A Baseball Hall of Fame ballot with no consideration for ‘character’

The Hall of Fame annually asks voters to reply 2 questions.

First, wherever are we going to gully the enactment connected performance? That is an exceptionally hard question, due to the fact that parsing the quality betwixt the apical 1% and the apical 2% of thing is difficult. On statistic alone, determination are mostly 10 oregon 12 names connected each ballot who tin beryllium reasonably enactment connected either broadside of the line.

On these bubble players, continued probe simply keeps moving them backmost and distant crossed the line, similar watching a tennis match.

I person ever chosen trim to that contented by making that enactment arsenic precocious arsenic possible. For the astir part, if I consciousness similar I tin spell either mode connected the player, I permission him disconnected my ballot. This year, I’m adding conscionable 1 from the bubble list, who we’ll get to later.

The 2nd question the Hall of Fame asks is connected “character” and “integrity.”

I ever consciousness overmuch much assured successful my determination connected this question, due to the fact that I’m conscionable not going to reply it astatine all. Many of my astir respected voting colleagues, and surely millions of fans, volition disagree with me. I person nary reluctance connected this one, due to the fact that years agone I decided not to adjacent effort to justice integrity, for a fistful of reasons.

It’s a shot depository and this is simply a shot award. The bottommost enactment is I truly don’t attraction what benignant of radical these guys are, due to the fact that their occupation has ne'er been to beryllium relation models. They didn’t get their jobs that way. They don’t support them that way. They don’t get paid that way. If a wide manager said helium was gathering a squad to person the astir “integrity” and “character,” you would each rotation your eyes and kick that you conscionable privation to person the champion squad and triumph the astir games.

The Hall of Fame is perfectly susceptible of making its ain quality judgments earlier giving maine a ballot. I’ve ne'er seen Pete Rose’s sanction connected a ballot, due to the fact that the Hall decided that players who were connected Major League Baseball’s ineligible database were not eligible to beryllium voted into the Hall. But the Hall puts Barry Bonds connected the ballot. Manny Ramirez, who was really suspended for show enhancing drugs, is connected determination too. If the Hall wants to determine that different offenses — too betting connected shot — are truthful egregious that it should exclude players from the Hall, they tin instrumentality those players disconnected the ballot.

It’s OK to springiness small (or no) value to the “character clause,” due to the fact that we’ve each done it already. The MVP ballot besides instructs voters to see a player’s “general character, disposition, loyalty and effort.” You didn’t cognize that due to the fact that nary 1 seems to care. Stories astir Bonds’ alleged steroid usage had already been published earlier Bonds won the MVP successful 2004.

Character is simply a moving target, portion show isn’t. Once a subordinate stops playing, his numbers ne'er change. His quality and integrity, of course, tin beryllium viewed otherwise depending connected what helium does for the remainder of his life. Kirby Puckett was elected to the Hall of Fame successful 1999, the archetypal twelvemonth helium was eligible. In 2002, Puckett was progressive successful a bid of incidents successful which helium was charged with mendacious imprisonment, fifth-degree transgression intersexual behaviour and fifth-degree assault. He was recovered not guilty. No 1 gets removed from the Hall of Fame due to the fact that of actions aft they’re elected, truthful I’m not going to clasp those aforesaid actions against them if they hap earlier they’re elected. I’m conscionable voting connected a player’s career, period.

On performance-enhancing drugs, the victims could person stopped the crime, and they didn’t. Who really suffered erstwhile players took steroids? As acold arsenic I tin tell, the radical who were astir damaged were the different players. If the players would person acted to get steroids retired of the crippled erstwhile they archetypal surfaced successful the precocious 1980s, nary 1 would person stopped them. The information that they fto it spell connected until it became a PR contented successful 2002 tells maine that it truly didn’t fuss that galore of them that much, truthful wherefore should it fuss maine now?

Amphetamines were performance-enhancing drugs too, and nary 1 seems to attraction astir that. No, they didn’t enactment arsenic well. We don’t judge anyone ever took greenies to interruption a hallowed record. But the favoritism is 1 of science, not integrity. It’s hard for maine to judge that players successful erstwhile eras who took 1 substance to get amended would not person taken another, much effective, substance to get better. The bottommost enactment is players volition ever bash immoderate is disposable to amended their performance, and I’m not going to azygous retired 1 procreation which happened to beryllium playing astatine a clip that subject got better. Hall of Famers Mike Schmidt, Bob Gibson and Buck O’Neill person each said arsenic much. “The only reason we didn’t use steroids was due to the fact that we didn’t have steroids,” O’Neill famously said.

There are already steroid-users successful the Hall of Fame. I don’t cognize with 100% certainty who used, but I consciousness beauteous comfy successful saying that idiosyncratic did. I’m not going to beryllium presumptuous capable to formed my ballot arsenic if I cognize who did what.

Once I established that I wasn’t going to beryllium judging quality connected my Hall of Fame ballot, there’s lone 1 enactment to interest about: the show line. The players who are intelligibly implicit that line, to me, are Bonds, Roger Clemens, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Curt Schilling and Gary Sheffield. On a purely statistical basis, each of them are beauteous comfortably Hall of Famers, successful my opinion. It’s the aforesaid 5 I voted for past year, positive newcomers Rodriguez and Ortiz.

The occupation each twelvemonth are the guys who are sitting close astir wherever that enactment of show goes. That’s a radical that includes Bobby Abreu, Todd Helton, Andruw Jones, Jeff Kent, Scott Rolen, Sammy Sosa, Omar Vizquel and Billy Wagner.

There’s a statistical lawsuit to beryllium made for each of those players. I could surely speech myself into voting for immoderate of them. This twelvemonth I americium adding 1 of them to my ballot: Helton. His OPS-plus, which includes an accommodation for a player’s location field, is 133, which is higher than anyone other connected the bubble list. He besides played Gold Glove defense.

Helton has a vocation slash enactment of .316/.414/.539, and beauteous overmuch anyone who goes .300/.400/.500 is simply a Hall of Famer successful my book. I had been holding Coors Field against him for his archetypal fewer years connected the ballot, but present I deliberation that was discounting him excessively much. He inactive had an .855 OPS connected the road, which is the aforesaid arsenic Rolen’s wide OPS and amended than each 1 of my bubble players but Sosa (.878) and Abreu (.870). Helton had a amended OPS-plus and a higher WAR than some of them, truthful that’s wherefore helium got my ballot and they didn’t.

I’ll proceed the tennis lucifer with the remainder of them adjacent year.