Quote:
Originally Posted by dsvitak
Feel my pain. I became a BIG baseball fan, more than 50 years ago. For decades, I could tell you who hit 50+ homers in a year..the player, the amount, and the year.
Just one, single player, just one time, hit more than 50 homers from 1961 all the way to 1977. I liked it like that.
Bazookaball, as you describe it, is the greatest scandal in American sports history, and it will forever tarnish the game. 500 homers is no longer a guaranteed HoF career.
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Huh? Maris, and Mantle hit 60 and 54 in 1961, and George Foster hit 52 in 1977. Do you mean just one player between 1962 and 1976? Or am I misreading something here (highly possible)? I'm so glad that we can avoid both deadball and bazookaball by using the tools Markus has given us.
I agree with the forever tainted part. I don't think there will ever be any forgiveness for the fact that those guys took food off other guys' tables.
However I do believe that a HoFer is a HoFer, and that even though those guys cheated the game, those whose numbers say they should be in, should be in. I'm with Eric Byrnes (even though in some ways he's completely nuts) on this one: You either put absolutely nobody who played between 1994(?) and 2005(?) in, or you put in those whose numbers warrant it. We'd have to figure out how long the era lasted, and bar them all (and this can no longer happen because some players from that time are already in), or let those with the right numbers in.
It's a very, very complicated issue though. Part of me would be very uncomfortable seeing a guy give his acceptance speech knowing (or being pretty certain) that he cheated the game, and part of me thinks of the kids who grew up watching the greats of the era, and how they're not going to be able to see their favourite players from that time in the plaque room. Perhaps I've already seen a speech by someone who cheated the game. I don't know. Maybe it's enough of an honour for them that various items of theirs are scattered throughout the exhibits in the Hall. I see a lot of grey. I know for others it's crystal clear and completely black and white, but for me it's complicated.