A Strike in Voting

Stephon Hall

Sports Editor

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     The Baseball Writers Association of America rule this playground called integrity. A group of people left with determining who is qualified for Hall of Fame status without a hint of suggestive issues with Performance Enhancing Drugs (or PEDs for short) or “character issues” pertaining to an individual. Every year, Baseball writers submit a HOF ballot for their player of choosing and the player(s) must be in the 75th percentile in order to qualify. In an unprecedented grasp of surprise, one baseball writer decided for the good of America and said, to heck with morality and gave his vote to Deadspin, a sports website that isn’t like other traditional sports websites. Who on earth would commit such a gamble? Well, Dan LeBatard of ESPN (and, sometimes, the Miami Herald on a freelance basis) would make such a decision.

     He grew tired of votes for potential candidates like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Curt Schilling, for example getting jilted because of steroid use in the Major Leagues. I’m still astonished at the idea that Baseball, which benefitted from the home runs performances of Mark McGuire and Sammy Sosa (Both players were pursuing Roger Maris’s 61 home runs in a season in which both of them broke with McGuire at 70 and Sosa at 66). That was back in 1998, for those of you wondering how long ago where we as fans or pundits didn’t care about supplements.

   
     Too much of sports, just like baseball, is placed in a cathedral, where every player must take some ridiculous oath to uphold a lot of the principles of the game that pertains to keep a level of pride and respect for the game by staying away from the “magic elixir” that we tarnish many players legacy for in favor of character shaming, because Ryan Braun let you down by taking that potion to keep playing at a high-level. But, players were taking “Greenies” to improve performances on the field and other forms of amphetamines. So, it’s fair to keep players we deem as jerks or “shamed” the game to a point where a particular Simpsons character utters “Will someone please think of the children” as an out for such debate? We didn’t mind it during the eras of Babe Ruth, Willie Mays or vice versa.

     I can’t give a poignant answer as to why, but, man, it’s all so curious as to why LeBatard did what he did by giving his vote away so that fans could have a say on who deserves this honor. I mean, Bob Costas, Vin Scully, Bill James and other baseball historians can’t even vote at all. Dan later regretted this decision when he became a significant part of the story as he first confirmed it on his television show “Highly Questionable.” ESPN and the Herald strayed away from his decision in separate statements.

     So, while his stance didn’t do anything but revoke his voting privileges, it was a brave attempt to shake up the BBWAA a little bit. Unfortunately, that fire didn’t grow rapidly enough for that organization to balk to a reporter who’s known for sports anarchy. Someday, this may change, but for now this is a “moral victory” for baseball writers and just the beginning for this interesting debate on who deserves voting power.