Despite having HOF credentials up the wing-wang, former Astros slugger Jeff Bagwell, one of the rare breed of players that never played a major league game for any other team, is unlikely to be elected to baseball's Hall Of Fame today. While Bagwell never was implicated or named in any report, he did play during the same era as many other steroid users. That is a black enough mark on baseball, apparently, that some of the neoliths from the Baseball Writers Association Of America have decided to leave Bagwell off their ballot solely because he played during that time and they're afraid to make a mistake.
Bagwell, of course, has denied using steroids.There is no evidence that he has used any sort of drugs, and yet baseball writers don't really seem to care about that. I guess one of the flaws, if you can call it that, of an election via consensus, is that people tend to get wrapped up far too much in their beliefs rather than voting fairly. I'm straying this as far away from politics as possible, but if you believe that Jeff Bagwell doesn't deserve enshrinement due to something asinine, like how he didn't hit 500 homers, that is perfectly legit reasoning. It's faulty logic, but you are doing your job to the best of the standards laid before you.
The Hall Of Fame is, in all actuality, not a sanctified holy ground where California Angels sing and people are honored solely by being good at life. Racist Ty Cobb is in the Hall Of Fame, noted boozer Mickey Mantle is in the Hall Of Fame, admitted cheater Gaylord Perry is in the Hall Of Fame. It's absolutely ridiculous that an institution that has people such as this around is going to keep Bagwell out, temporarily, not even because of ALLEGED cheating, but because he played in an era of alleged cheaters. That doesn't even make sense. That's such a short-sighted and cronyist point of view that Drayton McLane just gave it a contract extension.
↵No, believe it or not, if you are in the BBWAA, your job is to evaluate who the greatest players of our time were and put them in the Hall Of Fame. I know there's that tempting little morals clause, the axes to grind against players that rubbed you the wrong way, and you need to make sure your oh-so-serious point of view that was informed by what your friend who might be a doctor thinks need to be heard. These things don't matter. This is about electing the greatest players of their time to join greats of their own respective eras in the Hall Of Fame.
↵Jeff Bagwell is one of the greats of this era. The fact that he will have to wait for another chance due to voters who can't see the forest for the trees is absolutely disgraceful. I am not even an Astros fan, but I will make it a point not to attend the Hall Of Fame until Bagwell is in there. There's not much the common fan can do in the face of such flippant stupidity, but we do have one vote against people like this: our wallets.
↵
Loading comments...