ballot, or even the first couple of ballots. It's clearly obvious that chicks dig the long ball, and you just don't know how long the are going to worship these guys.
Biggio will eventually get in. Probably next year.
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