3
2012
The Fifth Commandment
An article by 
While reading an article about Tim McCarver this morning, I was led to this piece by Samantha Carr who profiles McCarver’s career both as a player and broadcaster. McCarver will be honored during the Hall of Fame induction ceremony this summer. after winning the 2012 Ford C. Frick Award for excellence in broadcasting.
While I was there, another link on the National Baseball Hall of Fame website grabbed my attention; BBWAA HOF Election Rules. I always get confused around this time of the year as to how the voting proccess works exactly so I thought I’d give it a quick glance, and boy I was glad I did.
There’s basically only nine rules that BBWAA members must adhere to when filling out their annual Hall of Fame ballots. But what I never knew about was Rule No. 5 which reads:
5. Voting: Voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.
Integrity – Sportsmanship – Character
Interesting… I never knew that those three traits were to be considered in addition to a players record, contributions and ability…
So then why do BBWAA get hammered whenever they apply those standards to their ballots?
If fans, bloggers and non-members have a problem with considering a player’s character, integrity and sportsmanship, then implore the Commissioner of Baseball to strike those three pieces of criteria from the rules and be done with it.
Let Bud Selig or the President of NBHOF stand in front of a podium and say:
“From henceforth, the National Baseball Hall of Fame will make no distinction between a player’s character, integrity and sportsmanship.”
Let them tell the fans that whether a player is good or bad, kind or evil, honest or crooked – that they will be enshrined in the hallowed halls regardless of whatever illegal, crooked, deceitful and dishonest things they did to get there.
Otherwise, everyone zip up and stop chastising BBWAA member who are only following the rules that were given to them by the governing bodies of Major League Baseball and the National Baseball Hall of Fame.
Knowing what I know about Rule No. 5 now, it seems that it’s the writers who “do ignore” sportsmanship, integrity and character that are at fault – not the other way around.
I guess I owe a few BBWAA writers an apology…
About the Author: Joe DeCaro
I'm a lifelong Mets fan who loves writing and talking about the Amazins' 24/7. From the Miracle in 1969 to the magic of 1986, and even the near misses in '73 and '00, I've experienced it all - the highs and the lows. I started Mets Merized Online in 2005 to feed my addiction. Follow me on Twitter @metsmerized.
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“Integrity – Sportsmanship – Character”
The problem is most recently people are getting on Baseball Writers for not voting people in based on their OPINION that somebody took steroids. Like Bagwell.
You can’t do that. There’s nothing about Bagwell that is 100% true that impacts his integrity or character. Nothing. It’s just “well this guy did it so he must have.”
I’ll guarantee you any amount of $ Griffey Jr. makes it 1st ballot. He never took steroids? How come we can assume Bags did and not Jr.?
I don’t know if Bagwell is a HOF’er which generally tells me he isn’t, but I’ll never say “because I think he may have taken steroids” as the reason. Anybody who does is a phony.
“How come we can assume Bags did and not Jr.?”
Bagwell looked better in a sleeveless shirt.
You don’t know what they know or what they saw hiding behind the top shelf of a players locker. Not everything is reported. It’s their vote and yes the voting all hinges on their opinions and not what you read in the papers.
Then wouldn’t they be just as guilty? If you’re telling me a writer SEES something in Bagwell’s locker and never says a word about it then…
That speaks clearly to the word Integrity and Character right?
Wouldn’t they be just as guilty?
Who cares? Nobody is voting Andy Martino and Mike Puma into the hall of fame, but if they ever come up for a vote, you can apply the same justice to them if it makes you feel good.
Actually, Joe, I agree with Jessep. Doesn’t it reek of hypocrisy if writers don’t vote for a guy who MIGHT’VE maybe seen a syringe once somewhere, when they as a brethren were privvy to all that locker room stuff and never said a word? Who are they to get on their high horse about PEDs when they didn’t think it was wrong enough to step forward at the time?
Exactly. You can’t tell me you don’t vote for Bagwell because he may have taken roids, and u may have seen it but never said or reported anything and THEN not say anything when u dont vote for him
Not if 1 of the factors is integrity and character.
And Joe, baseball writers never get to the hall of fame?
