So I was watching ESPN today, and they showed this greatly, glorified, interview with Sammy Sosa. Sammy, having decided to return to the J-curl hair-do, started blowing off about how he has value, how teams will shop him this off season, and how he wants to get back into playing professional baseball. Ha. What a joke. Its funny isnt it? Remember when Jose Canseco did that thing this year too, trying to pitch for some minor league team, because "he really missed the spirit of competition" or something... More like; gee I'm off the 'roids now, I wonder if I can play like I did when I was 18 before I started them. Not so much. I think every Jose Canseco comeback has been a disaster. Sammy? pfffff. please. Give him a solid year to get off 'roids and 'roid like substances, and now he wants back in? Remember, Sosa opted out of the World Baseball Classic... and gee, that wouldn't have had anything to do with the higher levels of drug testing used, would it? Probably not. He just didn't see the point in doing something COMPETETIVE, for the name of the game. It didn't include enough dollar $igns for $ammy $o$a to come out and play, with the probability of a steroid witch hunt going on. But now, oh how those 9 months have changed everything... as seen by his horrid hair cut... so that competition is what he misses... not money. In fact, the reporter even put it to him "If you were offered a million dollars to play for Team A, or 500GR to play for the Cubs, where would you play?" He wouldn't answer. He just popped that 'roid stretched $hit eating grin. You stay classy Sammy. And you'll stay out of The Hall of Fame too.
Which begs my thoughts on the upcoming class...
• Harold Baines NO
• Albert Belle DOUBTFULL, MEDIOCRE NUMBERS, ASSHOLE OFF THE FIELD
• Dante Bichette WHATEVER, WITHOUT COLORADO HES NOTHING
• Bert Blyleven VERY POSSIBLE
• Bobby Bonilla NO
• Scott Brosius HA HA, NO
• Jay Buhner NO... AND HALF HIS RBI'S WERE GRIFFEY JR!
• Ken Caminiti USED ROIDS, DIED OF DRUG O/D, NOT HALL MATERIAL HOW HE WON THAT MVP IS BESIDES ME
• Jose Canseco WROTE A BOOK ON HOW HE USED ROIDS! BUT WAS FIRST 40/40
• Dave Concepcion WHO? NO!
• Eric Davis NO... HE WAS A HOT SHOT THAT WAS STUCK PLAYING IN THE "NATTI
• Andre Dawson DESERVES CONSIDERATION, MVP, SOLID NUMBERS
• Tony Fernandez NO
• Steve Garvey I'D THINK IT OVER, BUT NOT GREAT ODDS
• Rich Gossage I'D CONSIDER THE GOOSE
• Tony Gwynn ABSOLUTELY, 15x's ALL STAR, MILLIONx's BATTING CHAMP, 3K HITS< GREAT GUY
• Orel Hershiser CHECK, HE'S IN, SCORELESS INNINGS STREAK IS GODLIKE, GREAT ROLE MODEL
• Tommy John HE DESERVES IT, 26 YEARS AS A STARTER, GIVES UP ONLY 300 HR's, AND HAS THE SURGERY NAMED AFTER HIM
• Wally Joyner BITCH PEASE!
• Don Mattingly A YANKEE I RESPECT, BUT NO
• Mark McGwire ANDRO, NOT A ROID, BUT ALSO NOT IN THE HALL
• Jack Morris WON ME ALOT OF GAMES ON NINTENDO, MAYBE ID CONSIDER IT
• Dale Murphy HE SHOULD BE CONSIDERED, BUT WON'T BE, BACK TO BACK MVP
• Paul O'Neill LOVED HIM, BUT NOTHING HALL WORTHY OTHER THAN WORK ETHIC
• Dave Parker FALSE
• Jim Rice EH, NO.. HE was BOSTON'S OFFENSE AFTER YAZ... BUT EHH
• Cal Ripken Jr. VERY POSSIBLE UNANIMOUS FIRST BALLOT-ER
• Bret Saberhagen YOU MEAN HE PLAYED FOR TEAMS AFTER KANSAS CITY?
• Lee Smith YES, HE DESERVES A SHOT, RETIRED AS ALL TIME SAVES LEADER 470 SOME SAVES, SAVED 40+ GAMES FOR FOUR YEARS CONSECUTIVELY
• Alan Trammell NO
• Devon White HAHAHA NO
• Bobby Witt NO, SUB .500 WINS, GAVE UP A HIT PER INNING, AND A RUN EVERY OTHER
Aside from what the media is saying, this doesn't look like that solid of a class to me. Problem is, this is one of the first few classes where EVERYONE played in my recollection. See, that right there says something. For years, I've had to sit and watch players my dad watched, get Hall consideration, now, we're on to the players of my generation... Which is the problem. I'm biased because I grew up watching these guys play. I have their baseball cards, their Starting Line Up action figures, I modeled batting stances after them in backyard wiffleball games, and I talked them up in arguments with friends. Some of these guys have alot more give, when it comes to me, than I know the Baseball Writers Association has for them. For alot of these players, I had no clue they were such dirt bags, or such great off-field persons until way later in my years; for me, growing up, it was about the numbers and who I saw on TV or in the box scores. Paul O'Neil. I loved the guy. All round, he was a great player. He's a great person to have on a team. Hard work ethic, and he valued his time playing the game while he was there. But that alone can't make him Hall worthy. Jack Morris. He brought back the splitter and cutter for guys like Curt Schilling, Mariano Rivera, and Randy Johnson... Sure, he helped get the Twins to the Series, and later with Toronto he was quite valuable... But the most success he ever had was on my Nintendo. I can't make a case for him, outside of the Nintendo Hall Of Fame. Guys like Jim Rice, I can't connect with... but everyday days like Joyner, Bonilla, Baines, Caminitti, Davis, were all descent players... with respect. But I can't see them making the cut. Were left with a set of guys that deserve consideration, and those that will get consideration. Not the same thing. Garvey, Dawson, Murphy and Smith deserve consideration. They wont get it. Not enough to matter atleast. But what the media wants to focus on, are guys that don't deserve consideration, but will get it... McGwire, Belle to some extent, Canseco, Caminiti. The Roid era. Three of the guys admit to Roid use [even by their stoic ill-refute to do so, they do admit it], and Albert Belle really wouldn't surprise me to have used something, watching him play. The media wants this to become some showdown against baseball fans, and baseball as a respectable sport. And while, these guys may have 480 home runs, 40/40 years, MVP's and the like attached to their names... I cant vote any of them in on clear thoughts. Is it the roids per se... Maybe. Is it knowing that they robbed my sense of youth from me.... Maybe. Because I, like most every other fan, didn't find out about steroid useage until these guys were done. We didn't find out, until we enjoyed them at what they did, to find out they cheated to get ahead. But, even so, none of them has automatic Hall numbers. Sure, McGwire comes the closest to that, but we all know why. Thats what makes me want to see guys like Dale Murphy make it. Lee Smith. Goose. Burt. Gwynn. Ripken. Guys that could still be my childhood heroes, even as I'm an adult.
