When Being A King No Longer Matters
Truly, I don’t care that Bonds didn’t make it. For one thing, I’m not Barry Bonds. I’m sure this means much more to him than it does to me. And as a Giants fan I learned a long time ago that it was much more fun to count World Series trophies than dudes we got in the Hall.
There was a time I wanted to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame but that time has passed. It delegitimized itself by preposterously excluding the all time hit king and the all time home run king. Just let Cricket stars in from now on. Nobody cares what you do at this point…..
A Place To Talk About Giants Baseball 
Hall of Fame matters to orgs and fans who never won anything. If we never won this might mean more to us but we have three title belts and all that matters. White sports writers denying a black superstar considered the greatest player in his era is a joke….
Why would you think it’s racially motivated?
I absolutely do not believe it is racial. But it is bullshit the way it is all currently handled.
Pete’s white. He’s been denied forever.
I think it comes down to Bonds’ acerbic relationship with writers over the years. That and the PED thing. IMO, writers have no business voting on HoF candidates in the first place.
And if that was indeed the case, Ortiz would not have made it. Race, no, personal politics, absolutely.
Clemens is right there next to Bonds as the face of the roid era.
Yeah no one in Bay Area cares anymore; they’re either all in or out on Bonds.
Does seem like MLB and Union talking, though not necessarily agreeing, on $$ items. Chi said yesterday iirc only 3 weeks to when players report? yeow hope something gets done in time for real ST.
So glad GS blasted Doncic and Mavs last night. Top of my list for most annoying NBA player; that smirk on his face and all the posturing to refs, entitled whiner. Thompson looked great, as did practically everyone since game was garbage time in 3rd quarter.
Feel bad for Hardaway Jr., who had to be helped off floor and apparently fractured bone in his foot in second quarter.
Back in 93 when the Giants got Bonds, it was a magical year for me. The team was saved from going to Florida and with Matt and Will, now we had Barry. Over the next 15 years, when Barry was healthy, I was lucky enough to see him play live around 30 times a year. I was never able to see Ted Williams or Babe Ruth play live, so what I saw in Bonds was the best left handed hitting player of my time for sure. He was lightning in a bottle, and you know it wasn’t just Giants fans in awe of him, all fans stopped what they were doing to watch his at bats. Again, I never saw Ruth or Williams play in person, but I just can’t believe either could turn on an inside fastball like Barry did. He should not only be in the Hall, but he should be in a special section reserved only for the game’s elites.
With Bonds and the HOF, I’m reminded of the feeling I had when Bowie Kuhn banned Mays and Mantle because they found work as greeters at a casino after retiring, it’s the feeling of holier-than-thou people pissing on the greatest ball players I ever saw play the game.
POTD.
I second this as POTD. Great post, Clown.
To GH’s comments, I seriously doubt that many, or any, of the votes by the sportswriters voting on the HOF are based on race. I sure as fuck hope not.
But regardless, the HOF has become a sham, IMO. Like Craig it was once a bucket list item for me, but no longer.
When you have players, like Bonds, who was HOF-worthy prior to the PED scandal, and that is ignored by the writers, well, just fuck the whole process.
I know there have been ongoing conversations between MLB and the union. Not sure they are moving the needle, but the fact that they are meeting in person is good. Come on fuckers, get your shit together and come to a consensus that works for everyone and let’s play some fucking baseball.
I think most of the same writers who hate Bonds also hate Clemens, Schilling and A-Rod. A player’s race, or his attitude about it, is only one of the factors intersecting in their twisted revenge fantasies. Those writers clearly are not qualified to judge “integrity, sportsmanship [and] character.” If a player’s banned (like Rose), he can’t be on the ballot. If mlb doesn’t have reason enough to ban a player, then he deserves to be on the writers’ ballot and to be judged on skill, achievement and impact on the field. imo.
(I don’t really much care one way or the other about Rose’s plight. He’s banned because he agreed to be banned as part of his settlement with MLB, back when anti-gambling was still the preeminent purpose of the commissioner’s office. I think he’s out in perpetuity.)
Promoting and encouraging gambling is now the main purpose of all sports.
Rose was ahead of his time…
mm yes Rose’s gambling is separate issue that I doubt gets resolved in his favor.
Baggs had long column in Athletic on how Bonds can get in this December as Loo indicated. Slush will be on that committee and she did vote him in, but it is complicated procedure and as Baggs said open to politics and favoritism (re: LaRussa and others on it lobbying for Baines).
