Hall of Insane

Okay, so baseball's got a big problem. A huge beefed up and injected with growth hormome problem. Everyone has heard about it.

Baseball has been and always will be about numbers, statistics and coveted records. Those records have been and are under jeapardy right now. Destroyed and about to be destroyed by known steriod users.* And I really don't care that much. Why? Well, baseball brought this upon itself. Up until a few years ago, steroids weren't illegal in the baseball world. Sure, they were illegal everywhere else, but since there was no rule or testing in place, baseball just looked the other way as McGwire, Sosa and Bonds, among others, shattered records.

But what I DO care about is the way the Hall of Fame is treating this. As far as I'm concerned, the Hall of Fame has a responsibility. One that needs to not only document the games heroes and greats, but record the games history through its good times and, more importantly, its rough patches.

Yes, this is going into Pete Rose territory.

How is it, that a sport, who's love of numbers doesn't have its all time hits leader in the HOF, could possibly not have its soon to be all time HR leader in the HOF?

This bothers the hell out of me.

I don't condone betting on baseball when you manage your team, but I don't say it didn't happen. I agree that the man should be banned from having a job in baseball for the rest of his life, but the MLB and the HOF are two seperate entities. This is basically what the HOF is saying to Rose, "We've swept you, and your dirty laundry, under the rug."

Now the same could happen to Bonds. We've already seen the voters scoff at Mark McGwire's name on the HOF ballot. We know there will be more on that ballot scoffed at when the players with highly questionable numbers get there name on the ballot, too. Bonds is going to be the the poster child for questionable HOF credentials.

I think he will get in. There are probably enough voters who believe that there was enough greatness before the "beefing" to get him a plaque, but what if he doesn't because it's found without a shadow of doubt that Bonds was a steriod user? What kind of mark would that be on the sport? The leader in hits and the leader in home runs both are refused entry to the Hall of Fame. Wow.

I've got a solution, though.

TELL THE TRUTH!!!

Why can't we have a Hall of Fame that tells it like it is? Pete Rose could have a plaque with his name, stats and organization on it just like all the other greats. Except we could add a little to the paragraphs detailing Rose's career. We could tell the truth about Rose's gambling on baseball. Let it be a scarlet letter on his plaque.

We could do the same with all the steroid cheaters, too. Here's the line they could use:

"In an era of bulked up and roided out players ________ was known to be one of the biggest cheaters, but since baseball turned the other way and didn't make it illegal for the players to do, we all got to reap the enjoyment of 550 ft. home runs."

Tell the truth. Be honest about history. Thank goodness we're in the Age of Anformation where little of these types of truths get past us.** The Hall of Fame needs to join the 21st Century and do history the same service.

*Yeah, they're known. We all know it. Don't debate it.

**Ha ha... I know...