5 Things That Are Wrong With Major League Baseball

Even though I'm a big fan of Major League Baseball (actually all baseball), a true fan is able to look at the sport and spot the problems that need fixing. To think your favorite sport is perfect, is either being blind to its pitfalls or ignorant to the negatives within it. Every sport has things wrong with it and here I present to you, the five things wrong with the MLB.

1. The Home Plate Collision Rule: MLB attempted to prevent injuries to catchers by creating a rule that forces the runner to avoid the catcher. Injuries in the past to all-stars such as Buster Posey and Ray Fosse led to the creation of this rule. The problem is that the rule is left with too much of a gray area for the umpires to interpret the rule. When players, managers, and fans can't tell if the rule is broken and many times the replay crew in the New York headquarters has to make the call, there is a flaw in the rule. A rule in baseball must be clear cut and as close to black and white as possible.

2. The Los Angeles Dodgers' Television Deal With Time Warner: In a sport that needs to capture the enthusiasm from a youthful generation to grow, the Dodgers deal alienates a lot of their local fans. Only people subscribing to Time Warner Cable are able to watch the games on live television. The biggest problem with this is that in an industry that is almost monopoly like, with cable companies owning rights to particular cities, many fans don't even have that choice to switch over to Time Warner. Long Beach, the second largest city in Los Angeles County is a city in this category. Five hundred thousand residents, but their city utilizes Cox Communications, meaning that Dodgers fans have to leave the city and find a bar or family member's house that is in a Time Warner city, to watch a game. This alienates current Dodgers fans and either creates future Angels fans in the youth demographic or even worse, hurts the future of baseball in general by taking away the ability for fans to grow up with the game. What's worse is that Time Warner raised their prices by $10 a month to compensate for the deal they made.

3. The 2nd Wildcard Spot: To create even more hype and build revenue that the MLB pulls in during the playoffs, they expanded the amount of teams to make the playoffs to five in a league. Three division winners and two wildcards. The two wildcard teams must play each other in a one game, do or die to play in the rest of the playoffs. It's too many teams. The MLB needs to revert back to four teams a league, which would only include one wildcard team. If there is ever another expansion, the MLB can create four divisions in each league consisting of four teams and still have four teams in each league in the playoffs.

4. The Ban of Shoeless Joe Jackson: Linked to the Black Sox scandal, eight White Sox players who played in the 1919 World Series, were banned for life for throwing the Series. Believed to have been bribed by professional gamblers and mobsters including mob boss Arnold Rothstein, the eight players were part of a conspiracy to throw the Series to supplement their low income. The MLB Reserve clause back then, allowed a team to offer any amount to a player and if the player rejected it, they would not be allowed to play in the MLB again. Charles Comiskey, the owner of the White Sox was notorious for lowballing his players. Eight players were accused of throwing the Series including Jackson, but Jackson's stats didn't appear to be those of a man throwing any of the games. He his .375, hit a homerun (in a time when they weren't hit that often), three doubles, and six RBI's. Teammates of his also went on to tell those who listened that he never accepted any money, nor was part of the scandal. Also no physical evidence ever showed that he was guilty.

5. Ban All Tobacco: In a sport that named the area where pitchers warm up (the bullpen), after the advertising signs of Bull Durham Tobacco that adorned them, baseball clearly had a long association with tobacco. One of the stereotypes of a ballplayer is the wads of chewing tobacco they shove in their mouth. As far back as 1909, players such as Honus Wagner demand the American Tobacco Company to refrain from releasing his baseball card along with packages of chewing tobacco. Unfortunately as far back as the conception of the sport, tobacco had already become common place on the field. The MLB eventually banned players from smoking in baseball facilities and furthered the prevention by banning tobacco companies from giving players free product in the clubhouses of the stadiums. In 1993, professional baseball took it a step further by banning players, coaches, and managers from using chewing tobacco on the field or in the vicinity of the stadium. Unfortunately it is still allowed in the Major League level. Former all-star baseball player Lenny Dystra, an addict to chewing tobacco, once stated, "They call me "Nails" because they say I'm as tough as nails. But I'm not tough enough to beat the spit-tobacco habit. Copy my hustle, copy my determination. But don't copy my spit-tobacco habit." Other Hall of Fame legends such as Babe Ruth and more recently, Tony Gwynn, were all diagnosed with cancer in the oral regions, attributed to their chewing tobacco use.

Millhouse Mid-season 2014 MLB Awards

With the season just over half done, I announce the Millhouse Mid-season 2014 MLB Awards...

AL MVP: 1. Mike Trout, 2. Victor Martinez, 3. Jose Altuve
AL Cy Young: 1. Felix Hernandez, 2. Masahiro Tanaka, 3. Chris Sale
AL Rookie Of The Year: 1. (tied) Jose Abreu, 1.(tied) Masahiro Tanaka, 3. Yordano Ventura
AL All-Star Team: C-Kurt Suzuki, 1B-Miguel Cabrera, 2B-Jose Altuve, 3B-Adrian Beltre, SS-Alexei Ramirez, OF-Mike Trout, Nelson Cruz, Jose Bautista, DH-Victor Martinez, SP-Felix Hernandez, Masahiro Tanaka, Chris Sale, Scott Kazmir, Garrett Richards, RP-Dellin Betances, Wade Davis, Jake McGee, Closer-Greg Holland, Fernando Rodney

NL MVP: 1. Troy Tulowitzki, 2. Andrew McCutchen, 3. Giancarlo Stanton
NL Cy Young: 1. Adam Wainwright, 2. Johnny Cueto, 3. Julio Teheran
NL Rookie Of The Year: 1. Billy Hamilton, 2. Chris Owings, 3. Chase Anderson
NL All-Star Team: C-Jonathon Lucroy, 1B-Paul Goldschmidt, 2B-Dee Gordon, 3B-Todd Frazier, SS-Troy Tulowitzki, OF-Andrew McCutchen, Giancarlo Stanton, Carlos Gomez, SP-Adam Wainwright, Johnny Cueto, Julio Teheran, Zack Greinke, Clayton Kershaw, RP-Will Smith, Zach Duke, Tony Watson, Closer-Francisco Rodriguez, Craig Kimbrel

R.I.P Tony Gwynn

Today, Tony Gwynn passed away from cancer, related to his chewing tobacco use in his playing days. At the age of 54, baseball lost one of their legends and one of the more recent inductees to the 3000 hit club.

Tony Gwynn's career contained feats such as winning the NL batting title eight times, fifteen time all-star, five gold glove awards, and 2007 first ballot inductee into the Hall of Fame. His career batting average was .338 and never dipped below .309 in any one season. After his career was over, he continued to remain connected to baseball by taking over as the head coach for San Diego State baseball. He took leave in March for medical reasons and unfortunately never returned to his role.

