If you tuned in to any sports network this week, you’ve probably heard something about the Baseball Hall of Fame’s voting process. If you tuned in to ESPN, then you probably witnessed a lot of hand-wringing.
Dan Le Batard’s decision to turn his ballot over to readers of Deadspin.com created a huge controversy in the journalism world, basically splitting sports scribes up into two factions: pro-Le Batard or pro-Cooperstown. For the most part, the old guard took the side of the Baseball Writers Association of America, and they were often the ones who had the tallest soapboxes on which to stand.
Tony Kornheiser, speaking on “Pardon the Interruption,” called Le Batard’s move “egotism run amok,” and accused the “Highly Questionable” host of doing it just to draw attention to himself. Apparently, there’s something wrong with drawing attention to yourself in order to make a point to a large audience.
But it’s “egotism run amok” that screwed up the voting process in the first place. Le Batard turning his ballot over to the fans is not unprecedented by any means and, according to the BBWAA rulebook, perfectly legal. It appears they’re just angry, because he ripped them to shreds in his defense column, which he published on Deadspin. Given the annual antics of many voters, I’d say he had the right to say the things he said.
I mean, why didn’t anyone cry foul when MLB.com Dodgers beat writer Ken Gurnick made a statement by voting only for Jack Morris? With a ballot boasting names such as Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Frank Thomas, that move was “egotism run amok.”
Many of the voters have this strange sense of entitlement that comes with having a Hall of Fame vote, and Le Batard raised a point about this that made me stop and think for a minute.
“I don’t think I’m any more qualified to determine who is Hall of Fame-worthy than a fan who cares about and really knows baseball,” Le Batard said. “In other words, just because we went to journalism school and covered a few games, just because accepted outlets gave us their platform and power, I don’t think we should have the pulpit to ourselves in 2014 that way we did in 1936.”
To me, this rings so true. I got into sports journalism, in part, because I truly love baseball, but my other duties have kept me from following the game as closely as I did in the past. I don’t always have time to catch a game, nor do I have the means to record anything on TV, so I depend largely on recaps and highlights to get any information that I want. I won’t claim to know baseball better than the independent blogger that, as a labor of love, invests all his time and energy into following the game. I fail to see how writers such as Gurnick have a ballot, while Bill James, one of the smartest men in baseball history, does not.
So, here’s what I’m thinking: Why not use this idea for Plant City sports?
After all, the Deadspin readers showed they took this just as seriously as Le Batard and turned in a perfectly good ballot. There’s nothing wrong with getting the fans involved, especially for the reason that some of you may pick up on things that I wasn’t able to go see in person.
I know it’s only January, but I’m already marking this on my calendar. At the end of 2014, I’ll pick my top three teams and athletes, and let you all decide the outcome of the final two slots by popular vote. We’ll host a poll on our website a few weeks in advance and remind you all to go vote. I had the most difficult time deciding the fourth- and fifth-place winners in 2013, so I’d love to know what the community’s thinking and hear any compelling reasons to vote a certain way.
I trust your judgment.