Well, well, well...a couple of days after I spoke about the travesty that is Baseball Writers voting on the Hall of Fame, Mr. Olney from ESPN comes along and steals the idea. It's an Insider article, so here's a few short blurbs from the article.
"First and foremost, it's a clear conflict of interest. As a writer, I should be reporting on the news and not making it. It's Journalism 101 (I assume, since I was a history major). It's not my place, as a reporter, to determine whether Andre Dawson is inducted into the Hall of Fame, no more than it would be for a Capitol Hill reporter to cast a vote on health-care legislation while reporting on it."
"But really, the most important reason why the writers should not be voting is that it has become increasingly evident that the voters, as a group, don't really have a clear understanding of what the standards for the Hall of Fame are, particularly in this time, as the ballot gains more and more players touched by the steroids issue."
"The Hall of Fame should form its own committee that determines who gets a plaque. The plaques should include information, written in neutral language, about feats and achievements, and about bans and suspensions and admissions."
Olney finished everything by saying that these things will never happen because the Hall, and Baseball, like the debate because it keeps people talking about the sport. Whatever. Eventually, if it hasn't happened already, the Hall of Fame will become a meaningless thing because no one will respect the award. At the very least, some criteria needs to be laid down. McGwire and the like are being shunned for cheating while players like Ty Cobb and Gaylord Perry are in despite accusations (and admissions) of cheating in their time.
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