No Joy In Mudville...Ummm Cooperstown

So, just gonna throw my two cents into the whole Hall of Fame election voting stuff.  For those of you that do not know, the BBWAA (Baseball Writers Association of America) voted no one into the hallowed halls of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown for 2013.  This is the first time there has been no class elected since 1996.

I see the side of the voters.  I really do.  There were players entering the fray this year that were playing right in the middle of one of the more controversial times in baseball history:  "The Steroid Era".  However, there were players on the ballot that truly deserved to be in the hall and have never been even whispered with the Bonds' and Palmeiro's of the world...like Craig Biggio.  Biggio was a class act on the field and off the field.  You would be hard pressed to find a person to be able to condemn anything in his personal life or what he did on the field.  I understand the voter's hesitance on Biggio:  He's not really first ballot material, he was never the best hitter on his team (that would be Bagwell), and he never won a championship.

This voting class was tough.  If Bonds wasn't so prickly with the press and wasn't right in the mix with illicit substances, he'd have been a first ballot guy, for sure.  Same with Roger Clemens.  But, we are coming up to the time when we all though there might be some problems with who to elect into Cooperstown.  There will be some tough decisions to be made; I'm just glad I don't have to be the one to make them.

In the early '90's, I thought I would like to be present at a Hall of Fame induction if two things happened:  Cal Ripken and Tony Gwynn (two of my all time favorites) got in together...they did, and I didn't go.  Aaaannnnnddd...I thought it would be awesome to see Bonds, Clemens, and McGwire get into the Hall together.  None will get in...at least for a long time.