The Hall of Fame ballot was announced Monday (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3128273) and I’m going to bow to some of the baseball people in this game whose opinion and ability to put statistics in perspective I trust and vote for Tim Raines, who is eligible for the first time, as well as Mark McGwire, who as far as I can tell still hasn’t failed a drug test since the last ballot and looks like a Rhodes Scholar for keeping his yap shut in front of Congress compared to the prattling idiots like Rafael Palmeiro.
Why Raines? Let’s just say that I’m willing to re-examine the careers of players of his ilk now that I’m reasonably certain the vast majority of what I’ve seen baseball players do in the past 10 years has been fuelled largely by steroids or amphetamines. I think he’s representative of a go-go era and ought to be the next Expo - you know, besides Gary What’s His Name - to be in the Hall of Fame.
This doesn’t mean I’m not going to go all moral on people and start tsk-tsking about steroid use and start eliminating anyone from the 90s and later. Far from it. I’ll still vote for Barry Bonds the first time he’s eligible and judge every other player of his generation without taking any involvement - rumoured or proven - with performance enhancers into question. There are enough people who believe professional athletics is all about sacrifice and blah blah blah and playing a "kid’s game" and blah blah blah.
My point on this is clear: everybody does whatever they can to make as much money as quickly as possible, and if these guys are willing to accept the health risks to throw harder or recover faster or hit the ball farther, they’re not hurting me or you (and if you’re a parent who still teaches their kids to emulate athletes, well, you have your own issues to deal with. Just don’t come running to us if you think Kraft Dinner or beer is the reason junior’s come home from his first year of university packing an extra 45 pounds of muscle, especially if you yourself make a regular visit to one of those - ahem - "nutrition" stores.) Cynical? Yeah, you might say I’m just a little cynical....
And for you Jim Rice and Goose Gossage fans? Save your e-mails: I won’t be voting for your guy.
Meanwhile, some of you have other stuff in your mind. Geezus-god: some of you are even thinking about Josh Towers!!!!!! And so without further ado ... zee mailbag, SVP:
Hi Jeff, nice to see you blogging again.
Opryland, you poor bastard. Can it be worse than Disney?
You muse about the possibility of Matthews being suspended. If he is suspended I have to think that he will be only one of many (Glaus i.e.?). If suspensions are doled out post Mitchell, Signature, Radmoski, Grimsely etc. do you think the PA will take MLB to court? As has been widely noted, none of these guys has tested positive. On the same subject, what did Mike Cameron test positive for? I saw it described as a "stimulant."
Jays - from what I read in Baseball America, Travis Snider is the best hitting Jays prospect since.....? How high are you on Snider? I’m also hopeful for Purcey, apparently he pitched extremely well in the AFL ( is that relevant? ). I’ve seen Purcey pitch for Syracuse, I thought he looked great ( although he got hit hard that day) Are the Jays still high on him? Lastly, is this the Jays final season in Syracuse and if the answer is yes do you care to speculate where they will go? Keep up the great work.
Pete Toms, Ottawa