This is their vote. This is how the system works.
BTW, If you think Martino and Puma are HOF writers you need to read better stuff lol. They’re not even in the same class of those that have been honored.
Joe, I didn’t say THEY ere HOF writers. But are you telling me no writer who ever “saw something” was inducted into the HOF?
Also, if you’re telling me that writer A “sees something in bagwell’s locker” and says nothing but hides behind a vote, and then still doesn’t say something then he’s a coward.
If you want to not vote for Bagwell because you think you saw something, or you know you saw something… then cast your vote and say it. Don’t make up excuses. If you think he took roids, then leave him off and when somebody says “why didn’t you vote for Bagwell,” answer the question.
So you want to do what – let fans vote like in the all star game? What is your fix?
Yeah its not the voting that is my issue. It’s the hiding behing something and not having the fortitude to come out and say it.
If 1 person doesn’t vote for Bagwell because they think they saw something in his locker, then don’t hide behind the vote. Tell your story, that’s your job as a reporter. You’re a reporter and writer first, voter second. That’s what I am saying.
If you asked me to change the process, I’d want it to be similar to the Heisman but with a twist.
I’d want Writers + Living HOF members + some sort of elite Managers/Coaches/Executives Group to have a say.
I’d want not only the writers who don’t get to see a guy play as often as they claim to, plus HOF members who know what standards makes a Hall of Famer and Managers/Coaches/Executives who saw with their own eyes the player that is on the ballot.
How about we begin with a consistent standard.
Agreed.
My comment below (typed before I saw this discussion) says more or less the same thing.
Murray Chass made no secret of what he saw on Piazza’s back in the Backne story and look where it got him.
Because he didn’t actually see it. Look at his accusation again. He heard from some other guy who thinks he saw Piazza showing bacne.
Was that other guy a doctor? Nope. Did Chass ask a doctor? Nope.
Other writers (including bloggers) did go ask some doctors and got a ton of explanations that didn’t involve steroids. One being that Piazza wasn’t exhibiting bance, but rather skin irritation because he’s a hairy Italian guy squatting in catcher’s gear for a few hours in 90+ degree heat.
But hey, what woulkd a doctor know compared to guy who pissed away his journalistic integrity with a second hand accusation, right?
Seriously, Murray Chass is your go to guy?
Murray friggin’ Chass?
http://nybaseballdigest.com/2011/01/26/three-out-of-three-doctors-agree/
Howard Megdal, ladies and gents.
It got him there because he saw back acne, not steroids. It as a stupid claim to make.
Chass is an ass, I’m just saying if one writer in a million said I saw jeter popping PEDs who would you believe? When Canseco first blew the whistle the fans first crucified him and called him a liar. So did all the players, coaches and GMs.
Canseco, a guy in the game who said he did it and listed the people he saw do it is a far different animal than Chass,who said he saw acne on someone’s back. Which we now know could a) have not even been acne, and b) even if it was, could have been cause by several different reasons, most of which have far more correlation than steroids do.
Okay let me explain it this way. What i’m saying is that the court of public opinion has always preferred a beautiful lie than a terrible truth.
I can’t argue that one.
So what? It’s not their job to placate the public.
If someone caught Jeter using PEDs, it would snowball. Because there would be other guys who would provide the solid evidence and now have an outlet.
Again, look at how Chass went about it. No proof, no outside confirmation, just his own idea of what he might have seen.
So, did Chase actually write about this back in the 90s when all were turning a blind eye? Or did he wait until Canseco blew the lid with his tell all book and forced the issue and the Mitchell list a decade later?
Of course not. He came out with far more recently than that. He said he had WANTED to write about it, but the Times editors nixed it. Convenient.
How can you ask someone to consider a players integrity, character and sportsmanship? Doesn’t that depend onone’s perception? How can you judge one’s perception right or wrong?
If you are going to make such accusations against a man and threaten to destroy his character and legacy, then you show us the proof and you better have a damn good reason for not bringing it to light sooner.
“So then why do BBWAA get hammered whenever they apply apply those standards to their ballots?”
Because they don’t apply them equally or they use that line to justify ridiculous stanses, like keeping out a player who was never linked to PEDs except by being on the same team as admitted users.
