Good article, Lobstah. I saw Grantland and had to check that Simmons had nothing to do with it before I carried on. Just some random thoughts: The thing that really irks me is the those that are being punished because they are suspected of something. Whether it be Piazza's bacne, Bags' propensity to lift a lot and his known association with Ken C., or the others; these guys have never tested positive and have vehemently denied usage. You can't tell me that Piazza, who is arguably the greatest hitting catcher of all time (at least top 3), shouldn't be inducted as a first year candidate all because some guy says he saw acne on his back! Ridiculous. All they did this year was create a backlog that they are not going to be able to rectify unless they change some of the rules. For instance, I can't believe they count blank ballots. Granted, I believe there was only 5 of them this year, but it doesn't make any sense. If those writers don't want to vote, bye bye. Also, anyone that votes for Aaron Fucking Sele needs to lose their voting privilege as well. Actually, strike that. Whoever added him to the ballot in the first place needs to go. You know what, I'm starting to get angered over this and there's nothing I can do to change it. I could sit here and bitch and write more paragraphs, but I'm gonna stop now. One last note, though, I would really like to see transparent voting. That wouldn't fix anything per se, but it would be nice to know the next time someone votes for one of the Aaron Fucking Sele's of the world.
You can't tell me that Piazza, who is arguably the greatest hitting catcher of all time (at least top 3), shouldn't be inducted as a first year candidate all because some guy says he saw acne on his back! Ridiculous.
Is this really the limit of the evidence at hand? If so, that really is ridiculous. We were having a discussion the other day here about Cooperstown in regards to Ozzie Smith and Alan Trammell. Here
Piazza's never been implicated in any steroid investigation; not the Mitchell Report, which Mets clubhouse employee during his stint with the team, Kirk Radomski, was a major part of, nor has he ever tested positive once. He's only been vilified in columns from New York Times writer, Murray Chass. On that note: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/01/26/dermatologists-...
Agree wholeheartedly on the "suspicion of use" part. I also thought they brought up a really good point with the amphetamine use by old-timers. I mean, shit, if steroids existed and were accessible back then, do we really think those guys wouldn't have used them?? And yeah, the Piazza snub got me super fired up as well. The guy was one of my childhood icons! I don't understand why there ISN'T transparent voting yet. Even the NCAA coaches' poll is transparent, right?