There have been so many "slights", "injustices" or just plain nastiness by baseball writers through the years it's time to take the vote away from these "knights of the keyboard." It's not only the Hall of Fame voting but the MVP voting as well that should be taken away from them.
With regard to MVP voting here are two well documented cases near and dear to my heart. Both involved Ted Williams. In 1941, when Ted hit .406, there were TWO Boston writers who didn't even give him as much as a 10th place vote. (a 1st place vote was 10 points, 2nd, 9 points, etc.) Joe DiMaggio won the MVP that year by only 2-3 votes. The next year, 1942, Ted won the triple crown and, again, those two Boston writers didn't name Ted as even the TENTH best player in the American League. Teddy Ballgame lost out by ONE point to Yankee second baseman Joe Gordon who hit about .330. Talk about playing politics. Years later Ted said to me that those things didn't bother him. MVP by the writers was not important, it was the fans and his peer's opinions that mattered to him. By the way:---only two men have ever won the triple crown TWICE in all of baseball history...Ted Williams and Rogers Hornsby. THAT'S how important a triple crown is.
The biggest travesties in baseball history are "Shoeless" Joe Jackson and Pete Rose. BOTH belong way up in the Hall of Fame but the writers say NO. In Joe's case they blame it on the newly appointed (then) commissioner, Kenesaw Mountain Landis who barred him from baseball for life
although the U.S. Courts said he was innocent of conspiring to fix the 1919 world series.
NOTE---If that happened today the courts would not allow it, Jackson would get a barrel full of money in a lawsuit AND he'd be in the Hall.
With regard to Pete Rose...he wasn't called "Charlie Hustle" for nothing. This guy worked his butt off for the game, leaving a huge footprint for all future generations to fill. Breaking Ty Cobb's record for career hits is monumental and will probably NEVER be broken. Cal Ripken broke Lou Gherig's sacred record of hitting in career consecutive games, someone could possibly break Joe DiMaggio's record of hitting safely in 56 straight games (in 1941) BUT...nobody's going to break Pete Rose's record of 4,256 career hits. THAT alone should get him into the Hall but he also holds the record for most games played (3,562), most at bats (14,053) and is the only man ever to appear in 17 all-star games at 5 different positions. Putting that together with his THREE world series victories, league MVP and THREE batting titles makes it impossible to keep him out of the hall.
I spoke with Pete privately about this 6 or 7 years ago. He told me that then commissioner, Bart Giamatti, privately told Pete the good of the game was at stake and if he would stop fighting it and agree to take a suspension (thus ending the MEDIA circus) Giamatti would re-open the case in a year and he would be re-instated, thus becoming eligible for the hall of fame. Pete agreed (for the good of the game) but, Giamatti died months later and new commissioner, Faye Vincent refused to honor the dead commissioner's deal. I feel more should have been reported on this but now the stand by the media was, "He should at least admit wrongdoing and apologize." We all know all the things, further hanging Pete and keeping him out of the hall, but the court of public opinion be damned, the baseball writers of America were not going to give up THAT battle. Although most of the baseball fans wanted Pete in the hall the writers were adamant about showing that it was THEY who held the power, not the fans.
IT'S TIME FOR ALL THAT TO CHANGE!!
The new voting system, that should be looked at very carefully by the the baseball commissioner and the HALL, according to polls taken over the last two years, would put the voting in the hands of players and managers who had played against the eligible players on the ballot. Teammates, and managers, of individual players would not be allowed to vote for their player. A small committee of hall of famers would be put in place to oversee the process.
This proposal should be given some serious attention and, hopefully, placed before the fans for approval or dis-approval. THE FANS deserve that consideration. After all, without THEM.......
Ted Williams had a private crusade to get "Shoeless Joe" into the hall as well as former teammate (and friend) Bobby Doerr. He also believed that Dom DiMaggio and Dwight Evans should be in the hall but, unfortunately, Doerr was the only one that made it, finally and rightfully.
I'd love to hear comments from all who read this. Also, will publish any alternative plans.
Let me end with this:---Roger Clemens is slighted by the writers because THEY say he used performance enhancing drugs. The only (proof??) they have is the word of a convicted liar and drug user himself, Andy Pettit AND the word of a convicted drug dealer AND LIAR, who suppled Pettit (and others, but not Clemens) with drugs. After Clemens testified, before the U.S. CONGRESS, that he never took PED's they indicted him, for perjury. The CONGRESS could not come up with any proof that he was lying (therefore he was telling the truth) about NOT taking PED's.
I've known, and covered as a sportswriter, Roger since his first day in a Red Sox uniform in spring training (Winterhaven). He IS into vitamins and nutrition (as am I). The only shots he had taken were vitamin B12 and they are not banned or even performance enhancing.
To keep Clemens out of the Hall (only a 34% vote this time) is a total miscarriage of justice. If he had been PROVEN to have used drugs it would be one thing, but to be shunned by the media, and lose their vote, just because he was not a "media darling" proves the media can not be trusted with a job that requires personal impartiality. The public, especially the younger, more impressionable, fans deserves better service than this "sports media dictatorship" has been providing.
If YOU have a particular player you would like to see get better treatment from the Hall of Fame voters, regardless of what sport, let me know and I will print it here.....Stay tuned.....