Day 130

Fresh Start_130: Baseball’s O.J. Simpson Trial
With the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame ballot coming to a close and the finalist being looked over one last time, like Santa Claus the night before Christmas, baseball writers across the country will have a heavy standard to set with this year’s ballot. Clemens, Bonds, and Sosa all return to the ballot for their 4th year of eligibility and the writers will have a very important decision to make. Of the 34 players eligible these 3 and Bonds and Clemens in particular will once again be in the spotlight. Their careers will be forever linked to steroids and well writers across the country will have to put the stamp on whether to let players in or not. Bonds and Clemens are the “stand alone” candidates for more than one reason and as a person who strongly opposes the use of HGH or steroids, I once again would leave these two out in the cold this year. And I hope my thinking hasn’t washed away with the new year.

It has become an increasingly more difficult conversation to have about these particular players, because of the stench that it would leave on the game and the hall of fame. The Baseball Hall of Fame is the most prestigious hall of fame to get into out of all the major sports hall of fames. I don’t want to take my kids to the hall of fame one day and have Bonds or Clemens plaque staring me in the face. Not only that, but that would open up the door for players like Alex Rodriguez, and reopen the door for a guy like Mark McGwire. It would be a slippery slope for the game of baseball to allow those guys in. I wouldn’t feel right going to games and supporting the game, if the writers let those guys in. There has to be a price for the guys who cheated when there wasn’t a penalty in place. The guys that took advantage like Bonds and Clemens have to know that juicing your way to the hall of fame isn’t going to happen, and that staple has to be place for other players that will be eligible in the future that used. The game has to be played clean and the hall has to remain the same way.

So this is my plea to the writers who have a ballot in their hands and have the power to determine whether or not my children stare at Barry Bonds’ face in the hall of fame in the future or not. So please disregard the numbers, accolades, MVP’s, records, and Wins Above Replacement—this is a case of right and wrong. This is the biggest battle that the game of baseball has had to fight in the modern age of the game, and the right side needs to come on top. Don’t let this happen to the game that I love, please.
Sources:(theringer.com, cbssports.com)

Don’t forget to like, comment, subscribe, and share on your way out!    

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The 2023 Offseason is Brian Cashman's Biggest Test Yet

Image
   Now that the World Series is over five days from now the offseason begins. With that in mind, this is the biggest offseason that Brian Cashman will have in his 25-year tenure as Yankee General Manager. For the first time since 2016 the Bronx Bombers watched the postseason from their couches, and they earned that right. Amazingly, this team finished over .500, although not that far above that mark. This iteration of the Bronx Bombers finish with the same record as that 2016 team—but the feeling with this squad feels different. Following the 2016 season, there was hope of the two power bats that would usher in the “Baby Bombers,” and in that offseason, the farm system was rated in the Top 10 in all of baseball. There was almost certainty that Brian Cashman would put a championship team around Aaron Judge, Gary Sanchez, Greg Bird, and Luis Severino that would be a title contender for years to come. There was hope. And that hope almost turned into reality. Almost. But, that was then
Read more

The Question going into the Trade Deadline for the New York Yankees

  There is a crossroads in the Bronx in between River and 161 st Street right now. As New York Yankee Manager Aaron Boone likes to put it “[the season] is right in front of them.” The second half of the season is for the taking. As we move into the dog days of summer the Bronx Bombers are nine games out of the division and now a game and a half out of the AL Wild Card race following a disappointing first series in Colorado. With that, the historic starting Tampa Bay Rays have cooled off, going 3-7 before the break while showing signs of being mortal. Baltimore, who has been keeping pace with Tampa, didn’t look like a Superpower when they split against the Yankees two series before the break. The AL East is still a Spartan Training Facility with every team above .500, the Orioles holding the first Wild Card spot, and the “struggling” Boston Red Sox tied the Yankees in the Wild Card race. And unlike Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire, help is not on the way. Aaron Judge’s toe is still a m
Read more

The Answer for the Mets

  As Yogi Berra would say “it’s déjà vu all over again.” Buck Showalter is an all too familiar place. The 67-year-old manager has taken a time machine back to 2012. No, he is not managing in Baltimore anymore, however that’s what it feels like the end of Showalter’s Oriole tenure in Queens right now. The Mets simply can’t get out of their own way. With Pete Alonso likely headed to the Injured List, the Mets scored 10 runs last night in Atlanta. 10 runs on the heels of back-to-back gut-wrenching losses at the hands of the team that has foiled the Mets for the better part of almost three decades, the Atlanta Braves. 10 runs with their hired ace, Justin Verlander, who was looking to put together good starts consecutively for the first time all season. The Mets looked like they were about to exercise some demons in Atlanta last night, and then, the other shoe dropped. It wasn’t good enough. Again. Last night, I wrote that the Mets season was on the line with Verlander toeing the slab. Well
Read more