2016 Hall of Fame Ballot, Who would you vote for?

packs · #1 01-12-2016, 04:45 PM

I think there's more to it than that. Bonds was defiant, wouldn't admit what he did, more or less had a man do time for him, and cheated for the most superficial reasons you can name. He's a blight on the sport.

chaddurbin · #2 01-12-2016, 05:22 PM

Cobb was a raging racist, ruth a womanizer, mantle was a drunk....money buys you privilege. I dont look at pro athletes to uphold our moral virtues.

dgo71 · #3 01-12-2016, 07:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chaddurbin

Cobb was a raging racist, ruth a womanizer, mantle was a drunk....money buys you privilege. I dont look at pro athletes to uphold our moral virtues.

It's not about morality, it's about the fact that his numbers are forever in question because nobody can ever definitively know what part of his stats came from cheating and what came honestly. That's it. All the "well, he didn't start until..." and "he'd be a HOFer anyway..." arguements don't matter because not one person with those arguements is any more confident in Bonds' career than the writers, and there will never be a way to prove it. Giving someone the absolute highest honor when they didn't come by it fairly is not just condoning cheating, it's basically saying there's no need for rules at all. Nobody makes a fuss when Olympians have their medals stripped for the same offenses, Bonds had nothing taken away from him. He's just not getting anything extra either.

BTW, Cobb being racist in a period of our history that was predominated by racists, and Ruth womanizing and Mantle drinking when those two things are still rampant today, none of those qualities changed the stats those men put up on the field. The same can't be said for Bonds' actions.

HRBAKER · #4 01-12-2016, 10:29 PM

And you can't assume everyone of his peers were juicing either.
He's the one who chose to cheat, I can certainly hold that against him.

packs · #5 01-13-2016, 10:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chaddurbin

Cobb was a raging racist, ruth a womanizer, mantle was a drunk....money buys you privilege. I dont look at pro athletes to uphold our moral virtues.

Cobb was not a raging racist. He built low-income housing in Georgia specifically for African American residents, would often sell them land for nothing, and fought for integrated play long before it was generally accepted.

�The negro has the right to compete in sports and who�s to say they have not?�
-1952

chaddurbin · #6 01-13-2016, 10:56 AM

i take it back on cobb then, respect him even more. everything else i said i still believe. they call it the ped era for a reason, don't think it's just some isolated cases in each locker room. bonds/clemens was the greatest of that era, they should be in. thank god their votes are trending upward so i believe they will be in eventually. just kind of odd piazza is in before bonds...

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