Mays is the all-time leader in extra inning homers with 21.
You would never guess who’s 2nd with 18……Jack Clark!
Didn’t know that Loo!
But as someone that watched Jack “The Ripper “Clark hit so many clutch HR’s it’s not shocking he’s up their with Mays.He had a flair for the dramatics and a bad ass swagger that was awesome, I dug watching him play!
That HR off the Dodgers Niendefuer (sp) was epic to knock out the Bums as Tommy was debating put him on base( bad decision lol) as Clark made the slow in your face jog around the bases!
Clark’s extra-inning HRs by team:
SF — 10
Cards — 4
Yanks — 2
Padres — 1
Red Sox — 1
More like eff-HOF.
Ha, yeah you right, Mac.
LOL…I am with ya on that, Mac.
This from Slush twitter: “Every hall of famer I’ve talked to, and I’ve talked to many of them, has wanted to keep steroid users out. HoFers tend to want to keep the Hall a small, elite club.”
plus, :”In addition, Hall of Famers CAN vote. As members of committees.”
Both quotes referring to Dec group.
Oh I see but it’s ok now to change that stance and allow the 1st Juicer in Ortiz in?
Such a flawed system!Screw the voters that kept Bonds&Clemens out who were the most dominating players at as Hitter and Pitcher in their prime! Screw the voters ,and HOF! It’s a disgrace.
Aaron wanted Bonds in.
Not at first he didn’t.
I won’t be heading up to Cooperstown anytime soon that’s for sure, sooo Go 9ers.
I went in 1981 and was underwhelmed.
Don’t know what I was expecting really.
As one pro-Bonds, Clemens, etc. writer said – it’s just a museum.
You can go there and look at what you want.
My understanding is that there is a lot more to do now in Cooperstown compared to 40 years ago.
Especially breweries…
If I’m going North, I’d rather just stop in NJ and Brooklyn to have beers with you and Mac. I think I’d enjoy that a hell of lot more than going all the way up to Cooperstown.
Many years ago, there was a HOF traveling exhibit in SF that did have some cool stuff. I admit I was in complete awe of the Babes jersey, I stared at that thing for a long time.
I second beers with the right coast Flappers over going to the Baseball Hall of Lame…
Underwhelmed is right. During a family summer holiday road trip, went to the HOF when I was 8 years old (around 1964). Prime young baseball fanatic age. I remember being fairly bored with it. As you said, Loo, not sure what I expected, but it wasn’t thrilling at all. My Father got a little pissed off… “We came all this way, for YOU to see the Hall, and you want to leave after a half hour?” My older sister was angry as well, blaming me for wasting a day of the family’s time on vacation. Big fights ensued. That evening, my dad went off to have a beer somewhere while my mom did laundry at the motel and we kids played in the pool. Kind of nice, actually, no one really talked to each other much that night. Next day, back into the old Rambler station wagon for points unknown, but I think that was the last big fight of that trip…. thank you, HOF, fuck you, HOF…
I am sure it wasn’t funny at the time, Paul, but that’s fricking hilarious. Hall of Lame…
I’ve been to Cooperstown and HOF twice.
Last time about 30 years ago.
It’s a baseball museum. The HOF itself is not just the players inducted into it. It’s really about all the rest of what’s there, the other players, about how the game was played a long time ago, how it developed, the old and newer equipment, the memorabilia, the stories. I hate what the voting for the HOF players has become, but the rest of it as a museum and historical curation of the game is fine, at least it was last time I was there. Go in the fall, the town itself and the upstate NY landscape around there is beautiful. If the way the vote has now turned into a joke deters you, that’s fine, too, but just know there’s a lot more to it than that. If there are now lots of brewpubs, so much the better…
HOF voters are idiots. Not about race. About likeability. Ortiz was a great hitter, but also well liked. Bonds, Clemons, Schilling.. Not so much. Some karma for them Life lesson. Don’t be a jerk to people because at times it comes back to bite you. Also FU HOF:)
Still on my bucket list, and I will definitely visit before I go to the Baseball Hall of Lame, is the Negro Leagues HOF. Steaks, blues, and that…count me in!
19 days until pitchers and catchers report…hopefully.
“I hear about the thumb more than the shoulder” said Shanahan about G. Shoulder not listed on injury report. Couple passes did come out wobbly last week, which I suspect is because of thumb and Antarctic playing field.
Jimmy took the tape off when he played last week.
