It is that time of year. It is award season. It is that time of year where no talent hacks get to pick who gets into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
The Baseball Hall of Fame seems to vote for certain kinds of players. The gamblers and players that used sports enhancement are shunned like lepers. Don't forget that these modern-day lepers were once loved by an industry that wrote about the heroics of these lepers.
Is it wrong to cheat and gamble? Yes. It is hard to argue that is it okay. But what is defined as cheating at one point was considered acceptable. MLB didn't ban steroid until 1991 and didn't test for it until 2003.
These self-righteous gatekeepers in baseball didn't raise a fuss when players started hitting more home runs. There were a few reporters that investigated these players, but for the most part, the press let the players create news stories for them. Once the public knew these guys cheated, well, that is when these reporters turned their backs on the players.
Baseball has a hard time forgiving players for making human mistakes. The integrity of the game seems to be the only thing that matters. Baseball doesn't hold their ownership and umpires to the same standards they hold their players to when it comes to making the right choices. A bad call from an umpire influences the integrity of the game too. Ownership didn't cry about these cheating players making millions and billions of dollars for them.
Baseball likes their players without sin.
There are some great players that will never be in the Baseball Hall of Fame because of poor moral judgment but their team wins and other team accomplishments aren't take away. That is an odd fact. You celebrate these so-called cheaters victories but deny them the right to be remembered as great achievers because they are tied to gambling and enhancement drugs.
The NFL seems to be able to overlook the flaws of players and see the stars failed at some moral judgments but the players' careers were full of great play.
Maybe someday someone will start a Baseball Hall of Fame that is voted on by just the fans. Because the fans seem to understand the players are human too. The fans know their heroes aren't perfect and they aren't petty hacks looking to stick it to players that they feel did a disservice to the game of baseball.
Baseball and football are team sports where we celebrate individual achievements. Put some of these star players on bad teams and they will give you average results. That is a fact. We want to celebrate the individual but forget that they needed a team around them to make them great. Sure, there are a few players that played well on bad teams, but there aren't a lot of them. We seem to remember the great players that played on great teams.
Roger Clemens was asked about not getting in the Baseball Hall of Fame and he just gave his teammates credit for his great results.
