On Jan. 9, while Cooperstown trumpeted the inductions of Cal Ripken, Jr. and Tony Gwynn into baseball's Hall of Fame, Mark McGwire's candidacy was ignominiously dismissed by over three-quarters of the voters. Baseball pundits more knowledgeable than I are writing that after his first year of eligibility, Big Mac is so far short of the 75 percent "yea" votes required for entry that it's unlikely that he'll ever be elected on future ballots.
And personally, I think that's a damn shame.
Based purely on numbers, McGwire deserves his bronze plaque. He was one of the most feared hitters in his era, and with good reason: McGwire ranks seventh on the all-time home run list with 583 career dingers. Pitchers respected him to the tune of over 1,300 career walks, and he led his league four times in slugging percentage and twice in on-base percentage.
Perhaps this number is the most telling of all: There are fifteen players in major league history with 500 or more home runs, and all but McGwire are in the Hall.
It's true, Big Red wasn't much of a fielder, and plodded station-to-station on the bases. But being one-dimensional players didn't keep Bill Mazeroski or Ozzie Smith - slick-fielding middle infielders who couldn't hit - out of Cooperstown. Closers are no more specialized in their duties than are prolific home run hitters.
McGwire did one thing supremely well, well enough that numerically speaking, he should have been elected. But 400-odd voters wanted to make a statement about "morals" or "the integrity of the game" - concepts that have simply no bearing on any one candidate's Hall-worthiness.
It's widely believed that McGwire used anabolic steroids during the 1990s while assembling his impressive home run totals, and apparently that belief was all the voters needed to mark "no" on their ballots. John Shea, a writer for the San Francisco Chronicle, said that he voted against McGwire because to "vote for McGwire, you're endorsing everything for which he stands."
I'm sorry, but that's just sanctimonious.
McGwire has never tested positive for any kind of performance-enhancing substance. He has never admitted to using steroids. But now we're supposed to condemn the man based on a book, one chock-full of factual errors at that, produced by a spotlight-loving clown named Jose Canseco? What happened to presumption of innocence?
And even if McGwire did use steroids, he violated absolutely no MLB rules. Performance-enhancing substances weren't banned until 2002, and he retired in 2001. He could have been juicing his eyeballs out and in the eyes and bylaws of baseball, it was fine. And please, no comments about the "spirit of the rule."
Gaylord Perry, a pitcher with 311 wins, more than 3500 strikeouts, and a berth in Cooperstown, made his living by scuffing the baseball with everything under the sun: Vaseline, razors, rocks from the dirt of the pitcher's mound. He broke actual rules, not just unwritten ones.
Finally, I understand that the words "character" and "integrity" are both included on the ballot under criteria for induction, but if Ty Cobb, one of the vilest human beings ever to participate in professional sports, can be in the Hall of Fame, don't tell me McGwire is out based on a character deficit.
It will be a travesty if Mark McGwire never receives the plaque he's earned. There is no morality litmus test for Cooperstown. Or at least there shouldn't be.
-Matthew Mertens is a sophomore who has not yet declared a major.
