By D. W. O'Dell

The election of a new class of inductees to baseball’s Hall of Fame should be a happy event, but almost everything about this year’s vote makes me break my New Year’s Resolution to stop being so cranky. Almost everything about the vote this year annoys me.

First, congratulations to Tony Gwynn and Cal Ripken, Jr. for their election to the Hall. But will someone explain to me why 6 voters failed to vote for Ripken and 11 didn’t vote for Gwynn? Gwynn has the second highest lifetime batting average of the past 75 years (after someone named Ted Williams), he won eight batting titles, plus he won 5 Gold Glove awards. And 11 voters still thought he wasn’t good enough to be enshrined with the likes of Dazzy Vance and Jesse Haines?

Ripken made 19 All-Star teams, won two MVP awards, broke one of the most hallowed (and thought to be unbreakable) records, and radically redefined the position of shortstop from light-hitting glove man to offensive force (while still being the second best fielding shortstop of his era, after Ozzie Smith). But six voters still thought he wasn’t good enough. Those voters should have their voting privileges revoked immediately.

Okay, then there’s the McGwire thing. I really do respect the opinion of those writers who felt they couldn’t vote for the seventh best home run hitter of all time. Have you listened to their justifications? They didn’t like his testimony before Congress; they don’t like the fact that he hasn’t apologized; he hasn’t done enough to discourage steroid use among kids. Essentially, they are punishing McGwire for his post-career actions, not for “cheating” while he was a player. The evidence against McGwire is murky at best, based mostly on the scribblings of that highly credible source, Jose Canseco (who, by the way, probably deserved to get more than 6 votes; he was a RoY, an MVP and has over 450 home runs). The evidence against Barry Bonds is overwhelming, but some voters are saying they would vote for Bonds because “he was a Hall-of-Famer before he started taking steroids.” So if any of those voters also voted against McGwire because he “cheated,” they should examine their logic.

Then there’s the Goose Gossage thing. Goose Gossage should have been a no-brainer, slam dunk first ballot Hall of Fame inductee. Unlike modern “closers” who whine if they have to face more than three batters, Gossage was lights out when he entered the game in the eighth, sometimes the seventh inning. In 1978 he averaged over two innings per game while recording a 2.01 ERA in 63 relief appearance; lifetime he pitched 1,800 in 1,000 games (by contrast, Lee Smith, second all time in saves, in 1994 saved 33 games but threw for less than 39 innings). His lifetime ERA of 3.01 is over 3.00 only because of a couple of seasons over 4.00 at the end of his career. In the strike-shortened season of 1981 his ERA was 0.77.

One of my most memorable baseball moments involves Gossage and the 1981 World Series. I was a Californian transplanted to New York , and so enjoyed watching the World Series between the Yankees and the Dodgers (since the Dodgers won). I recall Ron Cey at bat against Gossage in Game 5, when Gossage hit him square on the helmet with a fastball. My immediate thought as Cey went down like a bag of wet cement was, “Oh my God, he’s killed him!” Fortunately Cey was alright thanks to his helmet, but I can think of few things more frightening than a Goose Gossage fastball heading toward one’s head.

Back to griping. I am SICK of Hall of Fame voters complaining about Pete Rose not being on the ballot. One person is responsible for Pete Rose not being on the ballot, and that man’s name is Pete Rose! He signed the agreement with the Commissioner’s office making him permanently ineligible for the Hall of Fame; no one put a gun to his head, he did it voluntarily. He could have refused to sign and taken his case to the fans and the sportswriters, but he chose to submit to the Commissioner’s wishes.

I’ve seen some writers state that even if Rose did bet on baseball, he certainly didn’t bet against his own team, so no harm, no foul. That argument misunderstands the entire basis for the ban on betting. First, any association with gamblers is seen as suspect, because if you lose large amounts of money to gamblers they could pressure you to pay off your debt by throwing a game. It doesn’t matter if you lost the money betting on college football, dog racing, or tiddly-winks. Second, exclusion from the Hall of Fame is the only penalty that could possibly affect a player of Rose’s caliber. Look at what players make these days; is there any fine that could discourage players from engaging in illegal gambling? Third, even if you don’t bet against your own team, it still could have a deleterious effect on your team. Say you bet on your team to win, so you put your ace reliever in an inning early so that he is unavailable for the next day’s game; taking extra effort to win the game you bet on diminishes the team’s potential for winning the next day.

When people say the all time hit leader should be in the Hall, I ask them if Sadaharu Oh, who broke Henry Aaron’s home run record while playing in Japan , should be in the Hall of Fame. When they say that baseball players in Japan aren’t eligible for Cooperstown , I reply, “And neither is Pete Rose.”

To end on a positive note, Goose Gossage will likely be elected next year. There are no slam dunk first-timers on next year’s ballot, and the Hall of Fame voters hate to induct no one. So Gossage is likely to find the 21 additional votes he needs to be inducted. And the Cooperstown plaque doesn’t mention how many ballots were needed to be elected, so in a few years no one will remember it took nine years to get The Goose in.

But I’ll wait a year before uncorking the champagne, because with the Hall of Fame voters, any idiocy is possible.