One of the more unknown things about Tony Gwynn was that he almost didn't become a baseball player. He was recruited by San Diego State out of Long Beach Poly High School as a highly touted point guard. In his freshmen year, he only played basketball. During his sophomore, an bicycling accident that injured two of San Diego State's outfielders, left the college baseball team in need. Jim Dietz gave Tony Gwynn a chance to try out and from there, everything is history. He won All-American honors in his junior and senior years, playing leftfield and designated hitter. In basketball he won Western Athletic Conference all conference awards twice. In the 1981, he was selected in the third round by the San Diego Padres with the 58th overall pick. On the same day, the NBA held their draft and the San Diego Clippers selected him in the tenth round.

He was the definition of a player that was self made. He consistently used video of his at-bats to study his own flaws and to study the tendencies of the pitchers he would face. Without this ability, he could not have been the consistent .300+ hitter he became. He constantly made adjustments to improve his hitting. One such adjustment was when joined the Padres minor league system, he had trouble converting over to wood bats from the aluminum bats college used. He made the adjustment to drop to a 32" inch bat that weighed only 31 ounces to mimic the weight of the aluminum bats. Despite losing a couple of inches on the length of the bat, he was able to control his swings better.

He created the term "5.5 hole" because he often would drive the ball to the opposite field between the third baseman (5) and the shortstop (6). Earlier in his career he was able to run, including stealing 56 bases in 1987. Eight knee surgeries slowed him down towards the end of his career.

In summation of his career, fellow major league all-star outfielder Joe Carter said he played with or against three of the games greatest "game changers" and listed them as 1) Kirby Puckett, 2) Paul Molitor, and 3) Tony Gwynn.

The Gwynn family had an odd knack for dates too. Tony Gwynn obtained his 3,000th hit on his mother's birthday. Exactly twenty-four years to the day after getting his first hit (a double), Tony Gwynn Jr. obtained his first hit as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers, also a double.

After the end of his career, the Padres retired his number 19 and unveiled a statue of him at Petco Park with the term "Mr. Padre" inscribed into the base of it. It was fitting as he spent his entire career with the organization which became a rarity in his generation. Despite player during the "steroid era", he was one of the few all-star hitters not to be accused of any wrong doing. His career often paralleled fellow hitters Wade Boggs and Kirby Puckett. In his fifty-four years, he displayed 100% class which is hard to come by in sports today. 

R.I.P. Don Zimmer

Normally a ballplayer, manager, or someone else involved in Major League Baseball has to hit certain milestones to be considered a Hall of Famer. For a hitter it could be five hundred homeruns or three hundred wins for a pitcher. For a manager, usually it means you have to have a World Series ring or two. Otherwise, if you make it to the Hall of Fame, it's because you did something to revolutionize the game such as breaking the color barrier.

But when should someone be elected to the Hall of Fame, despite not hitting any of the these career milestones? How about a player with these stats....

12 Seasons, .235 career batting average, 773 hits, 91 homeruns, 45 stolen bases, and 1 All-Star appearance

...or manager stats that look like this?...1 first place season, 1 manager of the year award, and a career record of 885 wins and 858 loses.

Not very Hall of Fame like at first glance, right?

Normally I would agree, but in this case, these stats belong to Don Zimmer. He spent sixty-six seasons in professional baseball, playing with World Series winners ('55 and '59 with the Dodgers), and coaching four more ('96 and '98-'00 with the Yankees). He had been involved with the MLB so long that he was the last member of the Brooklyn Dodgers franchise to still be working on the field (Vin Scully is technically the last, but he never played/coached/managed).

Zimmer had also been involved in several other notorious moments in Major League Baseball history. Because of Zimmer nudging Billy Martin to ask about George Brett's bat, the famous "Pine Tar Incident" in 1983 took place. Also in 1953, after being struck in the head by a pitch, the MLB began to adopt the practice of hitters using helmets. Lastly, during a brawl on the field, Zimmer, a coach for the Yankees at the time, charged Red Sox pitcher Pedro Martinez, only to be tossed to the ground. It became one of the most famous fight moments in baseball history.

He also has the dubious honor of being only one of four people to be ejected from a game in six different decades. The others are Casey Stengel, Frank Robinson, and Leo Durocher. He also was the first New York Met to wear the uniform.

As the bench coach for the Yankees, Zimmer was the person to convince Torre not to make it mandatory for the players to wear ties when traveling on road trips. During his tribute in Tampa Bay, it was revealed that his wife Soot used to tie his ties during home games, but on the road, without his wife, he couldn't tie the tie himself. His wife was part of Zimmer and baseball as far back as 1951. They were married at home plate in Elmira, New York in between two games of a doubleheader.

At his tribute, his family mentioned that no funeral service would be performed because the baseball field was his church. Over the years he touched and molded many players and legends of the game from Derek Jeter to Jackie Robinson. Mark Grace to Roberto Clemente. Willie Mays to David Price.

The game won't be the same without him there. With sixty-six years of professional baseball experience under his belt, it's hard for anyone to recall a time the game had been played without Zimmer being part of it. Despite his lack of milestone numbers, his influence superseded what most players have ever achieved in their lifetime.

Most Unbreakable Record In Baseball

56, 511, 4256, 383, 5714, 2632, 130.....All these are milestones in baseball that some believe are unbreakable records. All of these records are held by legends of the game and in some cases, are the reasons why they're considered legends. The game has evolved over the 150+ years it has existed and with the way it is played today, are these records unbreakable?

56...Out of these records listed above, I believe the one that could fall the easiest is 56, as in consecutive games with a hit. Held by Joltin' Joe DiMaggio, he set this record in 1941. In 73 years since he set the record, the closest players to come to it were Pete Rose in 1978 with 44 games and Paul Molitor with 39 in 1987. Both of them hall of fame caliber players in their own right, but still miles away from Joltin' Joe.

So why do I think this record is breakable? First off it was accomplished in a single season. I believe that most single season records are easier to beat than career long records. Especially in this case where a player on a hot streak could try to go after the record. Also, it technically has been beaten before, but on other levels of baseball. Robin Ventura hit in 58 straight games in 1987 for Oklahoma State. Plus the game hasn't changed so much, that the number can't be hit.

130...The most stolen bases in a single season is held by legendary leadoff man, Rickey Henderson. If he played today, fantasy baseball players would draft him first overall because he could single handedly win you the stolen bases category. Since he broke the record in 1982, the next closest was Vince Coleman with 110 in 1985 and 109 in 1987. Since that 1987 year, no one has even had over 100 stolen bases in a season and the most since Rickey and Vince is Jose Reyes with 78 in 2007.

