My view on the Hall of Fame: The institution is as imperfect as its
members and voters. To pretend it is holy, or that letting some player in would
ruin the Hall’s purity is laughable. For instance:
·
Whitey Ford and Gaylord Perry admitted to
doctoring baseballs throughout their careers.
·
Willie Mays and Mike Schmidt admitted to using
amphetamines for much of their careers. Hank Aaron admitted to trying them.
·
Ty Cobb beat up a handicapped man. Juan Marichal
beat an opposing player with a bat during a game. Paul Molitor admitted to
cocaine use. Orlando Cepeda did jail time for smuggling drugs.
·
Paul Waner, Grover Cleveland Alexander, and Hack
Wilson all admitted to playing drunk and drinking during games.
·
Scores upon scores of racists, segregationists,
womanizers, addicts, game fixers, doers of unsavory deeds (alleged, implied, or
generally acknowledged) and numerous all around awful human beings. All of this
was public knowledge before they were elected.
·
Most notably, it’s impossible to know who *didn’t*
do what. We’ll never know for 100% certainty that Griffey or Ripken or Maddux
or anyone didn’t do bad things.
Playing the morality police or pretending to know who did or didn’t do
what when is sanctimonious and pointless. All we can truly know is what
happened on the field, and that’s all we should focus on. Let individuals draw
their own conclusions.
