It’s always been a restrictive club. A player’s got to earn his election to the Baseball Hall of Fame, has to pay his dues.
Unanimous election is unheard of; even making it on the first ballot is a challenge.
Yet while many baseball purists and dignitaries alike laud the intricate web of unspoken guidelines that the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) adheres to, others worry that the Hall is becoming too restrictive, showing more respect for baseball historians than the fans.
Of course, the Hall of Fame is meant to be more than a chapel for baseball’s worshipful masses, standing as a brick-and-mortar narrative for the game itself.
As protectors of that narrative, the Hall of Fame, the league, and the BBWAA have always worked to keep out those deemed unworthy: players who peak just shy of greatness and those who flout the rules and act dishonorably.
For some the definition of “greatness” is subjective and at times unreachable or even indecipherable. Is Fred McGriff‘s career, one on par with or better than Hall of Famers Willie Stargell and Willie McCovey, really worth just 17.9 percent of the vote this year?
Did it really take 14 years for the B.B.W.A.A. to recognize “greatness” in Bert Blyleven? As if his career wins and strikeouts matured over time.
Were players like John Franco and Joe Carter really as unworthy of a second year on the ballot as Travis Fryman and Kirk Rueter? Is 300 wins realistic? Are 400 home runs insignificant now or must the bar be lowered?
While the debate never ceases on the “just misses” and the definition of greatness their appears to be a developing consensus with regard to this era’s admitted, discovered, and suspected cheaters.
This bias, healthy and perhaps just, was first inflicted on Mark McGwire (whose candidacy would have been suspect without PED’s) and now Rafael Palmeiro.
Only four men have hit 500 home runs and reached the 3,000 hit plateau. Three are in the Baseball Hall of Fame, the fourth is Rafael Palmeiro.
Still “Raffy” was only able to get 11 percent of the vote in his first year of eligibility thanks to his positive test for PED’s in 2005.
As time goes by more players with the stink of PED’s will become eligible, armed with gaudy numbers and a hope that time has eased the scorn of purists.
See the B.B.W.A.A. can and likely will keep these guys out of the Hall of Fame on the strength of rumor if they can find nothing more fungible. Same as they’ll keep out anyone who falls short of their ever tightening view of greatness.
Remember they protect the narrative, the sanctity of not just the Hall but also of the game itself. And it is an important job within the realm of this sport. A dividing line between good and legendary, real and fake.
The Hall of Fame needs gate keepers, but it also needs to reflect on the complete history of the game. A history that will be slighted by omission.
This is the price you pay for fireworks, baseball’s long ball era hangover. And while many of the players that will become eligible for the Hall of Fame will seem irredeemably flawed, each will have his merits despite those failings.
Together, baseball’s band of cheats have had a deep and sustained impact on the game for good or bad, an impact that can’t be whitewashed away.
We can’t escape or effectively ignore this last quarter century in baseball history, this most recent renaissance that will always be soiled by fraud.
And while those players who so carelessly jeopardized the purity of the game should see their legacies marred and their cases for enshrinement weighed heavily, the Hall of Fame must represent this bleak time just like any other.
After all, it stands to reason that if you ignore history in an effort to protect the past, you tarnish the future.
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