OPINION: Baseball needs another look at its Hall of Fame process

Hall of Fame isn’t credible without its best players

Barry+Bonds+waiting+for+the+start+of+a+game+on+April%2C+6%2C+2006+at+AT%26T+Park+in+San+Francisco%2C+California.+Bonds%2C+along+with+many+other+MLB+players%2C+are+unfairly+kept+out+of+the+Hall+of+Fame%2C+making+the+honor+not+as+prestigious.

Jessica Merz /Flickr CC BY 2.0

Barry Bonds waiting for the start of a game on April, 6, 2006 at AT&T Park in San Francisco, California. Bonds, along with many other MLB players, are unfairly kept out of the Hall of Fame, making the honor not as prestigious.

Dominique Walker

With Major League Baseball postseason beginning Tuesday, it’s just a reminder that the best players to ever play baseball are unfairly being kept out of the Hall of Fame.

I remember when I first became a fan of baseball in 2001, when Barry Bonds was crushing home runs at an unreal rate, hitting an MLB single-season record of 73 home runs.

Bonds and many other players were possibly on steroids and people look back at that timeframe, which many call the “Steroid Era,” as a negative time for the game of baseball.

While it is called the “Steroid Era,” it was one of the most exciting eras in baseball history.

No one knows whom for sure was clean or dirty, it is all speculation. We’ll never know if the majority of the league was using PEDs or it was a select few. However, it was exciting to watch people hit home runs out of the ballpark during this time, and the league capitalized on these star players when they were bringing national attention to its slow and boring game.

These players have influenced the game today. In 2017, there were 6,105 home runs in a season, which was the most in MLB history.  

This year, there has been 41,207 strikeouts, making this year a record-breaking year.

Fans love to see home runs so much that there are more strikeouts than ever before because players have a more all-or-nothing approach now.

So why wouldn’t you give your best players the ultimate prize when they did so much for the game? Now it is less significant to be in the Baseball Hall of Fame, because not all of the greats are included.

Too many players that are legendary like Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Jason Giambi and Pete Rose aren’t in the Hall of Fame because a group of older, traditionalist writers don’t think they’re worthy.

These same writers that covered a lot of these athletes and wouldn’t achieve success without these players. The same writers that have never played in the MLB. People that have never played at the highest level get to tell the elite who is worthy and who is not.

Writers should never have full control of who gets into the Hall of Fame.

People who should have the right to vote is Hall of Fame players, current MLB players and writers whom — at the most — should have 5 percent of the vote.

The MLB Hall of Fame is too inclusive to be keeping out players like Bonds or Sosa. With around 1 percent of all MLB players born between 1900 and 1969 getting the honor, something has to change.

MLB is to be the only league that has so much controversy involved with their Hall of Fame, while the NFL has controversial players in their Hall of Fame like Terrell Owens, who supposedly is a “cancer” to the team. In addition, the NFL also have players that were accused of murder like Ray Lewis and O.J Simpson.

The only thing that should matter when it comes to getting into the Hall of Fame is a player’s performance and influence on the game. No matter how it gets done.