Contrary to the results of the announced elections for the 2013 Baseball Hall of Fame vote, I stand in my belief that Craig Biggio is a first ballot Hall of Famer. Before I go any further in what I believe will be a diatribe, here is the published results of the vote for the Hall:
| Name | Votes (Pct.) | Yrs on ballot |
|---|
| Craig Biggio | 388 (68.2%) | 1 |
| Jack Morris | 385 (67.7%) | 14 |
| Jeff Bagwell | 339 (59.6%) | 3 |
| Mike Piazza | 329 (57.8%) | 1 |
| Tim Raines | 297 (52.2%) | 6 |
| Lee Smith | 272 (47.8%) | 11 |
| Curt Schilling | 221 (38.8%) | 1 |
| Roger Clemens | 214 (37.6%) | 1 |
| Barry Bonds | 206 (36.2%) | 1 |
| Edgar Martinez | 204 (35.9%) | 4 |
| Alan Trammell | 191 (33.6%) | 12 |
| Larry Walker | 123 (21.6%) | 3 |
| Fred McGriff | 118 (20.7%) | 4 |
| Dale Murphy | 106 (18.6%) | 15 |
| Mark McGwire | 96 (16.9%) | 7 |
| Don Mattingly | 75 (13.2%) | 13 |
| Sammy Sosa | 71 (12.5%) | 1 |
| Rafael Palmeiro | 50 (8.8%) | 3 |
| Bernie Williams | 19 (3.3%) | 2 |
| Kenny Lofton | 18 (3.2%) | 1 |
| Sandy Alomar Jr. | 16 (2.8%) | 1 |
| Julio Franco | 6 (1.1%) | 1 |
| David Wells | 5 (0.9%) | 1 |
| Steve Finley | 4 (0.7%) | 1 |
| Shawn Green | 2 (0.4%) | 1 |
| Aaron Sele | 1 (0.2%) | 1 |
| Jeff Cirillo | 0 (0%) | 1 |
| Royce Clayton | 0 (0%) | 1 |
| Jeff Conine | 0 (0%) | 1 |
| Roberto Hernandez | 0 (0%) | 1 |
| Ryan Klesko | 0 (0%) | 1 |
| Jose Mesa | 0 (0%) | 1 |
| Reggie Sanders | 0 (0%) | 1 |
| Mike Stanton | 0 (0%) | 1 |
| Todd Walker | 0 (0%) | 1 |
| Rondell White | 0 (0%) | 1 |
| Woody Williams | 0 (0%) | 1 |
****Courtesy of the Baseball Writers Association of America website
Let me touch on the Bonds, Clemens and the other main steroid era players/culprits/suspects first. The votes that Bonds and Clemens got were near what I said they'd get. I said around 40%. I'm fine with McGwire
(16.9%), Sosa
(12.9%) and Palmiero
(8.8%) though I'd say Sosa and Palmiero should have more than McGwire since they was ten times the player McGwire was. I'll get to the other players at another time. I want to focus on Biggio.
So you're trying to tell me that reaching the 3,000 hit plateau while staying loyal to ONE organization and being one of the best to play your respective position is no longer the criteria for being a first ballot Hall of Famer? You're trying to tell me that a guy who played with guts, a dirty uniform, never saying he couldn't play, not running for more money to a bigger market while doing it day in and day out everyday is NOT a Hall of Famer? I say you're full of it to those 39 votes that Biggio needed for enshrinement. Who else can you say was the best at second base during the years that Craig Biggio played? Jeff Kent comes to mind...and Craig Biggio.
Allow me to quote Chris Smith of Forbes.com in his article
Craig Biggio, Barry Bonds Robbed Of MLB Hall Of Fame Entry for this paragraph:
In 20 seasons with the Houston Astros, Biggio put put up over 3,000 hits, nearly 1,200 RBIs, more than 400 stolen bases and 668 doubles, good for fifth-most all-time. His career WAR according to Baseball Reference is 62.1, ranking 88th among position players and higher than those of Jackie Robinson, Yogi Berra, Harmon Killebrew and Hank Greenberg. Fans who watched Biggio play will remember him for his rare combination of speed, power and an interminable work ethic constantly on display both at the plate and in the field.
The voters dropped the ball. Plain and simple.
Allow me to touch on something else that is bothering me. Howard Bryant of ESPN.com in his article
Drawing a blank of a HOF ballot says the following:
As it turned out, I sent my 2013 Hall of Fame ballot in blank...This wasn't science. It wasn't a clever attack in the three-front culture war among the players, the SABRs and the BBWAAs. It wasn't a protest either. It was just one voter's inability to reach a comfortable verdict on a colossal mess that for years no one wanted to take responsibility for and that isn't going to get any less complicated as time goes on.
This is what I say to this. If you don't vote for anyone, then you lose your right to vote. Plain and simple. I respect his colleague T.J. Quinn's stance concerning the hall in his article
The HOF: Why I Stopped Voting. This man gave up his right to vote rather than continually send in blank ballots. He lost the excitement for the vote. Instead of being a part of the problem, he decided to take himself out of the debate. That I can respect and applaud him for. Not voting is something that I can't respect and/or applaud.
There needs to be a change in the way the vote is undertaken especially since the writers were the witnesses
(if not more so) to the
"damage" as they put it that the Steroid era placed on the game of Baseball. The writers did not nothing but write elaborate articles on the exploits of McGwire and Sosa as they saved Baseball from the spectre of the 1994 Baseball Strike. They knew what was going on more than us since they are on the field, in the locker room, in the press box, in the hotels and bars before and after games. They have no place to be pious and
"holier than thou" when it comes to their placing the fates of players in their hands and votes. It wasn't like they were reporting for inside of a bubble. They were on the field, in the locker room, in the press boxes.
THEY KNEW. Now they act as if they are better than everyone else and are trying to protect the sanctity of the game. They are full of it and to avoid getting crass and profane you all know what I mean by what they are full of.
T.J. Quinn has a potential solution to a change on how players are elected to the Hall of Fame:
But at the end of the day, the game, the Hall and journalism would be better served if voting was limited to a select group of veterans, historians and even journalists -- if they're the right journalists. Columnists and national writers who have devoted their careers to the game, not dabblers. That wouldn't solve the problem of how to evaluate players in the age of modern chemistry, but at least the right group would be making the call.
But alas, I don't see the BBWAA giving up their position. They have leverage on the game of Baseball and will always hide behind their stance of
"Well, this player played in the Steroid Era so there is a black cloud over their accomplishments even if they didn't fail a test".
So you know what I say? Let's take that burden off of your backs and give up your vote. No? You want your cake and eat it too? Then I say just close the Hall. Simply close it so you don't have to vote. So you don't have to be burdened with such a hard decision on who is tainted and who is not. Just close the Hall.
Close the Hall until every player that played in the Steroid Era is done playing. So that means, Derek Jeter doesn't get in. Albert Pujols doesn't get it. Mariano Rivera doesn't get in and so on and so forth. Do those players deserve to get in? Absolutely. But based on the point of view taken by the writers who sit like the Gods on Mount Olympus dishing out their judgment at will, they might not. After all they did play during the Steroid Era.
Today is a sad day in the game I so love. It is a sad day for Baseball.
FH
