When Baseball Writers Pass Judgement

If you were on Twitter today, you probably noticed several baseball writers and fans talking about Murray Chass’ Hall of Fame ballot. Chass was previously the winner of the Spink Award and is forever enshrined in the Writers’ Wing in Cooperstown.
May 5, 2012; Houston, TX, USA; St. Louis Cardinals hitting coach Mark McGwire (left) talks to former Houston Astros second baseman Craig Biggio (right) before a game at Minute Maid Park. Image Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports
Chass, of course, is the same person that slammed Stan Musial as a racist when Musial has never acted in such a manner. Musial had nothing today with a potential strike against the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 and he never treated Curt Flood in such a way.

Chass writes that he will not be voting for Houston Astros second baseman Craig Biggio because:

"These non-exes won’t get my vote because they were proved to have cheated, admitted they cheated or are strongly suspected of having cheated. I have not voted for. any player in those categories and am not prepared to start doing so now."

Chass later adds: “If I’m wrong on any particular player, so be it, but I’d rather err on the side of caution.”

He’s wrong on Biggio and deserves to be called out for it.

On his ballot, Chass takes the Veterans Committee to task for electing mangers to the Hall of Fame who won games on account of players that used performance-enhancing drugs. Why doesn’t he take the MLBPA to task for not coming up with testing for PEDs until the early 2000s?!? It wasn’t until a few years ago that they started to crack down with the Joint Drug Agreement.

Chass goes on to attack Tony La Russa, Joe Torre, and Bobby Cox for managing during the steroid era but writes that Sparky Anderson is a legitimate Hall of Famer. Anderson managed Pete Rose, who gambled on baseball including Cincinnati Reds games. I’m not attacking Anderson at all in writing this but how is he a legitimate Hall of Fame manager and the other three aren’t legitimate Hall of Famers?

The simple fact is that while PEDs were rampant in the 90s and early 2000s, Major League Baseball and the Players’ Association only started to crack down in the mid to late 2000s.

Chass is the same person that slams bloggers but is a blogger under today’s rules as he no longer has a column in a paper.

When baseball writers are passing judgement on players that have never been linked to PEDs in any way, it speaks volumes.