Or that voter who left his ballot blank during the Ripken/Gwynn because they played in the 90′s. He got his vote taken away from him, but voters do abuse the rule like that.
Screw that. Why are PED users so much worse than players who went on strike?
In terms of integrity you have a point
But I wouldn’t compare drug usage to labor disagreements
I would however question why a guy who takes PED is viewed differently than guys who blew coke or took speed just to have the energy to play the game
Well, players that go on strike do so for business reasons because they feel that they are not getting their fair share of revenue or whatever. PED users blatantly fool the baseball industry into thinking they are incredible players in order to attain fame, money, etc. So I do think PED users are much worse…
Good point. Voters are now hesitant to vote for any player who was even mildly suspected of having a connection with PEDs, like Piazza and Bagwell. It’s a shame, really.
Do you have a specific writer’s voting record that would provide any evidence of your allegation?
Sportsmanship, character and integrity are not black and white as you seem to think. Perception plays a big factor. If a player spit at a writer once 15 years ago it might play a role with that writer. Personal experiences that are seldom reported but widely remembered.
Reporters dont always report what they know, the good ones hold back or wait for the right timing.
You want to judge the writers, but dont want the writers to judge the players when it is within their rights to do so and in adherence with the rules.
No, the writers want to be the judge, jury and executioner of a player’s legacy. Who are these hypocrites to keep a player out for PED (allegations) when they were the very same reporters who covered up the PED use?
How can the guys who jokes about and cashed in on PED use now act as moral guardians of the HoF keeping those same players out?
“Do you have a specific writer’s voting record that would provide any evidence of your allegation?”
Let’s start with the guys who voted in players we all know were doing speed but are keeping out guys who have not even been mentioned in any PED investigations.
Then we can go with the guys who voted in wife beaters, tax cheats, drunk drivers, and every other type of criminal.
As a matter of fact everything you think you know or don’t know about any players came from BBWAA members and not from your personal experience or knowledge of the players.
Most of these older writers are just as hypercritical as Selig and the Commish’s office.
Don’t think for one NY minute most of them didn’t think twice about the PEDs use they saw going on in the locker rooms back when. They did – and didn’t think twice about it. At least most of them did not, otherwise we would have saw a ton more articles from them as early as the late 80s on ‘cheating’. It wasn’t until the lid was blown, Selig had to do something – that some of these same sports writers/voters have touted loudly about cheaters from atop their soap box.
It was what it was back then. It’s a different era now. Since there is absolutely no way to be 100% sure who was using and who was not, just put one big asterisk at Cooperstown for those years caveating they played during the steriod era. Done.
SRT, it goes back to the Golden Age when the writers would be privy to all the women, booze and gambling when teams traveled by train (sometimes even taking a part in all the carousing) and having a “gentleman’s agreement” with the players to leave that part out of their stories.
And I don’t just mean train-ride card games when I mention gambling. The Giants beat writers could have turned Tammany Hall upside down with what they likely knew.
I’m sure you’re right. Oh, the stories they could tell. Would make an interesting book.
Actually, I heard that Ty Cobb retired when Landiss heard he had been fixing games and was let out in order to protect the game after the Black Sox scandal.
I read that exact same thing in a baseball book once. I wish I could recall which book it was.
“Despite five straight winning seasons as manager, Cobb, followed a week later by Indians player-manager Speaker, suddenly retired after the 1926 season. The day after Christmas in 1926, the public found out why: Dutch Leonard, a disgruntled former player who had been released by both managers, accused Cobb and Speaker of fixing a game on September 24, 1919. Both stars, plus Cleveland outfielder Smokey Joe Wood, had allegedly agreed to let Detroit win the game to give the Tigers third place. Upon hearing the allegations, American League president Ban Johnson forced the two stars to quit. But Commissioner Kenesaw Landis cleared and reinstated both players when Leonard refused to leave California to testify. Cobb ended up in Philadelphia with Connie Mack, who defended the hated Cobb during the ordeal, and Cobb played two more years before retiring for good after a .328 season in 1928.”
http://www.baseballlibrary.com/ballplayers/player.php?name=ty_cobb_1886