Baseball changed. "Money Ball", power hitters, and stolen bases being more evenly distributed among teammates have caused the running game to change. The Money Ball method cites that your team has a better chance to score if the game is played straight up, without trying to bunt or steal bases. Ironic that the team that has employed this tactic is the Oakland A's, the very team that employed Rickey Henderson for much of his career including his record breaking 1982 year. The "Steroid Era" also is a reason for the drop. Power hitting became gold in the MLB and even if one of your faster players is on base, you would hold him off from running so you wouldn't bug your power hitter who is at-bat.  Finally teams seem to spread out the stolen bases these days. You'll have more players on a team with ten or more stolen bases, but none with very high individual numbers.

4256...The all time hits record held by Pete Rose, a player who played for 24 years. He had ten seasons with 200 or more hits and several more that just finished just short such as 198 in 1972. He also led the league in hits for seven different seasons. Is this record breakable? I think so, although it would take the right circumstances to do so.

The current active leader is Derek Jeter, who is on a farewell tour. Unfortunately, he won't break the record because he ONLY has 3363 hits as I type this blog out. He's ninth on the all-time hits list, but as long as he stays healthy for his final season, should be able to move past the sixth spot currently held by Cap Anson with 3435 hits. He could even move past Tris Speaker for fifth, who has 3514, but that would take some great hitting by Jeter.

If star Japanese player, Ichiro Suzuki came to the MLB earlier, he could have had an outside shot. He broke the single season record for hits and despite having only fourteen seasons under his belt (the last three which haven't been too productive), he currently has 2768 hits. He too has ten 200 hits or more seasons (all of them in a row) and also like Pete Rose, has led the league seven times. Unfortunately, he didn't come over to the MLB until he was 27 years old, spending his younger years in the Japanese baseball league. He currently has 4046 hits between the two professional leagues, but that takes into account that even though he hit 1278 in Japan, they only play 130-140 games a season. He too is currently playing, and by the end of his career, should have more hits overall than Pete Rose, but unfortunately for him, it won't count.

Currently playing, with a small outside shot of getting near the record, is Miguel Cabrera. He currently has 2058 hits in twelve seasons, but has spent the last couple of years dominating the MLB in not just average, but overall hitting. He won the triple crown in 2012. He also plays in the American League, which will allow for him to hit as a designated hitter, long after his fielding days are over.

2632...This was achieved by Cal Ripken Jr., breaking the Iron Horse Lou Gehrig's record of 2130. The closet since the record being set in 1998 was Miguel Tejada with 1152 games, but that ended in 2007. The most recent streak was at 547, broken this year by Prince Fielder. Unfortunately a herniated disk in his neck forced him into a season ending surgery. Can this record be broken? There is a small chance that it can, but with managers being overly conservative with players, especially star players, Cal Ripken Jr. was a member of a dying breed.

383/5714...Nolan Ryan's records for strike outs in a single season and in a career, in the modern era. In 1973, Ryan broke Sandy Koufax' record of 382 and since then, the closest was Randy Johnson in 2001 with 372. Both Koufax and Ryan accomplished the feat when teams ran with four man rotations. Ryan had pitched in 40 games when he had 383 strikeouts, giving him an average of 10.6 per 9 innings pitched. When Johnson threw 372, he average 13.4 strikeouts per 9 innings, but he did it in the five man rotation era while only pitching in 34 games. So why is this record harder to break than the all-time hits record? With five man rotations sometimes giving way to six man rotations, innings limits being set by teams and player's agents, and pitch counts rarely going 100 pitches, star pitchers are sometimes only limited to 30 starts in a season now. This means they would have to average nearly 13 strikeouts a game, when they now rarely go over seven innings a game.

With the career record, Ryan accomplished this in twenty-seven seasons and quite frankly was a durable, freak of nature. Several other players of the same makeup have followed since (Randy Johnson, Roger Clemens, Dwight Gooden), but various factors prevented them from breaking Ryan's career record. Johnson never pitched a complete season until he was 26 years old and by the time Ryan was 26, he 1205 career strikeouts, including two seasons with over 300. Clemens had 1215 by the time he was 26, but retired by age 44, had two seasons shortened by injury, and two more seasons that he didn't start playing until midseason. Of this bunch, Gooden had the most strikeouts by age 26, with 1541, but injuries and drug problems proved to be road blocks in his career, preventing him from being a future Hall-of-Famer.

Currently, CC Sabathia is the active leader with 2437, but that's in fourteen seasons and his body has been breaking down the last few. The three current players with the best shots are Felix Hernandez, Justin Verlander, and Clayton Kershaw. At age 28, Hernandez has 1786 strikeouts, fairly close to Ryan's pace. Verlander has 1721, but is 31 years old. Both Hernandez and Verlander have been solid when it comes to health as well. Finally at age 26, Kershaw currently has 1252 strikeouts, 47 more than Ryan at the same age and the season still isn't over. By the time all three retire, it's easy to believe that they'll all be in the top twenty-five of all-time, but to break the top five, they'll have to prove themselves to be freaks of nature like Ryan, Johnson, and Clemens.

Finally, the record that will be the most impossible to break, is 511 career wins. Set by Cy Young himself, he averaged 22 wins a season for his entire 22 year career. In Cy Young's days, he often would pitch as much as 50 games in a season, starting around 45 in a season at his peak. Today, a reliever that pitches in 50 games in a season, is considered to have pitched in a lot of games, at that's usually around 1 inning at a time. Cy Young started so many games, that he lost 316 games.

The closest in recent years has been Greg Maddux (355) and Roger Clemens (354) and both of them retired in their 40's. Greg Maddux pitched for one of the longest dynasties in baseball and Clemens was a freak of nature. In his time, Cy Young had over 815 career starts, but the closest active leader is CC Sabathia with 440. As with the strikeout records, with limited innings/pitch counts, five/six man rotations, and the wear and tear of pitching a whole career, this record is the most untouchable in baseball.

Expansion Time

With everyone in Major League Baseball trying to find ways to improve or change the game in some form, I wonder why it hasn't occurred to someone to suggest another expansion? In the "Expansion Era" (1961-present), fourteen teams were added to the MLB. Now baseball has gone longer without expanding since the era started.

The last expansion draft was in 1998 with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and the Arizona Diamondbacks being added to the MLB. That's sixteen years without adding a new team. Since the era started, the MLB has had expansions in 1961, 1962, 1969 (4 teams), 1977, 1992, and 1998. The biggest gap as you can see was fifteen years.

So why is expansion needed? First off, the AL and NL both have fifteen teams now. Because of this, every game day, there is an interleague matchup happening. Now I'm not exactly against interleague play, but it was supposed to be something special. Now it's common place and because of this, TV ratings and fan attendance will drop slightly. It takes the fun and mystique out of it. Adding two more teams in an expansion will create equal sixteen team leagues, which can be divided to into four team divisions. That's four first place teams that can go to the playoffs.

Second, there are markets that can flourish with MLB teams. San Jose has been trying to steal the A's from Oakland or Giants from San Francisco, but they're so close to the Bay area, that I think that they are best served by hosting a Triple A level team. Markets I think can handle a MLB team include Las Vegas, Indianapolis, Louisville, Oklahoma City, Memphis/Nashville, Portland, and Charlotte.

