The swing of spring
The latest from Major League Baseball...The Veterans Committee for the National Baseball Hall of Fame failed to elect anyone when voting results were announced on Wednesday. It's obvious after this and the similar vote two years ago that the Hall of Famers want to keep their club as exclusive as possible. I can't say any of the names on the ballot jumped out at me this year unless we consider some of the candidates that made significant contributions off the field like Curt Flood. The on-field qualifications (read: statistics) for these candidates just aren't there. Still, it's incredibly unfair to put these men through this process every two years. Many have gone-- and will continue to go-- to their graves only after decades of torture, and poor Ron Santo has lost most of his dignity playing the diabetes card to the hilt. It makes one wonder why this committee even exists at all if it's not going to honor anyone, but maybe that's their idea.
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I'm trying to figure out why Mark McGwire is being asked to testify before Congress on the issue of steroids. Is the hearing designed to bring stricter testing to the game, or is it about prosecuting past crimes? Either way, Big Mac need not be involved? He hasn't been linked to steroids in any legal case, and as a retired player, he's out of the current game. I hope he simply issues a statement reiterating what he's already said, and refuses to appear. Donald Fehr and Bud Selig, the decision-makers on this issue (in that order,) should be asked to answer for current and past league policies. I'm reminded of the way Frank Sinatra would be dragged in front of Congressional hearings on organized crime in the 1960s and 70s. He was only there to generate publicity.
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Discussion topic: With the Cubs beginning to retire more numbers (Santo last year and Ryne Sandberg this year), will Sammy Sosa's number 21 one day hang from a flagpole at Wrigley Field?
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Congrats to Cardinals' fan Steve Fossett for becoming the first man to pilot a plane around the world alone without stopping or refueling. You might remember that Fossett chose Busch Stadium in St. Louis as his departure location for each of his first two unsuccessful balloon launches early in the decade.
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Quote of the day: Marlins' reliever Antonio Alfonseca, on his tenure with the Cubs, "I didn't want to stay there. The fans, they went crazy. I thought, 'Maybe I've got to quit. I've got to quit baseball.' And I almost did."
posted by CM @ 7:37 PM
4 Comments:
I don't have a problem with the Veteran's Committee not voting for anybody. The Hall of Fame is full enough and I have a feeling in the coming years they're going to get really lax, letting in plenty of guys with steroid-inflated, smaller-ballpark numbers.
There isn't anybody that isn't in there that should be. Except Pete Rose, obviously.
Doesn't it seem obvious that both McGwire and Sosa must have taken steroids? I suppose it's easier for me to admit steroid use for Sosa due to his rotten attitude and ego-centric behavior than it is for you with MacGwire. For me, with all team preferences aside, all anyone needs to do is look at their rookie trading cards.
Having said that, I agree that MacGwire shouldn't be made to testify.
As for retiring Sosa's number, I have definite mixed feelings. No one can deny the greatly positive impact he had on the Cubs, the city of Chicago and Baseball as a whole. However, he seems reluctant to attempt to mend any good relations with the Cubs organization. It's as if he doesn't want to be remembered well by anyone in Chicagoland.
It's become a critical argument for widespread steroid use that it has to be so because players are so much bigger than they used to be, but don't forget that before the 1980s, weightlifting of any kind was frowned upon in baseball. The thought was that you needed fluid muscles rather than bulging biceps. The expectation that it would also increase injuries has proven to be true, but that's the trade-off teams are willing to make.
As far as McGwire, he always played hard on the field, and it would seem there's a positive corelationship between busting your tail on the field and off. He did hit 49 home runs his rookie year. Ultimately, I look at it like this-- those of us on the outside can't know for sure, so I can choose to believe McGwire or Canseco. Putting aside even their disparate reputations, I wouldn't be much of a fan if I chose to believe Canseco.
I think Sosa's number being retired hinges on what becomes of the reputations of all the sluggers in this era. The splintered bat and the last day at Wrigley will be quickly forgotten if Sosa lets it die and doesn't burn his bridges in the press. It wouldn't be retired until after Dusty Baker and most of the current players are gone, but it would happen.
Well said. I didn't realize that MacGwire had that kind of power at the beginning of his career.
As far as Canseco is concerned, the less atention he is given the better. You can't believe a word he says.
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