Not sure if you were serious with the *****. But you say put them in with the aestericks…… Interesting.

Thanks.

Merrill

I love your quotes - keep them coming. I also believe Canseco won’t get in because of Roids. Even though he doesn’t have 500 home runs he has world series rings and a ton of personal achievements.

I will need to give it some thought - who knows there might be others.

Merrill

In the end, there will be only one player from the Roid Era who will be excluded from the HoF - Rafael Palmeiro. Not because he lied about juicing and then was caught, but for breaking the unwritten rule of ratting on team mate Miguel Tejada.

As Jimmy Conway (Robert DeNiro) tells a young Henry Hill, in “GoodFellas” after his first arrest, “You just learned the two most important things in life: Keep your mouth shut and don’t rat on your friends”.

It will be interesting to see how the veteran committee handles Pete Rose. I am sure that some of the committee does have a soft spot for him but Pete may have to admit even more of what he did and beg for forgiveness. maybe even do a PR campaign to help his image.

I do agree there is a difference between scuffing up a ball but the writers have trouble with voting on all this stuff. They are (as I am and probably you are) confused on who did what, when and what it all means. Since they really don’t know they probably will vote for the players the originally would have just not as quick…. meaning sure 1st time ballot locks who have a sketchy past will need to wait.

I do love your quote and believe that everyone including the commissioners office knew what was going on.

Merrill

I agree with you Roger will get into the Hall of Fame - not on the first ballot but he will get in and most of the joy has been taken out of it for myself and millions of other fans. It will be interesting to see the reaction of red sox nation since he will be wearing a hat with a letter “B” on it.

Merrill

To me, he seems like a little kid who is in way over his head. If he were to come out now and admit his mistakes, I’d surely forgive him. I have that much sentiment for the player that he was. But it looks like that’s not going to happen.

I do think he will be inducted into the Hall. His induction, for me however, won’t be the happy event that it could have been.

2007 was Pete’s last year on the baseball writer’s ballot. He is now at the mercy of the Veteran’s Committee and everyone knows how “proactive” this group has been under the leadership of Joe Morgan.

Good question on cheating, but I am not sure your analogy is the best.

To me the question is: Is there a difference between roughing up the ball or throwing a spitter to get yourself 300 plus victories and a place in Cooperstown to that of getting jacked up on roids to get yourself 500 plus HRs or to extend your career (like Roger) and a place in Cooperstown?

Again, I am a loyal Dodger fan and I will be the first to admit that Don Sutton spent his entire career digging his wedding ring into each and every baseball he ever picked up. This extended his career by a good 2 to 5 years and got him 324 career wins and 3,574 strikeouts. No one has ever accused him of tarnishing baseball’s sacred milestones or records.

To me cutting a ball, corking a bat, stealing signs, living on pep pills (MLB’s drug of choice from 1946 to this day) and getting jacked up on roids are all of MLB’s dirty little secrets that they choose to ignore or dismiss.

To paraphrase Otto von Bismarck “Laws (baseball in this case) are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made.”

Interesting comments. Even though Pete Rose saw that sign each and everyday I think there stands a good chance that he will get in the Hall of Fame after he is long gone. Years ago he got over 40 write in votes (not sure if he has gotten any recently) so there is some sympathetic crowd out there. Also lots of writers only care what you do on the field not outside of the stadiums (to me it should be both) so he might get some votes there. His real punishment is not being alive to see the day he goes in, make a speech etc.

Ed your second question is also interesting to me most would say there is different levels of cheating. using spitballs is almost a misdemeanor and almost forgotten. Isn’t there a difference before robbing a bank and killing someone vs stealing a computer?

Merrill

Its interesting with everything negative about Roger we end with HE WAS A GREAT PITCHER - sad in deed.

Merrill