Third, with team's payrolls raising up so high, two more teams can spread out the cost to pay the players. The highest cost players would be spread among thirty-two teams instead of thirty. This would leave more room for teams to play/sign lower cost players, thus lowering their payroll.

I would split the divisions like this....
AL North: New York Yankees, Boston Red Sox, Toronto Blue Jays, Baltimore Orioles
AL South: Tampa Bay Rays, Texas Rangers, Kansas City Royals, Houston Astros
AL Central: Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox, Cleveland Indians, Detroit Tigers
AL West: ANAHEIM Angels, Oakland A's, Seattle Mariners, LAS VEGAS BANDITS

NL East: New York Mets, Philadelphia Phillies, Washington Nationals, Pittsburgh Pirates
NL South: Miami Marlins, Atlanta Braves, Charlotte Moonshiners, St. Louis Cardinals
NL Central: Milwaukee Brewers, Chicago Cubs, Cincinnati Reds, Colorado Rockies
NL West: LA Dodgers, San Diego Padres, San Francisco Giants, Arizona Diamondbacks

So as you can see, my expansion team cities would be Las Vegas and Charlotte. I think these areas would be most appreciative of an MLB team. Las Vegas is dying for a professional sports team in general and if they built a stadium similar to where the Arizona Diamondbacks play, it could work with the extreme temperatures. Also Las Vegas is larger than teams that already have teams such as Atlanta, Cleveland, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh.

In the case of Charlotte, I believe that Charlotte can grow as a sports city. With teams like the NBA's Bobcats, NFL's Carolina Panthers, and NHL's Carolina Hurricanes, why wouldn't this be a city to host the MLB? Also many banks call Charlotte their headquarter city. It should be easy to find corporate sponsors for a stadium and with a growing population, a growing fan base can provide an even better financial backing.

So in what baseball historians still term "The Expansion Era" why has baseball still yet to expand? There's no reason not to. It could give the American and National Leagues a form of symmetry as both leagues could have an equal amount of teams and divisions could be split into an even 4 teams a piece. Baseball should start now since it tends to take several years for an MLB to set up. They need to find/build a stadium, develop a minor league system, and the season before, hold an expansion draft.

In my opinion, it's time to expand.

A Tangled Web

Was it really a shocker when the audio tape leaked out of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling basically confirming to his girlfriend V. Stiviano that he's a racist? No. He's been accused of it before and even though his cases were "settled" out of court and in Elgin Baylor's case, thrown out for lack of evidence, it had been pretty much known that Sterling was racist. He is a slumlord who would often refuse to rent out his properties to people of African-American or Latin descent.

Money Talks

What baffles me is why would the NAACP even decide to give him a lifetime achievement? Money talks. He has donated money to the NAACP before and in the words of Leon Jenkins, president of the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP "The Los Angeles NAACP intention to honor Mr. Sterling for a lifetime body of work must be withdrawn, and the donation that he's given to the Los Angeles NAACP will be returned." In Sterling's own words on the leaked tape, he gives his players "food and cars and clothes and houses." In Sterling's mind, money is the ultimate power and he treats his employees and players as property or charity cases. He doesn't "give" his players all the luxuries he claims. They earn him millions of dollars through their playing. They aren't "charity cases", they are his money makers.

Girlfriend/Wife

And what of his girlfriend V. Stiviano? She's African-American and Hispanic. She's also pretty, so as far as Sterling probably thinks, as many plantation owners in America's slave days did, as long as she's pretty, it's okay to overlook her ethnicity. She's everything racially that he hates. From her standpoint, her attorney released on Sunday night, "Neither Ms. Stiviano, nor this office has ever alleged that Ms. Stiviano is, or ever was, Mr. Sterling's girlfriend." Funny, because Donald Sterling bought her a $1.8 million duplex, a Ferrari, two Bentleys, and a Range Rover, along with being given thousands of dollars in spending money and jewelry that belonged to Rochelle Sterling, Donald's wife.

That's right, his wife. He's still married. Despite publicly dating Stiviano, and her appearing on his side at the Clippers games, he's married to Rochelle Sterling still. Rochelle Sterling sued Stiviano to return the property because she is claiming it's community owned property due to her marriage with Donald.

The Recording

Now Stiviano is claiming that she never leaked the tape, nor did she intentionally try to make it. So it was "accidentally" recorded and someone "stole it"? Listening the audio recording, it almost seems as if the recording was a set up by the girlfriend. The questions that she asks Donald Sterling almost come off as scripted and more closer to the manner of an interview than a natural conversation a person would have with someone they're dating. Did she do it on purpose? I'm betting yes, but what was her reason? The Los Angeles Clippers President Andy Roeser is claiming she embezzled millions of dollars. Was this her way to blackmail Sterling? Maybe, although she had been still by Donald Sterling's side at the most recent games (before his ban). Did he know he was being recorded? I highly doubt it otherwise I don't think he would have been so blunt about his beliefs to her.

1st Amendment

One argument being made on Sterling's behalf or at least in his defense is that it's his 1st amendment right to believe and say anything he wants. While that's technically true, the 1st amendment doesn't protect someone from the consequences of saying something that could be potentially damaging to their own self. While you are allowed to say anything you want, you aren't given a license to say anything you want without public opinion judging you for what you say.

The NBA bylaws for the owners also have extreme scenarios for when one of the owners hurts the reputation of the league so badly, that he or she can be forced to sell their share of the team. When Sterling purchased the Clippers, he was aware of this.

The Future

The NBA owners are putting it to a vote to force the sale of the Clippers. It takes seventy-five percent of the owners to do this, but with all the momentum this has, I have a hard time believing an owner would put his own reputation on the line by voting to keep Sterling as the owner. Mark Cuban has already expressed his belief that this could lead to a "slippery slope" of owners voting other owners out for reasons such as not liking their fellow owners, but I believe this is more of the exception to the rule, rather than the new standard. This is an extreme case and needs to be dealt with swiftly by the owners getting rid of Sterling. The NBA has taken over the ownership of a team in the past (New Orleans Hornets), so a precedent has been set and I belief would be a better solution than to let Sterling continue to own the Clippers. Commissioner Silver has already banned Sterling for life from the NBA and fined him for $2.5 million (the NBA maximum), but it's still not enough.

It's time for the NBA to show the public that racism needs to be eradicated. It's time for Donald Sterling to leave the NBA and let someone else take over. It's better for the Clippers and better for the NBA. Game three against the Warriors was a disaster as the team seemed to be playing with a weight on their shoulders, but they turned it around in time for game four. I hope that this will unify the Clippers during their playoff run and motivate them to play harder for themselves.

