One of the most anticipated moments for baseball fans, inductions into the baseball hall of fame occurred Jan. 9.
I look forward to this event every year. Fans sit on the edge of their seats, waiting to see if their favorite player made his way into Cooperstown. The suspense was killer and the moment was finally here, president of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, Jeff Idelson, opened the card and read the paper inside.
“For the first time since 1996, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America has voted no player into the class of 2013.”
Well that was anti-climatic.
Is the BBWAA insane? Craig Biggio, Jack Morris, Mike Piazza and Curt Schilling are some of the best players the sport has seen. Yet they were not chosen for the hall. Sure they’ll be on the ballot next year, but so will stars like Tom Glavine, John Smoltz, Greg Maddux and Jeff Kent. With each writer only allowed 10 votes, these fresh new names could pull the attention away, leaving people who deserve a spot, like Jeff Bagwell, without one.
The big shocker of the poll was Biggio fell short at 68.2 percent (of the 75 percent needed). Biggio was a phenomenal athlete who is part of the 3000 hit club. This alone should guarantee a first ballet induction. Only four players who have hit this milestone weren’t inducted first ballet. Pete Rose, who is banned, Derek Jeter who is still playing, Rafael Palmeiro who used steroids, and finally Biggio who wasn’t inducted because of less than wise votes by the BBWAA.
However there is a silver lining in the BBWAA’s choices. Barry Bonds (36.2 percent), Roger Clemons (37.6 percent), Mark McGwire (16.9 percent), and Sammy Sosa (12.5 percent) fell well short of the needed percent for the hall of fame. The fact that these players were even on the ballet is a disgrace to the league. These players cheated, plain and simple. The stats that have been placed in the record books are completely false and it shows that their careers would only be mediocre without the enhancements.
There is no doubt that this years induction list caused some stir, with players who used performance enhancement drugs, it made the writers make a choice between legitimate players who put up astounding numbers and players who put up artificial stats.
So there it is, the best time of the year (excluding the World Series) was a giant bust. Baseball fans will just have to wait until next year to see if the legends that deserve induction can reach the amount of votes needed.