Your Bias is Showing

I just finished looking at The Athletic. Talk about bias. Anyplace that doesn’t touch on the Atlantic Ocean—or the Pacific, provided it’s Los Angeles—doesn’t count, at least when it comes to baseball. Must be hard to make a case for the Giants and the Jets. Unlike baseball. Start with Jim Bowden’s winter-meetings’ wish list, which could’ve been written by the Mets’, Red Sox and Yankees’ front offices. In addition, Bowden takes on HOF balloting. If it were up to him, he’d have the Contemporary Era HOF Committee elect Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Gary Sheffield, likely steroids’ use be damned. The ex-GM of the Reds and Nationals also wouldn’t mind Don Mattingly’s selection. Hey, “It wasn’t his fault he had injuries, but that’s why he hasn’t gotten in.” [quote from story in today’s The Athletic] As ever, there’s more. Ken Rosenthal, to be specific. He of the bow tie thinks, “As Baseball Hall of Fame standards change, voters must recalibrate with them.” Pitchers don’t win 300 games anymore, injuries keep players from accumulating stats that were once used to guide Cooperstown enshrinement. Like Bowden, Rosenthal thinks the effect of injuries on careers has to be weighed, even at risk of going down the “slippery slope.” He also wants consideration given to character. Contemporary Era HOF candidates “Mattingly and [Dale] Murphy were considered shining representatives of the sport, as were [Carlos] Delgado and [Fernando] Valenzuela.” If “bad guys” like Bonds and Clemens—both of whom Rosenthal voted for—are to be kept out, then “good guys” should get a boost on character grounds. [quote from story, 12-4-2025] This is what I want to know: Will the standards that a HOF voter like Rosenthal employs to make his decisions ever evolve to include the likes of ex-White Sox stars Paul Konerko and Mark Buehrle? I mean, no injuries for either and never a hint of scandal. In fact, in 2014 Konerko and Jimmy Rollins shared the Roberto Clemente Award for outstanding character. One of my daughter’s favorite players also collected 1412 RBIs on 439 homeruns and 2340 hits. Keep in mind Rosenthal is ready to grant HOF entry to Giants’ catcher Buster Posey, with just 1500 career hits and 729 RBIs to his name. I can’t wait to see what A.J. Pierzynski, with over 500 more hits and 180 more RBIs, will have to say about that. As for Buehrle, those 214 wins, including two no-hitters (one a perfect game), didn’t happen for an East Coast or Dodgers’ team. Which means, in the world of The Athletic, they count for nothing at all.