The Transfer Rule

As the new year for Major League Baseball, there was debate about the two big rule changes for the 2014 season. Instant replay and catcher collisions were the topics that all the news outlets for the up and coming season. In the first two weeks these two new rules have been some major talking points, but a third rule change that flew under the radar is having just as big of an effect on the game as the first two.

The MLB instilled a new transfer rule that has changed the outcome of games multiple times already. When a player makes a catch, if he doesn't grab the ball with his throwing hand cleanly, the hitter/runner is now safe as a result of the incomplete transfer.

The problem is in many of these occurrences is that the fielder has made a clear catch and even taken a few steps and then bobbled the ball, only to lose the out. When right fielder Elliot Johnson of the Cleveland Indians caught a ball, took three full steps, crashed in the wall, took one more step, and then bobbled the ball, the umpires ruled the hitter safe. After the game Terry Francona, the manager for the Indians was asked by the press about what he thought about the play. He joked that if anything, he would have thought the umpires would have called traveling if anything.

In another incident, the Texas Rangers JP Arencibia took a throw at home plate as part of a force play. He stepped off the plate to throw the ball to first base, but bobbled the ball. Not only did he catch the ball, but he took steps to position himself to throw the ball. After reviewing replay, the umpires rules Dustin Ackley safe because of the transfer rule. Manager Ron Washington came out to argue, but was thrown out before ever getting a chance to argue. After the game, he was quoted as saying, "“We’ve got to do something about it. I understand the rule and I understand their interpretation of it. I just don’t agree with it.”

On another play, Rays manager Joe Maddon was upset on a double play that was ruled safe on all ends because when second baseman Ben Zobrist received the ball and tried to turn two, he bobbled the ball as the runner slid into him. Joe Maddon said, "He was absolutely out,'' Maddon said. "Part of it is that everything is slowed down, there is instant replay, it is slow. You could easily discern that Zo had the ball in his glove with his foot on the bag and the runner is out, period. So as we move this forward there had to be a differentiation between that and the two-handed transfer. … I do believe that has to be revisited.''

This new transfer rule has become a hindrance to the game. If a player has clearly made a catch, the hitter/runner should be out. Simple as that. Several times a day, the transfer rule comes into effect and in some cases, it has changed the outcome of the game.

Unfortunately MLB only changes rules once a year at the Winter Meetings. In this case, it would be advisable that they hold an emergency meeting as soon as possible to change the rule back to it's previous interpretation. If this bleeds into the playoffs and the World Series, we could see a massively important game of the season, hurt by a new rule that is clearly wrong.

The biggest reason to change this rule is that a fan should be able to watch a play and even if they don't like a rule or the call, understand why the umpire has ruled in a certain way. In a couple of cases, one involving the injury of a player, a player did drop the ball, but the hitter was still ruled out. Joe Maddon, the Rays manager affected by this call asked for a clear cut answer from the umpire why this play was ruled out. The umpire cited the injury and could tell him where the actual line is between catch and transfer. If the umpire doesn't know exactly how to interpret the rule, how is a fan in the stands or watching TV supposed to know (this can also be said for the catcher collision rule too)?

MLB....please change the rule back so fans don't have to pull out their hair over this stupid, new rule.

2014 Season Predictions For The MLB

Standings:
NL West Standings:
1. Los Angeles Dodgers, 2. San Francisco Giants, 3. Arizona Diamondbacks, 4. San Diego Padres, 5. Colorado Rockies...As long as health can hold up, the Dodgers will be the favorite. With Kershaw helming the pitching staff, they are favored over the Giants and the Diamondbacks who were dealt a blow when Patrick Corbin went down. Arizona has enough offense to win the division, but with a staff anchored by Wade Miley, it won't be enough.

NL Central Standings:
1. St. Louis Cardinals, 2. Pittsburgh Pirates, 3. Cincinnati Reds, 4. Milwaukee Brewers, 5. Chicago Cubs...The Cardinals hold on to the division this year with the Pirates and Reds right behind them. Despite the loss of power (Beltran and Freese), the Cardinals will hold off the Pirates who are only a strong ace from taking the division. The Reds are right behind and only a couple of injuries away from taking the division themselves.

NL East Standings:
1. Washington Nationals, 2. Atlanta Braves, 3. Philadelphia Phillies, 4. New York Mets, 5. Miami Marlins...The Nationals will not disappoint this season. A strong pitching staff that only got stronger and an offense that is the strongest in the east, will let them coast to an easy divisional win. The Braves have the offense to have a strong season, but with injuries to key pitchers, they drop into the second place slot. The aging Phillies will try to make one last hurrah as veterans Utley, Rollins, and Howard will try to stay healthy through the season.

NL Wild Cards: Atlanta Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates
NL Champions: Washington Nationals

AL West Standings:
1. Oakland A's, 2. Texas Rangers, 3. Seattle Mariners, 4. ANAHEIM Angels, 5. Houston Astros...The A's are a season older and are ready to take the west. A strong pitching staff followed by the comeback of Reddick should hold off the Rangers, but barely. The Rangers lost power in Cruz, but gained Choo, a better fit with the current roster. They also bolstered their power with Fielder and found a spot for Profar, which will make them the favorite for the division if the A's starting pitching runs into injuries. Despite the fact that they will end up in last place, the Astros core has actually improved and will be a factor around 2016.

AL Central Standings:
1. Detroit Tigers, 2. Kansas City Royals, 3. Cleveland Indians, 4. Chicago White Sox, 5. Minnesota Twins...The Tigers will take division again as Verlander will regain form and the defense improves with Cabrera moving back to first base. The Royals will be behind them by a few games with the offense coming together and their pitching staff producing top three results in the American League. The Indians will fall just short and will need to add more talent to their bullpen to ever climb higher in the central.

AL East Standings:
1. New York Yankees, 2. Tampa Bay DEVIL Rays, 3. Boston Red Sox, 4. Baltimore Orioles, 5. Toronto Blue Jays...The Yankees will take the top spot once again with improvements to their pitching staff. CC Sabathia leads this staff, but Japanese stars Kiroda and Tanaka and the emergence of Nova and comeback of top prospect Michael Pineda will lead one of the best pitching staffs in baseball. The Rays weren't able to move Price, so in the short term, combined with Alex Cobb, they have a potent one-two punch. The Red Sox will drop off as holes opened up in their roster, but they weren't able to sufficiently plug them.

