Fans were eager to hear the Committee for the Contemporary Era of Baseball’s position on the Hall of Fame eligibility of Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Rafael Palmeiro. The answer was sharp. Each of the Diamond’s three previous glories received only four or fewer votes out of a possible 16.
So we are only talking about 25% of the votes, while the required percentage to be elected is 75% (12 votes out of 16).
Bonds, Clemens and Palmeiro will pay for using illicit drugs for the rest of their lives. It might be her last chance to enter the Pantheon.
Bond’s candidacy will be reconsidered in 2025. But if we trust what’s being written and said across the United States, he’s likely to be ignored again.
13 baseball heads on the panel
Formerly known as the Veterans Committee, the six former players on the committee are all generally members of the Baseball Hall of Fame.
This year featured Greg Maddux, Jack Morris, Ryne Sandberg, Lee Smith, Frank Thomas and Alan Trammell, all playing around the same time as Bonds, Clemens and Palmeiro.
The committee also included seven past or current managers in the major leagues, the most notable being Paul Beeston, past president of the Toronto Blue Jays; Theo Epstein, architect of the 2004 and 2007 Boston Red Sox and the 2016 Chicago Cubs; and Kim Ng, general manager of the Miami Marlins.
Rounding out the panel were a baseball historian and two reporters who have followed MLB activity for decades.
The result of the vote was positively received by a large majority of people in the baseball world.
Money, always money!
The Bonds and Clemens cases are particularly worrying. They already had their ticket to Cooperstown before they fell into the potion.
If they pose as victims of a smear campaign, it’s their own fault.
It’s true that baseball turned a blind eye when steroids roamed the locker room.
The race for the most home runs in a season between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa allowed MLB to bring back thousands of fans who had left stadiums after the damn players’ strike in 1994.
McGwire and Sosa have seen their salaries grow at the same rate as their arms.
This dark chapter in baseball history didn’t stop then-Commissioner Bud Selig from being elected to the Temple.
Only the baseball monks were missing to open the gates of Cooperstown to Donald Fehr, general manager of the Players Association.
We’re talking about the same man waiting to learn the identity of his successor in the National Hockey League Players Association so he can enjoy a golden retirement.
Rose is also cooked
These two figures deserve no more than Pete Rose, who recently begged current Commissioner Rob Manfred to lift the lifetime gambling ban Bart Giamatti imposed on him in 1989.
Rose knew who he was exposing himself to. The ban on betting for players and coaches is a fundamental rule in all sports.
Baseball’s first commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis, did neither a nor two after the Chicago White Sox scandal.
Despite a court acquittal, the eight White Sox players suspected of receiving money to rig the 1919 World Series against the Cincinnati Reds were banned by Landis for life.
The sport needs to take action to stop this happening.
