Open Letter to BBWAA Writers Voting for Hall of Fame Induction

Thursday December 30, 2010

This started as a response to ESPN's Jim Caples article on Baseball Hall of Fame voting rules.

In his article Caples says that steroids were not against the rules of baseball so he is going to vote for people that used steroids. Caples is completely wrong about that and that worries me. How many otyher baseball writers are unaware of the facts on steroid rules in baseball.

The rest of this post is as I wrote it to Caples:

Steroids were expressly against the official rules in major league baseball since 1991 and implicitly since 1971. That is something you SHOULD know as a baseball writer and a voter for the the Baseball Hall of Fame. That you don't worries me.

You say you will be voting for people that knowingly broke express rules forbidding the use of anabolic steroids and other banned substances and you are using the specious argument that the use was not against the rules.

In 1971 Bowie Kuhn put in place a rule that said baseball personnel must comply with all federal and state statutes and steroid possession and use has been a crime without a prescription since the 1960's.

In 1991 Fay Vincent prohibited steroid use and possession specifically and in 1997 Bud Selig spelled it out the prohibition against steroid use as well.

What they didnt have was drug testing. So unless they caught a player in possession of Steroids, there was little they could do to punish them. The USE and POSSESSION of steroids was still prohibited, so to say there were no rules prohibiting steroid use is just plain false.

Those men that used steroids like Palmiero, McGwire, Clemens & Bonds knowingly broke the rules of the game and they do not meet the character rules for voting for the Baseball Hall of Fame. They do not deserve to be enshrined in Cooperstown regardless of their performance on the field because they failed to play by the rules.

Period.

If you will sleep better at night by lying to yourself and the public, so be it, but the facts are the facts.

As a journalist you should really do more research into the facts of the case before you cause permanent harm to the game of baseball and the Baseball Hall of Fame.

A Belated Merry Christmas to Padres Fans

Monday December 27, 2010

Wooooo Hooooo!

After nearly two months of constant travel, this weary Padres fan is I am finally home for an extended stay!

A brutal work schedule that saw me in 27 cities in October & November followed by an extended trip to watch Caribbean beisbol in the Winter Leagues & then back to Albuquerque for Christmas with my extended family in December has left me fulfilled and plain old tuckered out.

But I am back home in sunny San Diego, energized with enthusiasm for baseball in general and ready to start filling your head with useless trivia and opinions about the San Diego Padres and major league baseball.

I will have a post up in the next couple of days recapping my trip to Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Mexico for Beisbol Caribe. This year we spent more time, made more flights to more cities and saw more games than in any year in the past. Mostly fun watching some great baseball and more than a few Padres prospects, some work (there it is again, the dreaded W word) and ALL baseball. It was a blast.

Glad to be home & ready to talk some Padres baseball. How about you?