O/T If McGwire Doesn't Go Into Hall then Clemens ...

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Posted By: davidcycleback

Copied directly and unabridged from the 'Rules for Election to the (Baseball) Hall of Fame,' below are the rules for voters:

"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."

My interpretation of the rules is that every quality isn't required for enshrinement (it's not a case of you have to get 5 of 5 or you can't be a HOFer), but that all are supposed to be considered. One can't fault the voters for considering more than a player's on the field performance when they are required to.

I believe it is the Pro Football Hall of Fame that has the voters not consider a player's consider charecter, etc. It is commonly said in defense of Pete Rose, 'How can the murderer O.J. Simpson be in the Hall of Fame and Pete Rose not be?" As you can see this question involves a logical fallacy (straw man argument), as Simpson's enshrinement and Rose's enshrinement (or lack there of) are based on distinctly different rules. The question is comparing apples with oranges ... A response to the question could be, "How could Rose be elected to the Hall of Fame with Simpson? Rose never played pro football" ... Also note that Paul Hornung, an athlete whose popularity was comparable to Rose, was suspended for a year by the NFL for betting and is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and currently heartily embraced by the NFL establishment. So the NFL, MLB and their HOFs are different animals.