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Book flays hypocrisy over Hall of Fame
Source: Agencies |
July 24, 2009, Friday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
THE Hall of Fame should embrace the standout steroid cheats of the modern day since they would be at home among the rogues and heroes already honored in Cooperstown.
So says Zev Chafets, author of the new book "Cooperstown Confidential," a history and analysis of the Mount Olympus of baseball, where on Sunday Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice will have their plaques mounted in the upstate New York museum.
"The Hall of Fame can't possibly exclude all or most of the great players that played in what they call the 'steroids age' without making a joke of itself. It's the Hall of Fame destroying its own credibility and reason for being."
Chafets believes Mark McGwire, who boosted baseball's dented popularity with a record 70 home runs in 1998, is being dismissed in a moralistic backlash by voters defending a hypocritical ideal, and worries the shadow of doping suspicion could also block Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Roger Clemens.
The author, who has written on the media, as a columnist for newspapers, and penned 11 books, covers familiar ground in detailing the dubious character of 1937 charter members Ty Cobb, a violent racist, and Babe Ruth, known for his drunken carousing.
Chafets, 62, reminds readers about celebrated pill-poppers among the major league crowd, pitchers who doctored the ball to advantage and Hall of Famers who were determined to keep the game racially segregated - a few of whom he identifies as being members of white supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan.
So says Zev Chafets, author of the new book "Cooperstown Confidential," a history and analysis of the Mount Olympus of baseball, where on Sunday Rickey Henderson and Jim Rice will have their plaques mounted in the upstate New York museum.
"The Hall of Fame can't possibly exclude all or most of the great players that played in what they call the 'steroids age' without making a joke of itself. It's the Hall of Fame destroying its own credibility and reason for being."
Chafets believes Mark McGwire, who boosted baseball's dented popularity with a record 70 home runs in 1998, is being dismissed in a moralistic backlash by voters defending a hypocritical ideal, and worries the shadow of doping suspicion could also block Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Roger Clemens.
The author, who has written on the media, as a columnist for newspapers, and penned 11 books, covers familiar ground in detailing the dubious character of 1937 charter members Ty Cobb, a violent racist, and Babe Ruth, known for his drunken carousing.
Chafets, 62, reminds readers about celebrated pill-poppers among the major league crowd, pitchers who doctored the ball to advantage and Hall of Famers who were determined to keep the game racially segregated - a few of whom he identifies as being members of white supremacist group the Ku Klux Klan.
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