Shoeless Joe Jackson isn't in the Baseball Hall of Fame because of his involvement with the Black Sox betting scandal of 1919, but the owner of a .356 career batting average was one of the game's best players - ever.
Pete Rose isn't in the Hall of Fame because of a betting scandal and he has more hits than anyone who ever played.
Thanks to the Steroid/PED era, two of the game's dominant figures of the past 20 years also won't have their name called for Cooperstown.
Roger Clemens has 354 career victories - third most in the modern era - and more strikeouts than anyone except Nolan Ryan and Randy Johnson.
Barry Bonds has more home runs than anyone who ever played the game.
Too bad these guys aren't in the Hall. And it's wrong.
Jackson, Rose, Clemens and Bonds are four of the most important players in the history of baseball, but you'd never know by visiting the Hall of Fame.
This is not to suggest those players should be anointed and celebrated in the same fashion as those players with untainted resumes. But for the Baseball Hall of Fame to pretend that Jackson, Rose, Clemens and Bonds don't even exist is an insult to anyone who follows the summer pastime.
It's time for the people at Cooperstown to come up with some sort of compromise. Acknowledge the failings of the players in question, but also acknowledge their accomplishments. Put on Bonds's plaque that while he smashed 756 home runs, more than anyone in the game, many of them came during the game's Steroid Era. Let Hall visitors draw their own conclusions.
Same with Rose: Spell out on his Cooperstown plaque that he was involved in a betting mess (wagering on his own team, of which he was manager, to win), but that as a player he had more hits, by far, than anyone who ever played the game.
Who should decide on what transgressions are serious enough to keep them out of the Hall of Fame? What about wife-beaters, drunk drivers and tax cheats who didn't get caught and whose busts are on full display?
It's time to have the Hall of Fame represent the best, and concentrate on the word 'fame.' All four of those players are among the most famous names in the game's history. Put them into the Hall and let the public decide if they want to honour them, or ignore them.
Colin Gore, in Norman Chad's column in the Washington Post: "In biblical terms, could we say that A-Rod has finished Biogenesis and begun Exodus?"
Brad Dickson of the Omaha World-Herald: "An Omaha grade school, St. Robert Bellarmine's, closed Friday because of the NCAA tournament. There's a valuable lesson in this for the kids; I just have no earthly idea what it is."
Dickson again, talking about all the upsets on Day 1 of the NCAA basketball tournament: "I'm assuming the Washington Generals knocked off the Harlem Globetrotters."
Comedy writer Jim Barach: "Accused murderer Oscar Pistorius is said to be selling his Â鶹ÊÓƵ Africa home to pay his lawyers. Why pay for the upkeep of a home when you are looking at free room and board for life?"
RJ Currie of sportsdeke.com: "A Finnish teenager has become an Internet sensation by speaking gibberish in 15 different languages. It's what Don Cherry does, but only in English."
Currie again: "Among the presenters at the upcoming Juno Awards for Canadian music will be Olympic curling gold medallists, Team Jennifer Jones. And who better to recognize rock stars?"
Blogger T.C. Chong, on the Dodgers opening the season in Australia: "Look for Vin Scully's comb-over to be the other way."
Janice Hough of leftcoastsportsbabe.com, on the New York Jets bringing in Michael Vick on the heels of the Tim Tebow/Mark Sanchez circus: "Don't take down those tents too fast."
Another one from Hough, on the same subject: "For a number of Jets fans, isn't NY releasing Mark Sanchez and signing Michael Vick like your mom telling saying you don't have to eat the broccoli but she'll replace it with brussels sprouts?"
Steve Simmons of Sunmedia: "David Braley must be a dreamer. He has the Argos and the B.C. Lions up for sale, if anybody's asking. The Argos price: $20 million. The Lions price: $60 million. At those prices, Braley will be owning two teams for a while."
Steve Schrader of the Detroit Free Press, after Michigan State coach Tom Izzo swallowed a sensor to measure his in-game stress levels for a sports-science TV show: "The road to the Final Four goes through ... never mind."
Dwight Perry of the Seattle Times says this woman 'knows the drill.' "Mary Smith of the Spokane Chiefs, who merited a Western Hockey League Distinguished Service Award this season, is certainly long in the tooth. She's been the team dentist since 1985."
Headline on theonion.com: "Brooklyn Nets Insist They Only See Jason Collins As Terrible Player."
