The Hall indicates that “voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team on which the player played.” I can’t vote for him because of the wording of the Hall’s own rules.
And I won’t now, this being his 10th and final year on the traditional ballot. And yet, I’ve never voted for him for the Hall of Fame. But then it gets complicated, because of his steroid usage, because of the manner in which his body shape changed, because of the 73 home runs he hit at the age of 36, and this is where the Hall of Fame gets me every voting year.īarry Bonds is probably the best player I’ve seen play live. You didn’t need numbers to indicate he was special. You didn’t need statistics to tell you that. When you saw Bonds play, you knew he was a Hall of Fame player. And then I vote, always nervously, never completely certain because of the contradictions. And then I talk to others in the game who may have an opinion, one way or another, on any of the eligible candidates. I pour over pages and pages of statistics every year and balance that in some way with the eye test, still meaningful. I take the responsibility, as almost all of us do, very seriously. I am fortunate enough to be among the 400-or-so voters for the Hall. All of them related in one way or another to the steroid scandal years that still poison the sport and certainly injures so much about the Hall of Fame. I stare at the names available to vote for on the Hall of Fame ballot and take stock of some of the greatest, most electric, most entertaining ballplayers anyone has ever seen: Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Manny Ramirez, Big Papi David Ortiz.Įach of them memorable in their own way.
0 kommentar(er)
