The Hypocrisy of the BBWAA

Today is January 25, 2022, and the Baseball Hall of Fame has announced their inductees for the class of 2022. It contains one name who was voted in by the Baseball Writers Association of America. ONE NAME. David Ortiz. This is not going to be a blog tarnishing the legacy of David Ortiz, nor is it going to discuss whether or not he was deserving of being elected. That is really not for me to say. But with his election, it sheds a curious light on the firm stance that many writers have taken against voting for players who have been linked to performance enhancing drugs in any way whether by testing, admission, or suspicion. So let's take a look, shall we?

First let's take a look at some numbers. David Ortiz had a 20-year career, playing for the Minnesota Twins for 6 seasons before spending the next 14 seasons with the Boston Red Sox. In his 6 seasons in Minnesota, Ortiz hit .266 with 58 home runs and 238 RBI, hardly a Hall of Fame beginning. To put that into comparison, in 2006 alone, he hit 54 home runs. In his 14 seasons with Boston, Ortiz would hit .290 with 483 home runs and 1530 RBI. That gives him a .286 batting average with 541 home runs and 1768 RBI for his career. That puts him at 17th overall in career home runs between Mike Schmidt (548) and Mickey Mantle (536). Ortiz played a majority of his career as a designated hitter. For those of you who are unfamiliar, that means he did not play a defensive position. In fact, in 2408 career games, Ortiz only played 278 in the field at first base. Prior to his election, there were only 4 players in the Hall of Fame whose primary position had been DH; Frank Thomas, Paul Molitor, Harold Baines, and Edgar Martinez. Thomas is actually a very apt comparison as he hit .301 with 521 home runs and 1704 RBI over a 19-year career. Ortiz also was a 10-time All Star, won 3 World Series' with Boston (2004, 2007, 2013) and, while he never won a league MVP, he was the 2013 World Series MVP. That's quite a career.

Now for the controversy. In 2009 it was revealed and confirmed by Major League Baseball that David Ortiz had tested positive for a banned substance. Major League Baseball was conducting anonymous survey testing at the time and the results were meant to remain private, but in all, 104 players tested positive. In addition to Ortiz, the list included Alex Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa, and Manny Ramirez. You'll notice there is no mention of Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens. Both players were still playing in 2003 and both have long been suspected of PED use and essentially blacklisted from the Hall of Fame because of this connection. However, David Ortiz, who is known to have tested positive for a banned substance, is elected in his first year on the ballot. It is curious that in 2016, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred urged the Hall of Fame voters to show leniency to Ortiz because he COULD HAVE BEEN one of 10-15 false positive tests. Not that he WAS, only that he COULD HAVE BEEN. Let's put a pin in all of that for now.

As I said, I am not here to question whether Ortiz is deserving, but if the Writers Association was willing to show leniency and vote for a CONFIRMED steroid user, why have they been so firm in their refusal to vote for Barry Bonds who had never tested positive for steroid use during his career? Let's again go to the numbers. Bonds had a 22-year career playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates for 7 seasons and playing his final 15 seasons with the San Francisco Giants. Bonds finished his career with a .298 batting average with 762 home runs and 1996 RBI. That 762, by the way, is the all-time record for career home runs. He also holds the single-season record of 73 home runs which he set in 2001. I happened to be in the stands when Bonds hit #57 that year. It was August 31 against the Colorado Rockies. Russ Ortiz gave up 5 runs in the 1st inning and the Giants were doing nothing on offense. My friend and I were about to leave after the top of the 8th, but we knew Bonds was coming up so we decided to stay. Bonds then proceeded to hit an 0-2 pitch from John Thomson into McCovey Cove. My friend and I left after the 3rd out in the bottom of the 8th and the Giants would go on to lose 5-2. Bonds was a 14-time All Star, a 7-time Most Valuable Player including 4 in a row from 2001 to 2004, and a 7-time Gold Glove winner in left field. In fact, the only accolade where Bonds does not exceed Ortiz is in World Series championships. Bonds only played in 1 World Series in 2002 when the San Francisco Giants lost to the (then) Anaheim Angels. Bonds hit .471 with 4 home runs and 6 RBI in that series with a .700 on-base percentage and a 1.294 slugging percentage. So it would seem that the only reason that Bonds is excluded is because of his link with steroids. But as we've already explored, that doesn't seem to have deterred the voters for casting their ballot for Ortiz.

Maybe it's the championships. OK, let's look at that. I'm going to give you another player who won 3 World Series. This player was also a 4-time All Star, 2-time Cy Young award winner, and pitched 2 no-hitters. In the history of the game, only 35 players have thrown multiple no-hitters. Who is this player? This player is Tim Lincecum, but in his first year of eligibility Lincecum did not receive the 5% requirement to keep him on the list for next year or beyond.

Going back to a name I've already mentioned, Alex Rodriguez was on the ballot for the first time this year. He was not elected in, only received 34.3% of the vote. For the record, Bonds received 36.2% of the vote in his first year of eligibility and his lowest output was 34.7% in his second year. Rodriguez tested positive in 2003 in the same survey testing that revealed Ortiz's positive test. He was then suspended for the entire 2014 season for steroid use. Overall, during a 22-year career, Rodriguez hit .295 with 696 home runs and 2086 RBI. He was a 14-time All Star, 3-time MVP, and 2-time Gold Glove winner. He also won a World Series in 2009 with the New York Yankees.

All of this is to show the hypocrisy of the Baseball Writers Association of America. Keep in mind, they have already elected multiple players who have been suspected of steroid use in Ivan Rodriguez, Jeff Bagwell, and Mike Piazza. They have already elected players who have admitted to cheating in Gaylord Perry and Whitey Ford who both admitted to doctoring baseballs and Hank Greenberg who admitted to have stolen signs during the 1940 season in which the Detroit Tigers won the American League pennant. Obviously the last three players played during a much different era, but it shows that the BBWAA has voted for cheaters before. In summary, it shouldn't matter what you think of these players personally, nor what you suspect them to have done. Obviously the BBWAA doesn't care about a confirmed positive test. The fact that they have refused to elect Barry Bonds and Roger Clements, two of the greatest players of their generation and arguably of all time in their final years of eligibility, and chosen to elect David Ortiz in his first year of eligibility shows how truly hypocritical the BBWAA is and how much they have failed the game of baseball and us, the fans.