Randy Smith: Hall of Fame Hypocrisy Still Exists

Think about this for a minute. The pitcher who dominated Major League Baseball for the better part of two decades isn't in the Hall of Fame. Neither is the man who hit more career home runs than anybody else, and neither is the man who had more career base hits than anybody else. Earlier this week, the people who vote on the Hall of Fame failed to induct Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds for the 10th straight year meaning they are no longer eligible for enshrinement, unless they are voted in later by a special committee. And you can forget about Pete Rose ever getting in the Hall of Fame. He's been eligible for almost 40 years and is still looking in from the outside.

For Bonds, Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGuire and others who have been accused of using illegal steroids or performance enhancing drugs, it's a battle with the voters. Baseball has not banned them at all. For Rose, it is Commissioner Rob Manfred who holds the ultimate decision about his eligibility, though if Manfred lifted the ban, the voters would likely not vote for him. That's just the way it is.

Of the top 15 home run hitters of all time, six are not in the Hall of Fame, including Barry Bonds whose 762 dingers tops the list. Among them is Alex Rodriguez whose total of 696 home runs is fourth on the list but due to his involvement with steroids he received only 34 percent of the votes. I have been a supporter of the ban on Pete Rose being lifted for many years and, while I don't like the idea of players using performance enhancing drugs, I do believe all those guys who failed to get enough votes for induction should be in the Hall of Fame. 

Hall of Fame inductions should be mainly based upon stats and contributions to the game. Character should play a part in the process, but shouldn't be the biggest factor. Ty Cob, who along with Babe Ruth was in the very first class, was a sorry individual who once bragged about killing a would be carjacker on the streets of Detroit back in 1912. Cobb is in the Hall of Fame despite being one of the dirtiest players who ever played. It's been rumored that Cobb would sharpen his spikes so he could inflict considerable damage to his opponents when sliding into a base. There are other reports of Cobb's extreme racism, in fact there are stories that he once stabbed a black waiter to death in Cleveland, though it has never been substantiated. 

As long as voters and the MLB commissioner stay on the same hypocritical path, the guys I have mentioned will never be inducted into the Hall of Fame. You don't have similar situations with the Pro Football Hall of Fame nor the NBA Hall of Fame. I know that all of their inductees couldn't be squeaky clean either, but character flaws in those sports don't seem to figure in nearly as much as in Major League Baseball. 

Baseball needs to change the way things are done. I'm traveling with my family to Cooperstown, New York this summer and I will try to explain to my grandchildren why Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds are not members of the Hall of Fame. After all, the integrity of the game only goes so far.