One Last Hall of Fame Rant

A long time wrong was finally righted when Bert Blyleven was voted into the Hall of Fame. A short term wrong was righted when Robby Alomar entered his rightful place in the Hall. The rest of it is just messed up. The whole thing is simply bogus. It became clear yesterday that not one single player who was ever suspected of or confirmed as using PEDs will ever be elected. Even Joe Posnanski, the forever optimist who had believed that the steroid stance would soften now says that Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens will never be elected. If that's so, then A-Rod will never be elected either. What a crock.

As far as the Fan can tell, this is the ONLY moral issue that's ever prevented players from entering the Hall (besides the betting of Rose and the Black Sox thing). Guys can have used cocaine (they are in the Hall). Guys can have used greenies (they are in the Hall). Guys can have abused alcohol and run around on their wives (they are in the Hall), but you are forever damned if you even look like you used PEDs. The entire clause that these writers stand on is a bogus premise to begin with. Tyrants, jerks, alcoholics, cheaters, womanizers and worse populate the Hall in great numbers. And yet, this character clause can be used like a cloak for these writers who are the judges and jury on the best players of the 80s and 90s (and after). It's all bogus. Can the Fan repeat that? It's ALL bogus.

The Fan will grant you that PEDs were against the rules and against the law. But there was no enforcement and no testing until 2003. The commissioner, team owners, managers and team trainers looked the other way if it meant an increase in popularity for the game after several devastating strikes. Those officials are just as responsible for the things that happened as were those who used. Add in the complicity of the writers who did not dig into this topic despite rumors and innuendos. The writers looked the other way and now those same writers are judge and jury over who gets in the Hall of Fame. It's all bogus.

Since Rose is forever banned (and that's another story that's bogus), this means that the guy with the most hits ever, the guy with the most homers ever and one of the best pitchers of our generation will not be in the Hall of Fame. Well, let the Fan tell you then that the Hall of Fame is then bogus. If the best of the best are not in there, then it is no longer a viable entity. You might as well put the whole thing in the Mormon Tabernacle and put Donny Osmond in charge.

This would be akin to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame banning the Beatles because they were busted for drugs. In place of Heyman, some writer would be saying that the Beatles never would have written Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band if they weren't tripping. Therefore, since the tripping aided their music, it doesn't count. What poppycock.

The Hall of Fame is for the best players. Period. End of story. Bottom line. Get over your moralistic crap and look at your own tax returns and your own speedometer when you're driving on the highway. Yeah, you are all so perfect, each and every darn one of you. What crap. The Hall of Fame should only be for pure players? Oh Geez, then you better get Molitor out of there and old Gaylord. Better kick the Mick out and Hank because he said he once tried greenies. Give it a rest.

And let's take a step back and look at what steroids do. They allow you to build bigger muscles while you work out. Did you get the last part...WORK OUT. In other words,  you couldn't just take a pill or get a shot and lie on your couch and get muscles. You had to work. And these guys worked their butts off to be the best players they could be. History is littered with those who have gotten ahead because they have worked harder than anybody else. Did everyone in that history lead a perfect life? That's not the point. We aren't talking about who is going to heaven or hell. We are talking about who is going to the Hall of Fame because they are the BEST PLAYERS.

Rafael Palmiero did things that only four other players in history have done. A product of his time? Well, yeah. But not everyone of his time put up those numbers, did they? Where is Ozzie Canseco in the pantheon of performance? Nowhere. Where is Jeremy Giambi? Nowhere. Steroids couldn't make them great players because they never were. So yeah, the Fan will be with you if you discount Bonds homer total and concede that it was inflated. But the guy still had to hit them. None of the other steroid guys hit that many.

Oh, what's the use. The Fan knows he is spitting into the wind. The writers have all the power and they have decided they are the arbiters of history. They don't care that an entire generation of fans will never get to go to Cooperstown and see their favorite players. Nobody in the world likes Barry Bonds, but people in San Francisco loved him. But now they have to feel bad about that joy they had watching him play. This Fan will NEVER forget watching the game where Roger Clemens struck out twenty batters. But all that is moot because Roger is a pariah.

This Fan would support anyone who rises up and leads a revolt of the current Hall of Fame. It's time to overthrow the whole thing and build a new one. We'll build a better one where WAR is king and the best players at their positions and of their eras will be celebrated and featured. We won't have the artifacts. They can keep those dusty old things up in upper New York. That place has become null and void and is no longer meaningful. It's pathetic and we all can thank those glorified Puritan judges that fill the rank and file of the writers organization that has botched the hell out of this whole mess.

Cooperstown was once on this writer's list of places that had to be seen before life is over. It was right up there with Tahiti, England and the Grand Canyon. It's off the list now. The Fan doesn't care if he ever sees it now. This will be the last rant on this subject. The Fan has wasted enough energy on those pathetic Hall of Fame voters. Screw 'em.