AL Wildcards: Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals
American League Champions: New York Yankees

World Series Champions: Washington Nationals

Seasonal Award Winners:
NL Awards Winners:
MVP-Bryce Harper, Cy Young Award-Jose Fernandez, Rookie of The Year-Archie Bradley, Comeback Player of The Year-Curtis Granderson, Manager of The Year-Matt Williams
Silver Sluggers- Catcher Yadier Molina, 1B Paul Goldschmidt, 2B Aaron Hill, 3B Ryan Zimmerman, SS Troy Tulowitzki, OF Andrew McCutcheon, Bryce Harper, Carlos Gomez

AL Awards Winners:
MVP-Miguel Cabrera, Cy Young Award-Felix Hernandez, Rookie of The Year-Masahiro Tanaka, Comeback Player of The Year-Grady Sizemore, Manager of The Year-Ned Yost
Silver Sluggers- Catcher Brian McCann, 1B Miguel Cabrera, 2B Robinson Cano, 3B Evan Longoria, SS Elvis Andrus, OF Mike Trout, Shin-Soo Choo, Adam Jones

When Greed Conquers The Fans

Every year since the mass production of television, Americans have been able to watch the Opening Day in the MLB. In recent years, it possible required having cable television to do so, but still accessible to one hundred percent of people. Unfortunately, this year, things have changed.

The Guggenheim Partners whom are the owners of the Dodgers, signed an exclusive contract with Time Warner Cable. Unfortunately over seventy percent of the Southern California market that would be considered the Dodgers regional area, don't have Time Warner Cable. What is worse, is that is many of these cases, the Dodgers fan doesn't have a choice to even switch over to Time Warner cable.

As many people know, cable television distributors sign exclusive contracts with cities in particular, which means you only have one choice to receive your tradition cable in your city. Your only other options would be if you live in an area that can be served by Verizon Fios or AT&T U-Verse (which aren't that many) or if you sign up for satellite cable such as DirecTv or The Dish. Problem is all those other options are also not Time Warner, which means no Dodgers baseball for you.

In signing this contract, a city such as Long Beach, which is the second largest city within Los Angeles County's own limits, doesn't have the ability to even watch the Dodgers baseball. That's approximately 478,000 Los Angeles County residents within one city, who cannot watch Dodgers baseball unless the leave the city and go to a sports bar in a city that does have Time Warner Cable. How ridiculous is that?

This year's Opening Day for baseball was even more special because it was in Sydney, Australia. The MLB Network itself had a countdown clock on the bottom right of their screen and even though it was at 1am Pacific time (Dodgers' time), many fans were willing to stay up late and watch the Dodgers face division rival Diamondbacks. Unfortunately, even though the MLB Network is a subsidiary of Major League Baseball, even they weren't allowed to broadcast the game to non-Time Warner Cable subscribers and instead fans got to watch Intentional Talk with Dan Plesac and Chris Rose, talking about how great Opening Day will be.

When your average fan is denied the chance to watch Opening Day baseball, which even has a petition going around to declare this a holiday, you irreparably hurt your fan base. You can't expect local Southern California kids to grow up and become Dodgers fans if they can't even watch them on television. Best case scenario, these kids will become Angels fans, whom broadcast to the same television market. Worst case scenario, you lose your fans completely, hurting the growth of baseball within the most populated region in the country.

Unfortunately, for the next twenty-five years, this will be the new way of Southern California baseball. Seventy percent of fans won't get the chance to hear Vin Scully's voice announce a game. In a case of irony, even Vin Scully couldn't watch a Dodgers game now. Scully is a resident of Malibu, California, which is covered by Charter Cable. It would appear that if Vin wants to watch Dodgers baseball, he'll have to keep announcing for them no matter what.

Time For Fantasy...Baseball

It's that time of year again. The weather is getting warmer, the rain is going away, and the grass seems a little greener. You guessed it...fantasy baseball is about to start. Unlike Major League Baseball, fantasy baseball starts as early as March.

Actually, if you're in a keeper or dynasty league, it's probably started years before. This is the time of the year where your average baseball fan becomes a general manager of his own team of players he wished he could manage in real life. It lets every Joe Schmo out there get to act out his dreams, even if only in a simulation world, by starting and benching players, trading a player to upgrade their team, and dropping aging veterans for recently called up rookies on a hot streak.

There are various ways a fantasy team could be created. Snake drafts tend to be the easiest to understand, especially for newcomers. That's where players pick in a predetermined order and then the person with the last pick in a particular round becomes the first pick in the next with others following in the reverse order of the previous round.

I particularly prefer live auction drafts. This is where you start with a budget and have to fill a roster within that budget by bidding on players called out during the auction. Without proper planning, a fantasy player could make or break his team before the season even starts. This is almost a game within a game, getting the players you want to build a team to your liking.

Unlike snake auction drafts where your only real strategy is having a back up if a player you wanted is drafted before you can get to them, a live auction draft has multiple strategies that players use. Some up bid on players they don't want, so their opponents have to spend more money on players they wanted. Some players sneak bids in at the last second to steal players they were hoping for. Other strategies exist, but every player has their own method.

Keeper and dynasty leagues give a real sense of ownership. Owners get to keep a predetermined amount of players for multiple seasons. Hit it right with a rookie and you could be set at a particular position for years.

Fantasy baseball may seem silly to some, but for others, especially the hardcore types, it's a way to stake a form of ownership on your favorite players and feel like you're a part of the game itself. Bonus for those who earn money at the end of the season in rewards for placing in their league.

2014 Winter Olympics Follies

Now that the 2014 Winter Olympics has come to a close, it's as good as anytime to review the triumphs and the many travesties. Before the Olympics even started, problems were piling up while Russia made it's preparations. Stray dogs, poisonous water coming out of the hotel pipes, and bathroom stalls that had two toilets per stall.

In July off 2007, Sochi won the bid to host over Pyeongchang, South Korea and Salzburg, Austria. The six and a half years to prepare apparently weren't enough. Spending $51 billion dollars into updating Sochi and getting it up to Olympic levels. Nearly five times the amount it took to get the 2010 Winter Olympics hosted by Vancouver. Rumors spread that organizations syphoned and/or extorted money in the preparation.

By the time the Olympics were about to open, only six of the nine hotels built to host journalists and tourist were ready to be open. Out of those six, many individual rooms weren't ready for people to occupy them. Shower curtains, window curtains, door locks, and even pillows were missing from rooms. Some people were even asked to donate their pillows to the athletes because not enough pillows were ordered to cover the athletes in their dorms.

Many news organizations were forced to bunk up because not all their rooms were ready. The rooms that were ready, had water that came out of the tap, that more resembled whiskey more than H2O.

Once the games got under way, the opening ceremonies had it's own flaw. Five large lights in the shape of snowflakes were to blossom into the five Olympics rings. The top right ring decided to cooperate and remained a snowflake. On Russian television, viewers were never shown the mistake and instead they were shown taped footage from the rehearsals earlier that day, before cutting back to the live broadcast after the rings were shown. In the BBC and America broadcasts, viewers were treated to the genuine broadcast.

From there, after the ceremonies, various athletes had problems of their own, in their dorms. American Bobsledder Johnny Quinn found himself locked in his bathroom and without a cell phone or anyone within hearing distance. He used his athletic ability to break through the door and then Tweet about it afterwards. Ironically, later on he found himself stuck on an elevator and once again had a photo opportunity of him trying to open the elevator doors.