Heh heh.
BBWAA = Barry Bonds was an asshole.
Yep, no other explanation. Big Papi gets right on in, despite a +PEDs test supposedly inadvertenly made public and associated with MLB’s own Mitchell Report. To my knowledge, Bonds never had a + test, at least one that was revealed in public. Many of these older writers KNEW steroids were rampant as they covered the game — so where were these writers’ stories about ‘roids, where were their questions to players and mangement in real time? Crickets. Tom Boswell was the only big writer to question steroids back in 1988 with Canseco. Now, the top steroid suspects don’t get the votes from the same writers who blithely wrote game stories and opinion pieces with nary a ‘roid mention. Hypocrisy to Nth degree. And, management who knew full well of rampant steroids gets in via committee — LaRussa, Selig…
There’s a section of the Mitchell Report’s chapter on the late 80s early 90s a’s that discusses Canseco’s detention at the Detroit airport, just before spring training 89, because he and his companion were carrying a gun and a load of roids in from Canada. C.W. Nevius in the Chronicle wrote about it in his flighty way and no other local writer picked it up.
I’ve always thought a good mystery novel could be made from the premise that a Sandy Alderson like FO character with a high-flying team in 89 arranged to have a Bart Giamatti like Commissioner murdered mid season because the Commish was starting to investigate the team’s novel and rampant roid use. Made to look like a heart attack, of course. . . .
From what I’m hearing on local sports talk radio, the game this Sunday at SoFi is going to have a ton on Niner fans there…
Yeah I think it will be a sea of Red again!
McVay,Kelly Stafford,Wentworths wife all begging 🥺 for Rams fans to hang onto their tickets, not gonna happen and clearly it has to be a distraction as McVay’s more concerned about that then game preparation.If it ends up being a silent count call on your own field again, it’s all 49ers getting in their heads..Sofi is not a home field advantage for Rams are Chargers the LA fan base doesn’t give a shit about them only the Lakers..
Besides rooting for the Lakers, I bet the Rams lost some of their LA fans when they moved from LA to Anaheim in the 80s and another huge chunk of So Cal fans when they moved to St Louis in the 90s. I’m guessing the Charger fan base probably hate making the drive from San Diego and doing their tailgating while stuck in traffic on the 405.
I think most of LA wanted the Raiders to return. It was a knife in the back when they moved to StL. but their FO was all messed up. I am glad they came back to LA it’s much more fun now.
Gene Clines died this morning at age 75 (story on MLBTR I just read). Played on Pirates ’71 team and homered in playoff game for them vs. Giants, whom he later coached for after playing career ended.
Of course he homered vs. Giants in a playoff game.
He hit all of 5 other homers in 2556 career PA.
RIP…
I truly disliked Perranoski.
What a year he had in ’63.
Sick numbers…
https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/p/perraro01.shtml
Loo, he was a man ahead of his time. The 2022 Giants would be interested, despite the shitty K/BB ratio. I’m also amazed at the huge percentage of runs allowed that were unearned. Too much contact for a closer!
4th (almost 3rd) in MVP vote.
A little mind boggling when you look at the names and numbers behind him…
https://www.baseball-reference.com/awards/awards_1963.shtml#all_NL_MVP_voting
Gene Clines was part of the first all Black/Latino LU with the Pirates in MLB..
RIP Gene .. One guy I’ll still never forget was the big lumbering white guy Bob Robertson who basically single handily beat the Giants in that 71 playoff series with huge HR’s and continued to do it their W/S win over the Orioles..
Chuck reminds us only 19 days til catchers/pitchers are supposed to report. I’ve been feeling like something is missing this off-season. Ya’ll who still have horses in the NFL playoffs race at least have something sports-like to revel in. I’m really missing the Hot Stove this year….
Supposedly some kind of breakthrough in the talks but haven’t heard anything else
Cool! Crank it up, baby. Let’s get some trade talks going… 🙂
wow thanks for that MVP list Loo. Tells you lot about difference of the leagues–AL there are 4 black/latin guys in top 20 with former Giant Leon Wagner at #19–Earl Battey Elston Howard Camilo Pascual. Twin’s guy Dick Stuart with 42 HRs/118 rbi at #13.
In NL, my hero Vada Pinson makes 6 in top ten, and it’s 11 of top 20. Mays Aaron Jim Gilliam Tommy Davis Bil White Marichal Clemente Tony Taylor Wills McCovey. Exciting time for baseball.