weekend discussion: mcgwire and the hall of fame

Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Kirby Puckett, Gaylord Perry, Enos Slaughter.  Perfect human beings?  No.  In the Hall?  Yes.    

McGwire's fall from grace comes is tied into this. We annoit heroes-be it for saving lives or hitting home runs-because their actions, on the surface, embody the Platonic qualities we as a society and culture have set forth for ideal humans and human behavior-the very ideals we ourselves would like to live up to but deep down know that we're only human. When a hero does something that contradicts those ideals and expectations we have placed on them society pounces to condemn the person. No small part of this condemnation comes out of our own self-condemnation, the guilt we carry as inherently enculturated and moral members of a society, for our own failure to live up to these standards and ideals-unreachable by humans.

McGwire should go to the hall of fame because what he did in and for the game of baseball was far bigger than what he did as a human being, with all his (and our) inherent and natrual faults, when he testified before congress. I have no doubt in my mind he used steriods, in fact I suspect I wasn't the only one who had that sneaking suspicion in 1998. However, it was a different time and a different place. Condemning the fact eight years later belies the status WE ALL granted him then we he was a hero, doing heroic things.

Honoring McGwire with election to the HOF will honor the accomplishments as the end and not the means to the end. Steroids were once a problem, and the problem is being addressed and won't infect the sport again. Something else, however, will affect the sport again, as human nature pushes players to find any competitive edge they can.

The business of judging people for actions and situations we have not directly experienced is a tricky and dangerous business. The actions of McGwire the baseball player cannot be fairly judged by the actions of McGwire the testifying before congress. McGwire, or anyone who is granted  the impossible status of a hero, should not have to bear the burden of our own humanity. We made him a hero, and we must honor the thing that we made him a hero for.

My bigger concern is with the record books. Roger Maris and Babe Ruth had two of the most hallowed records in all of sports, and as far as I'm concerned, they still do.  

The purpose of the Hall of Fame is to distinguish and honor greatness.  I'll stipulate that McGuire was an extraordinary hitter.  I have no real problem acknowledging that in the Hall.

But he wasn't the greatest hitter of all time--not without chemical enhancements.  And that need for steroid driven enhancement makes him something less than Maris, and a lot less than Ruth.  Obviously, the same goes for Sosa and Bonds.  

That Sosa, Bonds, and McQuire were lesser hitters than Ruth simply is the truth.  This truth should be acknowledged and should not get obscured by steriod-induced hallucinations.

That's why, regardless of who is immortalized in the Hall, the record book should be kept clear.  I'm not suggesting asterisks.  I'm suggesting a whole different chart--one for those amped up on 'roids, and one for those who achieved without the need for such contrivances.

You can make the same argument for Bonds, IMO.
 

and it doesn't matter if a journalist, in his zeal to scoop the competition, invents a couple of "anonymous" sources to embellish an otherwise accurate story. go ahead and give the guy a pulitzer --- right?

and if a politician bends the rules to accept a few "harmless" favors from his rich lobbyist friends, and bends a few other rules to screw the political opposition, no need to hold him accountable at the ballot box---- right?

that's the drift of what i'm hearing. and i just don't agree with it.

So now it is the issue of drug use, during an era when the same people had no backbone to even make it clearly against the rules.  Were there no steroids, do they really think we are fools enough not to recognize dozens of other factors that also make it impossible to freely compare generations.

We have to suffer the differences of Haitian baseballs, monster gloves, lowered mounds, Astroturf, night-games, vanquished double-headers, indoor stadiums, altered strike zones, and 3rd generation lumber.   Still worse we've permitted new parks with goofy walls, short porches, even flag poles inside the wall and hills.  Not to mention that player's trainers now have sports medicine degrees instead of bartender certificates.  The public is nonetheless capable of recognizing the players that were our heroes and became famous, in each of their respective eras.  We are talking about a hall of fame.

Please spare me the notion that the sportswriters must now weigh the purity of the establishment by reconsideration of an era and the worthiness of a few, and they consider this monumental task on our behalf because they are sure that we are incapable.

Furthermore, when they tell us all they really want is the truth, they won't say when they need it or to what end.  After McGwire has been inducted and is as old as Deep Throat, and all the players of that era have seen their last chance on the ballot go by, then perhaps we might hear another word.  And what difference will it make.

Take the sportswriters off their high throne, and return to selection to a basis of performance between the lines and impact upon their respective era.  And if there is a feature they don't like, perhaps they should lobby to change the rules, again.

Do you think that there arent people in the Hall now who never took performance enhancing whatever during their career?  Pushing the envelope is part of sports period.  At this point, if you think the sports you're watching (and have been watching) are completely clean, then you're lying to yourself.

it's about the greed of owners, union execs, tv execs, agents, and yes players --- all of whom, in their pursuit of unseemly amounts of wealth, colluded to distort the game we all love.

old bird hit the nail on the head in his comment above --- when mcgwire cheated, he ultimately cheated you and me. he wasn't the only cheater, and he couldn't have gotten away with it without a lot of encouragement and a lot of help. but that doesn't absolve him.

and he compounds his cheating, and continues to insult the fans and the game, by holding himself above judgment.

that's not power; that's abuse of power.

again, he's hardly alone in doing it. but the corporate cheats and the political cheats in our country like to make the same excuse --- "everybody's doing it." that doesn't mean you let it slide.

How about this possible scenerio for telling the truth:  "Did you use steroids Mr. McGwire?"  McGwire:  "Well technically, I used some substances that weren't considered steroids at the time, but they are now.  They were called "pre-cursors" at the time and weren't illegal or against any rules.  I was always staying one step ahead of the law and about 100 steps ahead of major league baseball.  I probably shouldn't have taken them, because I didn't know enough about them, but you can't imagine how frustrating it was to always be breaking down all the time.  Hold on, that kid in the front row can't quite hear me, can we turn up this microphone?  Anyway, I also was prescribed steroids by my doctor a couple of times (who hasn't) to get over a few baseball injuries.  When my knuckles didn't get hairy and I didn't grow a third boob, I thought their might be some legal substances that could help me that may not be so bad for me.  I may have got some bad advice on that, but what can you do.  So yeah, I guess I have to answer yes to that, and I'd do it again to stay healthy.  Oh yeah, there was this one time I ran a red light in college, and this one time in high school when I picked up a 5 fingered discount at a convenience store, and my accountant screwed up my taxes in 1997, and I paid a little bit less than I should have.  Hopefully there is something in there that you can use to send me to jail.  I'm really tired of this home life with my beautiful wife and kids."  

Maybe McGwire lives in a world without blogs and talk radio and has no idea a select few in St. Louis hates him.  Maybe he just wanted his newborn baby and kids to be a part of his life.  How many people brought their famlies to pull down their number?  75%?  Look at Edmonds, I don't think he realizes that their are 49 other states in the union when he's in California.  What makes everyone so sure that McGwire had an alterior motive when pulling off the number?  He probably just wanted them to get cheered like he once was. (And they were cheered, more than anyone else).

Personally, I think McGwire definitely took substances that are now considered illegal.  I think he used every edge he could to get past the injury problems of his past.  He may have crossed the grey line and taken something illegal when doing so (or he may not have).  We will never know.  I have zero proof that he did.  He's in, make the rules better for the future and MOVE ON!