The snowboarders had problems of their own. The half pipe had large lumps at the end of the pipe and the surface of the pipe itself wasn't smooth at all. This type of condition hurts the big air style of snowboarders the most since they need the smooth surface to obtain the most speed, to gain the most air. The American snowboarders, who were the favorites, were all big air style snowboarders. Snowboarder rock star, Shaun White ended up in forth because of a fall.

As usual, hockey had it's controversial calls, but that seems to be the norm for every Olympics. The men's USA team lost it's final two games to end up forth overall, despite being a favorite themselves for a medal.

By the time the Olympics came to a close, the Russians had a sense of humor about it. During the closing ceremonies, to poke a jab at the ring that refused to open up during the opening ceremonies, the performers played the parts of the snowflakes that opened up to become the rings...except the performers that would make the top right ring. They stayed balled up for an extra count as a joke before joining the others in the iconic logo.

For a country with so much pride, especially in Winter sports, it was a surprise to see all the various ways it was bungled. The athletes themselves performed remarkably well and were one of the bright lights of the past two weeks, but Russia failed to play a part in that. It would be interesting to see whose heads will role...literally...when Russian leadership decides to place blame in review.

Spring Training

When February roles around, there is excitement in the air. Valentine's Day? Well for some. President's Day? Maybe if you're a banker. Well what is it?

Pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training for the up and coming new season. When many people are still freezing their butts off, many of the world's best baseball players are flying to Florida or Arizona to get ready for the new season.

For many rookies, it may be a chance to show that they deserve a spot on the roster. For some seasoned veterans, it's a last chance to stick around with a club for one more season. Players report to new teams they just signed with and managers/coaches get familiar with the new teams that they just took charge of.

One can look at Spring Training and not care. Many do. If you're a true baseball fan, it's not something to be missed...in person. The games don't mean anything, but they do give a chance to people to get up close with those they cheer for during the regular season. Tickets that would cost a grand in the regular season and sometimes take a deal with a devil to get, can go for as low as ten dollars and you have your choice of which exact seat you want. You want to lay out on the grass on a nice Spring day? For as low as five dollars, you can soak up the sun and enjoy the game from the outfield territory.

Another benefit to showing up for Spring Training? You can catch your favorite all-time greats coach the young guys. George Brett shows up every Spring still to guide the youth of the Royals. Sandy Koufax gives advice at Camelback Ranch to the Dodgers pitching staff. Robin Yount can be seen giving tips to fellow hitters such as Ryan Braun.

Not only can you watch them coach the current generation of players, many of the greats sign autographs and take pictures with fans. If you show up early enough before a game, many of the players are on the side fields taking early hitting practice or doing field drills. These practices are open to the fans and if you have a kid with you, it's almost a guarantee that you not only get an autograph from many of the players, but the occasional players gives a piece of his equipment away to the lucky kid here and there.

One game I attended at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona in 2012 had one of the better moments I personally witnessed in player/fan interactions. After a White Sox game, utility player Brett Lillibridge was signing autographs for some of the fans that stuck around. A kid around the age of eight years old, went up to him without anything for him to sign. He still wanted an autograph to remember his first game, but had nothing to give Lillibridge. Brett pulled out one of his personal bats from his own bag, borrowed one of the other fans Sharpie's, signed the bat, and presented it to the kid. Brett is a good utility player to have on a squad, but will never be an all-star. After witnessing what he did, he will always be an all-star in my mind.

Moments like this can be seen at many of the Spring Training games. Attending a game with the Diamondbacks in Scottsdale, Arizona, my wife, who loves to get autographs on baseballs she brings to every game. At a regular season game, you can get one autograph and feel lucky. At Spring Training, you can get seven or eight autographs and have done well. The Diamondbacks at this particular game got in a single file line in front of the seats on the third base side and spent the next hour gradually going down the line, signing everyone's balls, hats, or anything else fans handed them. We walked away with a ball that had so many autographs, that you couldn't fit anymore on her ball.

At a game in Peoria, Arizona, with the Mariners playing the Brewers, Rickie Weeks had a game face on and was ready to have a good game. On his way out to stretch before the start of the game, an older lady asked him for an autograph and in turn, gave him candy in trade. A twenty-five cent sucker and the lady had a prized possession. He came down the line to sign more autographs and when he came to my wife, he took a picture with her...with the sucker still in his mouth.

If you have never been to a Spring Training game, try to go at least once in your life. The stadiums only sit several thousand people and there are only a couple of concession stands in the whole stadium, but for a big baseball fan, it's almost like going to an amusement park. It's something that every baseball fan should get to enjoy once in their life.

Football Hall Of Fame 2014

If you have read my previous posts on here (specifically about the MLB hall of fame vote), then you are already aware of how mentally challenged I believe a large part of the BBWAA to be when it comes to voting for players for the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. The NFL writers aren't much better. In fact they're probably on the same boat, but just on a different deck.

The Board of Selectors, comprising of a forty-six man group, mainly football writers, are those whom select from a potential group of NFL players, coaches, staff, and etc. Just like baseball, a football player has to wait for five years before eligibility. Unfortunately, just like baseball, the board holds grudges against players and believes that players shouldn't be voted in during their first year of eligibility. They also prefer to only select up to one player from each position each year (i.e. one wide receiver per year).

Now ask yourself if this makes sense...you're the sixth all-time rushing running back in NFL history behind players such as Walter Payton and Barry Sanders. You've lead a team to a Super Bowl victory, been an all-pro six times, won NFL Comeback Player of The Year, won NFL Offensive Rookie of The Year, and won the Walter Payton Man of The Year. You're a first year shoe in, right? Wrong.

Running backs of lessor caliber (not bad themselves though) get voted in before you. 2011 Marshall Faulk, 2012 Curtis Martin, no one in 2013, and snubbed again this year. Edgerrin James is even being talked about ahead of you for the 2015 ballot. You're name is Jerome "The Bus" Bettis and you're the all-time leading rusher for the Pittsburgh Steelers (even ahead of Franco Harris). The fact that he is not in the Hall after this many votes is ludicrous.

The fact that the "Board of Selectors" prefer to vote only one player per position gets in every year is a joke. Sometimes, legends will retire in the same year. Imagine if this rule worked in baseball. Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Mike Mussina all retired the same year. If you chose one of them (i.e Greg Maddux), then the other two would carry over to 2015. Now in 2015, you also have Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez. Only one of them with the other two from 2014 carried over get in? It would take five years before they could all get in and that's if no other quality pitchers retire during that time. If you deserve to get in, you deserve to go in whether or not someone playing the same position is also eligible.

Also spited for the same reason this year was Marvin Harrison, because Andre Reed made it this year. One of the top receivers in the past twenty five years, he'll have to wait for while himself with the way things are currently set up.

