Numbers Don't Lie...

Unquestionably some of the greatest of their era, somehow Pete Rose, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens (and to a lesser degree Mark McGwire) definitely have a tough task ahead of being voted into Baseball's Hall Of Fame. Although dominant on the field, their off-field reputations and other allegations either have or will continue to keep them from garnering the number of votes necessary to be granted the honor of being enshrined in the vaunted "Hall" of MLB's elite. I don't think the reasons are justified, considering the great numbers said players produced over the course of their careers.

We'll begin with Pete Rose, dubbed "Charlie Hustle" due to his all-out approach to the way he played the game. Rookie of the Year in 1963 & NL MVP 1973. In 24 seasons in the majors, Rose managed to accumulate the most hits in MLB history (4,256 to be exact), leading the league in that category 7 times! More hits than Ty Cobb. Over 2,000 more hits than the great Joe DiMaggio. Think about how consistently good you have to be to rack up a total that high. For good measure, Rose is is the career leader in games played, and ranks in the top 10 all time for doubles, runs scored, & total bases. He's also a 3-time world champion to boot. So how can someone with numbers like this not be in the Hall of Fame? Simply put, Pete Rose bet on baseball as manager of the Cincinnatti Reds between 1985-1989, reportedly as much $2,000 a day. These allegations subsequently led to a lifetime suspension from baseball, thus making him ineligible for the Hall.

Now let's look at Barry Bonds, all-time HR leader (762) and record 7-time MVP. His accolades include 14 all-star appearances, 8 Gold Gloves and 12 Silver Slugger awards. Bonds was the epitome of a run producer, and managed to swipe 514 bases in the process. Some even argue that he's the most complete player ever (I still say Griffey, but that just my opinion). He set the major league record for most home runs in a season with 73 back in 2001. Bonds was undoubtedly the most feared hitter in the game, annually leading the league in intentional walks. If memory serves me right, he was even walked with the bases empty at one point (who does that??). Where things get cloudy for Barry is that he played in what is now dubbed "the steroid era", where many of the top hitters in the 90's-early 2000's were suspected of using performance enhancing drugs and steroids to boost their power numbers. Many believe Bonds to be a central figure of the era and victim of a MLB witch hunt to prove his guilt. It doesn't make matters any better with Barry's tainted reputation of being a complete jerk and unapproachable to the media. The Balco case in still ongoing.

Roger Clemens could use a few lessons in verbal restraint. You would think he learned from Raphael Palmiero's rant that lying under oath is not the best idea. Still, Clemens was a dominant force on the mound from 1984-2007, amassing 354 wins (9th all-time), 4,672 strikeouts (3rd) 11 all-star selections, a record 7 Cy Young Awards and an MVP award just for kicks. He was known as a fiery competitor and had no problems throwing inside and hitting batters with his fastball which was regularly clocked 95+ mph, thus earning him the nickname "The Rocket". He owns a career winning percentage of .657 and only yielded a losing record in 2 of his 24 major league seasons. Clemens was in every sense the "Ace" of his era.

The moral is, I think Hall Of Fame status should be measured by a player's accomplishments on the field of play, not the measure of their character. We have known racists (Ty Cobb for example), criminals, alcoholics (the great Mickey Mantle, among others) and Lord knows what else already enshrined in the Hall. Put this into perspective; segregation was legal in Cobb's day, so his off the field and personal antics were accepted. Steroids were not a banned substance in the 90's when Bonds & Clemens allegedly used them, and I'd wager any amount of money the majority of players took some sort of performance-enhancing substance. It was the nature of the game at the time. Should writers and Hall voters hold this against them? I think not. They were the best at what they did during the era in which they played, and that's what should be rewarded. I can't say quite the same for Rose as his issues bordered on illegal, but I think 20 years of being banned should be punishment enough.

Put an asterisk (*) by their names if needed, but let's give the players their due. As the saying goes... men lie, women lie; but the numbers don't. And at the end of the day, that's all that should matter.

-ALR

Alex Rodriguez Hits No. 600 (But No. 1 in Our Hearts)

The wait is finally over. Alex Rodriguez joins such baseball greats as Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa, as players to have hit over 600 homeruns while using insane amounts of steroids and other supplements. Sosa stands alone as the only one to have done so, and successfully completed Michael Jackson-like skin transformation.

The homerun came in the first inning against the Toronto Blue Jays, and gave the Yankees a lead they wouldn't relinquish, cruising to a 5-1 win. Who says he isn't clutch?

Way to go, guy.

To MLB, or not to MLB

I got into an email argument recently. It's like a texting argument, only more queer.

The topic began somewhere, then evolved to ranking favorite sports to watch live. I had the audacity to rank NBA and MLB games above the hallowed NFL. This led to a bunch of baseball bashing, complete with the most commonly used cliche arguments against the sport. Its a boring, slow, simple game, played by non-athletic people who used to maybe use steroids. All BS, of course, but whatever...

Within that email thread, only myself and a Puerto Rican guy were willing to defend the game. We pointed to the history, the unwritten rules, the unique complexities of the different ballparks, the Ken Burns documentary, and all kinds of other things that made me realize that even I was beginning to bore myself.

How did we get here?

Many have and will point to the Steroid Era as what ultimately has done the game in. I can't wholeheartedly disagree. The media likes to point to the early 2000's as the height of the Steroid Era, but if you look closely at the numbers (and film) the case can be made for steroids being a part of the game as far back as 25 years. It matters because in a game that is so reliant on sheer numbers to impress an audience that admittedly has to endure a lot of inaction throughout the course of a game, having almost three decades of tainted play is a concern.

I grew up in the Steroid Era, pulling for a San Francisco Giants team led by all-time homerun leader Barry Bonds no less. An unlikable guy, doing unfathomable things, with unknown amounts of illegal assistance (allegedly). Time has come to reveal that the best player on my favorite team was far from alone in this. I more than understand the current hangover effect that may have set in America's conscious about the game.

As a fan though, I don't want it to be that easy. There are a lot of good things happening in Major League Baseball right now. Seventeen of the thirty teams are still in contention for either a division title or playoff spot. There have been five no-hitters this season, and it isn't even August. Washington Nationals pitching phenom Stephen Strasburg is showing to be worth the "Lebron-esque" hype he'd been receiving since being drafted. Texas Ranger Josh Hamilton may be the first athlete to pull the reverse "Lawrence Taylor", going from crackhead to Triple Crown MVP. The New York Yankees...wait...fuck the Yankees. But you get my point, right?

I have to believe that all is not lost. As the picture above alludes to, baseball is in a rough patch right now. The game is scuffed. It's unclear how, if at all, it will be able to pull through. Strip away all the ancillary stuff, though, and you still see the only thing you need to see, and that is the ball. In the end, that should be all that matters.