Baseball and Fireworks

Does Fame equal ethics?

Hello Sports fans! It’s been a long week and now were back to rant about baseball, hotdogs, apple pie and, well, more baseball. It is 4th of July week after all.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame , famous, historical, and incomplete.
The Hall Of Fame. By definition what is it? I think wikipedia has a pretty good grasp with the following “is a museum operated by private interests serving as the central point for the study of the history of baseball in the United States and beyond, the display of baseball-related artifacts and exhibits, and the honoring of persons who have excelled in playing, managing, and serving the sport. The Hall's motto is "Preserving History, Honoring Excellence, Connecting Generations".

Did anyone read anything about ethics in that? Ok, so here’s the issue. Joe Jackson, Pete Rose, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and eventually Barry Bonds should be there and they’re not. It’s really quite simple; they epitomize the most famous players to have played the game in our lifetime. To not include the history (and yes that means the good and the bad history) of these prolific players and their contributions to the sport lessens it. Is there not a war in our history books? Is there no record of hate crimes or racial segregation in museums? Get real America! The good players who have made mistakes along the way have taught us to adapt the rules when necessary and that managing is all about change. They do not in any way defame the sport or the entertainment industry.

I do not personally care for the class shown or not shown by a few of the aforementioned talents, but they are talents none the less, each with at least a significant milestone of importance to the history of the game, and most of them carry several records and milestones. Baseball would be much worse for wear without the accomplishments of Pete, Joe, Mark, Sammy, and Barry and those accomplishments are due to be included in the hallmark. OK, maybe they should not be allowed to participate any longer because as history notes, they cheated.

Would they have been there if not for cheating? For Rose and Jackson, absolutely, there inclusion should not even be questioned at all. For McGwire and Sosa, the jury would be out, they had about a 50/50 chance of performing at the level of play without steroids, but the legalities of the drugs come into question. The substances were not banned from baseball during the time when they were being used. Andro, In fact was over the counter in any vitamin and fitness shop. It was legal and readily available to all who would pay the $14.00 per bottle. Now that steroids are banned form the game, suspensions and punishments are well defined. At the pinnacles of these others careers, they were not. This is baseballs problem, not societies. Baseball needs to ensure that its house is in order by testing, clear rules and clear punishments defined in advance, not knee jerk responses by writers and commissioners. Their contributions to the game should be the lone consideration for inclusion.

I once cheated on a test, was caught and given the grade I deserved, a zero. Was I erased from the class or the school, no? Was I given a free pass, no. Was I embarrassed, of course? Punished?, definitely. That zero is a part of who I was at the time, and I earned it. And it does not signify my life. I have no doubt that the grade book that holds its shameful letter is long gone, and not many remember the deed, but I do. I know its value in life, more now than then. Had I not got caught, I would have valued cheating, would have respected it, and most probably embraced it as acceptable behavior. I would like to thank the teacher who had the foresight to give me the zero, not let me retake the test and have to live with the grade, and yet at the same time, the teacher who did not recommend suspension or expulsion from the class or the school. I passed the class, and the school, had to work much harder to do so, and went on with life. Punished, yet not condemned. I think it was quite fair, even at the time.

Why, oh why, can’t the powers that be (baseball writers of America) get off their high horses and stop looking down upon ball players as superhero’s, yet figures of an entertainment industry. These men are not up for seats on the Supreme Court, yet they do sit atop some of the highest records in baseball history.


If the crime fits the punishment, then so be it, but in these cases, there is such a clear case of overkill that is just repugnant to the core. Is it the job of the baseball writers to bring ethics to the game, absolutely not? Is it the task of the baseball writers to condemn players for mistakes, again, absolutely not? Is the commissioner of baseball so powerful an entity as to leave two of the games most noteworthy players out of the inclusion in the history of the game; no way. Wake up commish, make a punishment that allows the game to have integrity, yet embraces its fame and famous. Include its warts, bruises, bumps and blemishes as part of an evolutionary, continuing sport.