Dodging Bullets

The daycare where baby Leo goes sent an email over the weekend that he may have been exposed to someone with COVID. They were right. My grandson, daughter and son-in-law have all come down with it. But we’re talking adults who’ve been vaccinated and boosted, so everyone seems to be doing OK. I know this in part from photos Clare sends every couple of hours of Leo smiling and/or playing on the floor. I also know this from the phone call I got from my daughter last night to discuss the HOF voting results. David Ortiz got in, Barry Bonds and Roger Clements didn’t. Ditto Sammy Sosa. This would pretty much be Clare’s ballot. She has next to no tolerance for PEDS’ users, which explains why she’s OK with Ortiz. “Next to” excuses Ortiz’s positive test in 2003, before MLB instituted a crackdown. Big Papi also benefits from the eye test. The extra weight he carried looked to be the product of never missing a meal, not playing with pharmaceuticals. And, as the man said, he never failed a drug test. Bonds, Clemens and Sosa now move on to the next phase, consideration by one or another old-timers’ committee. As Paul Sullivan noted in today’s Tribune, they could very well get in, once a younger generation of voters with a different take on PEDs is seated. But that doesn’t look to be anytime soon. And don’t let me forget to mention Curt Schilling; he’s also headed off the ballot and into old-timers’ limbo. That, or he’ll just stay under the rock where he’s hiding. What an interesting bunch of speeches, if and when they occur. Ortiz will do his best Big Papi while Jim Kaat and Tony Oliva should bring the requisite amount of “Gee whiz, we made it” to the festivities. Gil Hodges, Bud Fowler and Buck O’Neil will also get their due, I imagine. But not the PEDsters, which is good news for a child who happens to be a mother and a onetime player of the game of baseball.