More On the Hall (or "Moron Talks More About The Hall")

History is messy. That's a fact.

I wrote about who I would have voted for enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame last night.

The reaction was basically like a tree falling in the woods and nobody hearing it.

So, allow me to waste more of your precious time.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum is, just that, a museum. It is supposed to tell the story of the game of baseball.

Under no circumstances am I a fan of Barry Bonds. I've heard far too many incriminating stories -- yes, stories -- about what a miserable individual this guy is. But he could also hit and field and play some ball.

Yes, his father was also traded one-up for an outfielder named Bobby Ray Murcer but I'm not going to hold that against him, despite the fact that six-year-old Robbie is still devastated.

When Bonds came to play the Yankees in an interleague (pfft) matchup, I went with excitement on a Friday night. I also enjoyed every moment of it when Mike Mussina struck him out as part of a 2-1 Yankees win.

The Hall is loaded with a mixed bag of characters but they're all there to tell the story of the game. Don't tell me you have a bat or a sock or some other trinket from a banned (or unofficially banned) player. It's just hypocrisy.

Put Pete Rose in. Yes, we know about the gambling. We get it. But, as I said, history is messy. We yell about educators teaching our kids, well, what about us?

I welcome walking into the Hall of Fame with Sean or anyone else and telling them the stories.

"Pete Rose was a hell of a player but an absolute train wreck of a person," I would say. "He gambled on baseball, which is rule number one. The biggest no-no of all! See? It says it right here on his plaque. He was even banned from giving a speech in exchange for his election. He gambled as a manager and there are still questions about what he did as a player. He's a degenerate. However, you can't argue about what a player he was. Great slap hitter. More hits than anyone. Led The Big Red Machine with Bench and Morgan and Perez and Foster. Great player. Awful person."

There. 

I can do this all day. Shoeless Joe Jackson, come on down! Bonds, Clemens, Sosa? You're next!

As I said in my explanation of Rose, my Hall of Fame would say Rose was thrown out of baseball for gambling. I'd say the same on Shoeless Joe's plaque. Pete would not be allowed to give a speech either. Oh, he'd talk, and he'd never stop, but he's not addressing the assembled crowd on Induction Weekend.

Baseball -- and the Hall of Fame -- need to move forward. Yes, the Hall is a sacred place to me. I speak in reverent and mostly hushed tones when in the gallery, which is cathedral-like to me. But those plaques include as many saints as there are sinners. Those plaques include many wonderful people who really shouldn't be Hall of Famers but, well, they are. They include myths who were fair enough players but made the Hall because of a poem (Tinkers to Evers to Chance).

Now just because the Hall of Fame has made mistakes before doesn't mean they should make them again. Putting the much-maligned Harold Baines in doesn't mean there needs to be someone else to "make up" for that.

And, look, we all know Baines was a questionable decision. It was controversial. But it also happened and it's over. Harold Baines was a really good player and an extremely decent and humble man. Let's let it go and move on. That doesn't mean the drink should be further watered down.

Yes, I'm a "small Hall" guy but I'm also a "fair Hall" guy. I want the best of the best. Otherwise, I want to start a "Golden Diamond" that elevates Ruth, Cobb, Mays, Gehrig, Aaron, and yes, Bonds, to another level.

I think we all agree that Bonds and Clemens used PED's. Most of us -- if we're being fair -- would say the same about Ortiz and a few others (again, Hi Queens). I know a few Yankees (Giambi, Pettitte) used. These are facts. 

When it comes time to address Carlos Beltran (who is up next year) and Jose Altuve and the Astros, put what happened on their plaques.

Tell the story of the game.

That's the job.

Don't just write a Hallmark card.

I love Cooperstown. I've often thought of packing up and moving there to work for the Hall. I think they should have an official broadcasting historian and game broadcaster and I'm more than willing to be that guy. Oh, they sort of have those, but I can handle the gig as well. I'll call all of the games over at Doubleday Field.

One needs to dream occasionally.

But Cooperstown -- or at least baseball's Cooperstown -- is also built on a lie that ol' Abner Doubleday went to his field and mapped out our National Pasttime.

Sigh. Not even remotely true. There's no truth that Doubleday -- who's buried in Arlington and whose grave I've visited -- ever SAW a baseball game. He certainly didn't invent it.

The game came in parts from England and other places and was refined in the USA. It evolved throughout the 19th century.

It didn't start in Cooperstown. It started everywhere.

So if they can fix that mistake but still accept that Cooperstown is the mythical home of baseball, can't we tell the truth about our grand game?

The Hall of Fame has truly stepped up to tell the correct story of the Negro Leagues and the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League. It continues to adapt and, as we say in our common tongue, "do better."

Well, "do better" on the plaques that hang in that hallowed gallery.

That's your job.

Tell the story.