Let the nominations begin for the Hall of Shame
THE INDICTMENT of Barry Bonds for perjury and obstruction of justice makes official what we already knew. Bonds used steroids to transform himself from a great ballplayer into a super-human one. The criminal charges and their adjudication are appropriate and necessary to deal with the steroid problem in baseball, but they do not address the more important issue: Should Bonds be allowed into the Hall of Fame?
This issue was rehearsed inadequately when Mark McGwire received a resounding "no" vote for election into the Hall of Fame. The problem is that we do not really know to what extent a player's achievements are legitimate. The evidence is compelling that Bonds and others cheated. On the other hand, their success was achieved against untold and unnamed pitchers and fielders who also enhanced their abilities by steroid use. Barry Bonds is both the single-season and lifetime home run champion, and there is little any of us can do about it. A bell cannot be unrung and baseball's records cannot be scrubbed clean of such cheating without introducing even worse damage.
Nevertheless, in the best interests of baseball, we cannot just let these scofflaws off with mere criminal proceedings. Instead of punishing them via the courts or by exclusion from the Hall of Fame, let's punish them with a mark of Cain. Let us establish a Baseball Hall of Shame and sentence those with crimes against baseball to a lifetime on display under condemnation. In a Hall of Shame, Bonds can pay the proper price for his devil's bargain with the record books.
A Hall of Shame resolves two issues. It removes poor character from Hall of Fame consideration. Among all the record holders and duly elected characters in the Hall are many with even less stellar character than Bonds or McGuire. Would Ty Cobb pass today's character test? We live in an age different from 1939 when the hall was chartered. We live in an age when we know that our presidents routinely lie to us about matters large and small.
Even the very temple of baseball, the Hall of Fame, is itself tainted as it is located in Cooperstown, N.Y., on false pretense. Unhappy that our national pastime had developed from the English game Rounders, sporting goods mogul and former star pitcher A.G. Spaulding commissioned a panel to investigate baseball's origins. In 1908, the commission affirmed an Abner Doubleday myth of the creation of baseball in Cooperstown in 1839, based on the scant anecdotal evidence of a single letter from an obscure mining engineer, transmitted to the committee by none other than A.G. Spaulding. Our shrine rests on less-than-hallowed ground - the perfect place for a Hall of Shame.
A Hall of Shame also gives us a place for those who commit crimes against baseball but are not successful enough to be excluded from the Hall of Fame. This includes the many yet-unnamed mediocre cheaters and steroid abusers, as well as baseball officials like Bud Selig who knew about the steroid use in baseball and yet did nothing.
Based on his baseball records and despite the recent indictments and potential convictions, Bonds should be inducted into the Hall of Fame when he becomes eligible. Moreover, lift the ban on Pete Rose who bet on games he managed, and Shoeless Joe Jackson who took bribes to throw the 1919 Worlds Series, and induct them as well. Let us debate the recorded performance on the field and not the character of the performers.
At the same time, let's put these flawed stars up for indictment into the Hall of Shame. Retired judges can volunteer to adjudicate cases, attorneys can volunteer to prosecute or defend, and fans can volunteer to be part of the jury pool. The process will combine the benefits of a trial and a truth commission. The hearings can be sponsored, recorded, and broadcast by ESPN or Court TV.
Imagine the fun, trying Bonds and McGwire for steroids and Rose for gambling. There need be no statute of limitations for indicting one into the Hall of Shame. We should indict Ty Cobb for being a sociopath, and Harry Frazee for selling Babe Ruth. We can even indict those members of the Hall of Fame's ad hoc Committee on Negro League baseball who voted against inducting legendary Negro League star and manager Buck O'Neill into the Hall of Fame when he was alive and could enjoy it.
We need a Hall of Shame.
Matthew B. Koss is an associate professor of physics at the College of the Holy Cross.
