Baseball Writers should have a Hall of Shame...for themselves

It pains me to say this, but today I am ashamed to be a baseball fan.  Today the final votes for this year’s Hall of Fame class will be announced, and early projections indicate no player currently on the ballot will be voted into the Hall.  I find this to be a travesty and an absolute sham for several reasons.

First, let us look at a couple of names on the ballot.

 Jack Morris belongs in, and not just because of the basic stats.  Morris gave us many shining moments over his career, but none more than Game 7 of the 1991 World Series and his 1-0 10-inning shutout.  The 2012 vote had him at 66%.  With 254 wins, a 3.90 career ERA, and legendary moments such as the one mentioned above, not having Morris in the Hall is ridiculous.

Mike Piazza also belongs in without question.  .308 career batting average, 427 career home runs, and career OPS of .922 put him among the best catchers of all-time.  The sole reason for keeping him out at this point is the SUSPICION of PED use.  He was never linked to such use, he was never even suspected of it until now, and his career exhibits a standard shift in performance as he aged. 

Craig Biggio is another player from the era that has never been officially linked to PED use but will be painted with the same broad, indiscriminate brush.  If he is not elected, he would be the first member of the 3,000-hit club to NOT get in on the first ballot.  He is the only player in history to earn All-Star recognition at catcher and second base, and capably played in center and left field.  The only players with 3,000 hits that are NOT in the Hall are Pete Rose and Rafael Palmeiro, both of whom have other CONFIRMED issues that kept them out.  Biggio has NONE, and should not be excluded solely on baseless suspicion.

Now we come to my primary reason for my disappointment and shame.  The BBWAA members have decided, to one degree or another, to exclude candidates for the Hall based simply on the suspicion of PED use.  Some candidates, such as Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, and Sammy Sosa, have been confirmed as users.  Now, one can argue the finer points of the era; steroids were not against the rules, no one can conclusively say who did or did not use them, MLB as a whole turned a blind eye so long as it benefited from the “chicks dig the longball” era.  That is a healthy debate that SHOULD take place.  What should NOT be occurring is the exclusion of Hall-worthy players simply because they played in that particular era.  Players were not excluded from the Hall during the amphetamine or cocaine eras, despite widespread use of both drugs.  I absolutely do not want to hear arguments that PEDs had a greater effect on the game than amphetamines.  While PEDs help one See Ball, Hit Ball Farther, amphetamine use helped players keep their energy up for long road trips or the infamous day/night doubleheader. 

I think the larger point is NO ONE had a problem with steroid use while it was bringing baseball back from the brink of collapse after the 1995 strike, LEAST of all the baseball writers.  Now they want to sit in judgment of the players they willingly and knowingly abetted in their steroid use.  In short, they knew all along what was happening and did NOTHING.  Said NOTHING.  Cared NOT ONE BIT about the effect of steroids on the game, or the youth who were watching.  Now, after having been caught with their pants down, they find themselves in a unique position of power, able to mete out punishment as they see fit while avoiding any repercussions themselves.  Instead of taking the high road and coming to a conclusion, the writers have instead chosen to use their position to club us over the head with how terrible this era was and how every record is tainted.  Unfortunately, it has become akin to being arrested for drug possession because you live in the same apartment complex as a drug dealer.  If you played baseball between 1996 and 2004 and have Hall of Fame credentials, your candidacy will be in question.  Players from this era will be judged by a group whose sole purpose is to assuage their own consciences, which is extraordinarily unfair to every player of my generation.  Save your sanctimony for the players who are actually KNOWN to have used steroids.  For once, it is time for the press to step down from the pedestal of judgment and recuse itself from any judgments that involve whether a player did or did not use PEDs.  Judge them on their merits.  It should be as simple as that.