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Denying McGwire entry
was the right decision
of TheColumnists.com
The old show business
joke goes something like this. “What is the secret of your…”
Before the word “success” can come out of the mouth
of the questioner, the answerer hollers, “timing.”
That’s what really did Mark McGwire in as a Hall of Fame
candidate. He had terrible timing.
McGwire became eligible for Hall of Fame honors five years after
the end of his playing days in the same cycle as Cal Ripken,
Jr., and Tony Gwynn, two of the game’s greatest stars in
history. Ripken and Gwynn put in 41 years of big league baseball
stardom together without a blemish on their records.
McGwire also came up for his first vote 22 months after refusing
to discuss “the past” before a Congressional committee
examining the possible use of steroids or other performance-enhancing
chemicals.
McGwire’s suppression of the past in his testimony in a
dark suit clashing with his red hair was a legal judgment of
his lawyers and friends. It was the worst choice of words. The
Hall of Fame is all about the past--Joe DiMaggio’s past,
Babe Ruth’s past, Walter Johnson’s past, Ty Cobb’s
past, Ted Williams’ past--not impacted upon by his frozen
future.
Admission of McGwire into that elite club of 272 exceptional
talents in baseball would have destroyed the day of induction
next July for Ripken and Gwynn and any other name that clears
the hurdle of a February announcement by the Veterans Committee,
the group of living Hall of Famers established to pick up some
overlooked name from, yes, the past.
This will be a day of honor and glory for Ripken and Gwynn not
discolored by the raging baseball argument about steroids and
other chemical help.
McGwire was caught by a feisty reporter who discovered androstenedione
in his locker during his 1998 record-breaking 70 home run season,
passing the honest 61 clouts of Roger Maris in 1961.
Maris only had to overcome the legend of Babe Ruth, the ridiculous
rulings of Babe’s pal, Commissioner Ford Frick and the animosity
engendered by the fans and supporters of teammate Mickey Mantle.
I have been a member of the Baseball Writers Association of America
since 1962 and a Hall of Fame voter since 1972. I have never
cast a vote with more thought and deeper concern than the vote
I cast in December as I left the name of McGwire off the check
list. After all, he did have 583 homers in 16 seasons and the
record-breaking 70. Now, of course, Barry Bonds, destined to
break Hank Aaron’s career mark of 755 sometime this summer,
also has 73 homers in a season. About five years from now, he
also could be denied the game’s great honors if he is suspended
for steroid use or convicted of a perjury charge before then.
I am proud of my colleagues in the Baseball Writers group. There
are 575 of us eligible to vote and 545 of us did. To gain admission
to the Cooperstown Hall of Fame, a player needed 75 per cent
or 409 votes.
No player, not Ruth or Cobb or DiMaggio or Christy Mathewson,
ever gained 100 per cent of votes cast. Tom Seaver and Nolan
Ryan came the closest in their admission years. Ripken had 98.5
per cent of the votes cast and Gwynn registered 97.6. George
Bush didn’t even get close to that in his elections.
Shoeless Joe Jackson and Pete Rose, two of the game’s greatest
players, remain outside the shrine because of moral breakdowns,
accepting money for doing less than his best in the 1919 World
Series (though Jackson revisionists deny that is so) and gambling
on the game, despite later admissions.
The McGwire denial has provided another sense of moral judgment,
values, integrity and decency into the sports scene. It may turn
out to be the most valuable tool the game has in fighting the
creeping violations of standards and ethics.
We live in a battered society. An unpopular war rages on. Drug
use shows no significant decline. Murder rates climb in many
areas. Greed is bragged about as CEOs walk away from jobs with
payoffs as large as the national budget of third world countries.
They call them "golden parachutes." Many people call
it thievery.
At least in this one area, admission to the exalted honors of
the Baseball Hall of Fame, right won out over might.
Rich Gossage, Jim Rice, Andre Dawson, Bert Blyleven, Lee Smith
and Jack Morris failed to make the vote count in 2007. Tim Raines,
an admitted drug user, will be the most popular name added as
an eligible next year. It seems to be the wide open season for
Hall of Fame honors.
McGwire may gain more votes as his name is further removed from
the Congressional hearings of 2005 and he is not in the same
list as noblemen of the game, Ripken and Gwynn.
He has 14 more chances for Hall of Fame honors under the rules
of the Baseball Writers. I don’t think he will slip in.
Others will come along with more attention and better records,
Roger Clemens, Randy Johnson and the ever-controversial Barry
Bonds will be out there in half a dozen years.
McGwire refused to talk about the past. That’s all they
talk about in the placid parks of Cooperstown every summer. It
is his loss, not baseball’s.
©2007 by Maury Allen. The Maury Allen caricature is ©2001 by Jim Hummel. The cartoon is from IMSI's Master Clips Collection, 1895 Francisco Blvd. E., San Rafael, CA, 94901-5506, USA. This column first posted Jan. 15, 2007.
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