You say you're a scary defensive player that made quarterback shake in their cleats. You've been all-pro multiple times, more super bowl rings than any other player in history, and over one hundred career sacks. You should get in obviously, right? Wrong. You're Charles Haley and the "Board of Selectors" doesn't like you from a personal standpoint. You weren't the friendliest player to the press and now you're going to pay for it. Grudges will be held and this is wrong.

Not only does the selection process for the MLB need to be reviewed, but so does the NFL's.

The 2014 Hall of Fame Vote (a joke)

The BBWAA (Baseball Writers Association of America) should be ashamed of themselves. As a writer, you are there to judge players fairly and be unbiased with your picks for the Hall of Fame. In the past three years, a large portion of the BBWAA has been childish, petty, playing favorites, vindictive, and even revenge seeking.

A small group of these writers call themselves "The Gatekeepers" and have been voting unfairly and/or based on rumors. The Gatekeepers refuse to vote for ANYONE who played during the "steroid era" because their belief is that everyone is tainted. Anyone from your large power hitters (i.e. Mark McGwire) to the speedy infielders (i.e. Craig Biggio), to even the average shaped pitchers (i.e. Greg Maddux). Whatever happened to innocent 'til proven guilty?

One writer, Dan Le Batard, sold his vote (for money for charity) to the website Deadspin.com and became the only writer to actually be stripped of his vote for abuse of his vote. I agree he should have been stripped, but the irony is that Deadspin let their readers vote their top ten picks for the Hall and the readers actually came up with a good vote (Maddux, Glavine, Thomas, Piazza, Biggio, Bonds, Clemens, Schilling, Edgar Martinez, Bagwell). Another writer allowed to keep his vote though, voted for players such as Jacque Jones, JT Snow, and Kenny Rogers over Biggio and Thomas. If you can't take your vote seriously, you should lose it. The BBWAA is a lifetime membership and some of the voters no longer cover sports and writer admittedly said he doesn't even watch baseball anymore. These writers should lose their votes too.

People without votes include Bill James (MLB's official historian), many of the journalist for MLB.com and the MLB Channel, and even people who have seen more baseball than ninety-nine percent of writers such as Vin Scully. The group of people voting for the Hall of Fame should be re-examined. Several current writers have submitted no votes for the past three years. You should be stripped of your vote. There is no excuse not to be able to find one vote in years that had so many deserving players.

In this year's ballot, there were arguably fifteen players or so that have Hall Of Fame credentials. Each writer is unfortunately restricted to ten votes, but a large number of players should end up going. Only three were selected (Maddux, Glavine, Thomas). It was nice to see a pitcher with a rookie season after 1970, finally make it. It's not as if there were no deserving pitchers in that group. Jack Morris, the winningest pitcher of the '80's fits in that deserving group, but only three players total was embarrassing.

First off, some players should be considered a no brainer when it comes to the Hall of Fame and with no valid argument against voting the player (i.e. Babe Ruth) and therefore should receive one hundred percent of a vote, which has never happened in history. Greg Maddux should have been one of these players, but a handful of voters actually made a case against him.

What is strange is some of these writers acknowledged that they WILL vote for players such as Manny Ramirez when he becomes eligible. Ramirez tested positive twice after the new rules of suspension came out (i.e. 50/100/150/life). Why would he be okay in their eyes, but not someone like Fred McGriff, who never tested positive, never was accused, and never even changed body shape all that much while he played. Some writers will cite that he didn't hit the benchmark numbers of five hundred homers or three thousand hits. McGriff hit four hundred ninety-three home runs and was a league leader in homeruns during the strike shortened season on 1994. In one hundred thirteen games he had thirty-four homeruns and could have easily hit seven more.

Rafael Palmeiro fell off the ballot this year with less than five percent of the vote and is the first player with over three thousand hits and/or five hundred homeruns to fall of the Hall of Fame ballot. In his case, I believe a case can be made for him not to make because he DID test positive for steroids, but other power hitters such as Jeff Bagwell, Fred McGriff, and even speedsters like Tim Raines never did. The same writers will hold Mark McGwire accountable for doing "Andro" when he played with the Cardinals, but in the late '90's, the medical community classified "Andro" as a supplement and not a steroid, nor was it even banned by Major League Baseball at the time. What he was doing was completely within the rules of baseball during that time period.

Craig Biggio comes up as a player that was gypped out of the honor this year. He was two votes short, the closest any player has come, without being voted in. He is one of the top ten second baseman of all time, amassing over three thousand hits, four gold gloves, five silver sluggers, and holds the record for being beaned the most in the modern day era. He is the only player in MLB history that has over three thousand hits, six hundred doubles, four hundred stolen bases, and two hundred stolen bases. He fell nine homeruns short of being only the second player in history to amass three thousand hits, three hundred homers, and three hundred stolen bases (Willie Mays being the only one). He played three positions to benefit his team, starting off his career as a all-star catcher, switching over to second base to become a gold glover, and moving to centerfield to benefit his team. He is undoubtedly a Hall Of Famer and it is said he will make it next year. The problem lies that for those who vote for him next year, they essentially only have nine votes for Hall of Fame instead of ten because of the travesty of not voting him in this season.

With only three players going this year, the already crowded vote gets even more crowded next year when players such as John Smoltz, Gary Sheffield, Randy Johnson, and Pedro Martinez become eligible. With the already crowded ballot, there's a good chance that several players might fall under the five percent minimum to stay on the ballot the next season, that are better players than ones currently in the Hall.

The biggest snubs are Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, neither of which have ever tested positive for steroids. One writer said he would never vote for Bonds because "he is a mean person". This may be true, but former players such as Ty Cobb made it and he was a known racist and even possibly killed a man and he made it. Clemens even tested for international competition and passed when he drug tested for the Olympics. Clemens only negative was that he tested in front of Congress that he never cheated on his wife, a question that had nothing to do with drugs, and he was found later of lying about that. The only thing Barry was ever proven to lie about was paying the correct amount of taxes. Neither should be a reason to keep the all time home run leader and possibly the best pitcher of the last fifty years out of the Hall.

Other players such as Tim Raines (a poor man's Rickey Henderson), Mike Piazza (horrible defense, but best hitting catcher), Mike Mussina (arguably better than Glavine), Jeff Bagwell (best first basemen of the '90's), Sammy Sosa (only proved to have had a corked bat in his final season), and Jack Morris were also gypped from becoming fellow Hall members. Good arguments could also have been made for Edgar Martinez (no defense), Lee Smith (retired as the all time saves leader), Curt Schilling (lack of consistency), Jeff Kent (lack of defense), Alan Trammell (in the shadow of Cal, Ozzie, and Larkin) and Larry Walker (lack of health).

The BBWAA needs to get their act together. With the way the group of writers has acted as a whole, if they continue to vote the way they have for the past few seasons, it will tarnish the validity of the Hall of Fame and players that are well deserving, will never make it. Embarrassing.