Hall Of Shame

By Frank Solares

Another year has come and gone with the veterans committee, and they have dropped the ball yet again, with a lost opportunity in not including a great player that won 283 wins, and won 16 gold gloves. They also forgot a player that ranked fourth all time in strike outs and had 287 victories.

Please! Please here me out on this one America. Once you look at the numbers you might be convinced. Trust me I was not a believer at first, soon after checking out the numbers I was a believer.

Forgotten Past

Ever since I can remember Baseball has been a part of my life. We all fell in love with the romance in the game. 3-2 count bottom of the 9th, and a dangerous hitter at the plate versus a crafty pitcher. We have always marveled at the big hitters, and read off stats left and right. The hitter has always enchanted us with the big hits, key RBI, and walk off home runs. This has been the case since the beginning of time, in our national past time. We have discussed Cobb, The Babe, Wagner, Mays, Aaron, or Stan the Man, and every time with admiration of the stats, and the romance behind them.
A Dave Winfield can play into his forty’s and get 3000 hits, and we cheer the years that he gave Baseball. Yet no one gives the pitchers the respect they deserve, if he plays 20 years or more. Well not unless your name is Clemens (accusations aside), R Johnson, W Johnson, Page or Ryan.
We say. “The Man is a compiler”, and accuse him of hanging on to long to get records. All this without even giving one thought to the obvious argument, that teams would not sign a pitcher if he could no longer get outs. The compiler argument has been made, to keep players out of the Hall of Fame. Let’s look at the numbers and forget the era that these pitchers played in, and pretend that they are playing now.
Test case number one- Bert Blyleven Played 22 years, has given baseball over 40 years of service.
287 total wins (missing the 300 mark by 13 games, I can find you the blown saves that would have helped achieved this milestone)
Ten times he Won 15 or more games.
3701 strike outs, fourth all time
3.31 career ERA
60 career shutouts Ranking him 9th all time.
Two time World Series Champion
4 career postseason wins on 36 strikeouts
685 games started & Averaged 225.9 innings per yr
242 Complete games.
1.19 Career WHIP
If he had compiled these numbers today, people would consider him one of the greatest pitchers of all time. They would mention him in the same breath as Schilling, or Smoltz who will not have the same career numbers Blyleven had. Yet they will be in the hall of fame and not Bert.

Test case number two- James Lee Kaat Played 25 years, and gave baseball over 45 years of service.
283 total wins (missing the 300 mark by 17 games)
2461 career strikeouts
Won 17 or more Games 6 times
3 time 20 game winner, won 25 games in 1966
3.45 career ERA
31 career shutouts
180 career complete games
1966 player of the year
625 career starts
1.25 Career WHIP

Can you imagine if Kaat and Blyleven had these numbers in this baseball era? They would be considered first ballot Hall of Fame candidates. Why are these two men not in the Hall of Fame? How soon we forget the accomplishments of our former athletes. We show our love to the hitters, and praise them for having a long Career. Yet some pitchers will be dissected, and evaluated for years before consideration. Tell me why it took so long for Fingers, and the Goose to get nominated that should never be the case if they merit it from the start.
Next year the Veterans committee should look at the numbers and evaluate the heart of these Men who have given Base Ball Years of there life to the sport they love. Do it while they are still with us to enjoy it, so that we can stand with them and enjoy it together.
Hall of Shame

I wanted to stay out of this argument! It has been beaten to death, nine million times over, and the story is never going away. But I am a fan, and I do not know how to keep my mouth shut. We live in a great Nation! Our forefathers have laid the ground work for excellence. Sports have evolved in to great entertainment.

When we go to an arena we expect to see a great show. Fans pay millions each year to see there beloved teams. But ask yourself the question do Fans really care about all the hall of fame talk, regarding drug allegation?

The answer might be yes in some circles but not in all, depends what team you cheer for.
Tell me why? We have a double standard in performance enhancing drugs. Why do we expect one league to be cleaner than the other? MLB is held at a higher standard than the NFL, yet The No Fun League still has a drug problem, and yet has a policy in place since the late 80’s. Why do we expect more from MLB?

If I had a dollar, every time I heard, “Steroids are killing the game”. I would be richer than Paul Allen. Why do the writers, talk show host, and TV personal focus so much on the revered baseball records on one sport and not on others.

According to everyone you listen to, Baseball records are so important, and they must be kept, and respected. Really, says who? I love the sport, and value all the records posted in the past. But, come on!! Who are we kidding here? This is the same group of people that do not value the records of former pitchers like Jim Kaat, or Bert Blyleven, and indicate that only pure records should be considered.

Is Baseball not the sport that kept minorities out for almost 50 years? Are all those records wiped out as a result of that? Is Baseball not the sport that lowered the mound, after the dead ball era to aid the hitters? Should we throw out all the records in baseball do to Amphetamine use?

Why in one sport, does a player get ridiculed and is forced out of baseball (Rafael Palmero after a positive test) Bonds mistreated and criticized for being more of a jerk than a user. Now it seems even Clemens will be in that talk while you scoff at his achievements. Then you go after players like McGuire, and Sosa.

Yet the media celebrated all the accomplishments of Shawn Merriman, who was even named to the Pro Bowl the same year he was suspended for steroids. Go ahead Google it see how many articles were written on how Merriman was unfairly kept out of the Defensive player of the year. Fact or Fiction that guys! When Shawn goes to the hall of fame, little will be said about his positive test. Yet a year later the world wide leader ran a story on the fire that burns inside him and what a great guy he is, that my friends is a double standard.

This year keeping McGuire out of the hall of fame is wrong guys, It is just wrong!! No rule was in place on steroids. Yet all you righteous writers that did not vote for him should look in the mirror.

Where? Were you in 1998 when he was breaking the homerun record? How many articles did you guys write on how great he was for the game. I would ask you to Google it but they have disappeared. Like the top secret cold war files of the 80s. Well the great news is that your local library has micro slides on old news papers. Look it up my people, look it up!

According to Wikipedia, The Sporting news in 1999 had McGuire 91st out of 100 greatest players of all time (on the all century team). What changed from that time forward? Nothing! Give the man the honor he deserves vote for him next year, put him in! Do not forget that he was the only rookie to compile all those homeruns before the alleged use. Do not forget his numbers, and do not forget the past.

Make a 90’s wing in coopers town, have all the clean players on one side, and all the alleged steroid users on the other. Put McGuire at the beginning if you like, or better yet all the righteous writers should create a cheaters hall of fame, and add all the players that you feel cheated during a certain time period in sports. The cheaters hall can be housed in Canseco’s house. But make sure that Gaylord Perry is at the head of the class