Hall of Fame season is fast descending upon us. The ballot for the 2013 was announced Wednesday, and writers are already mobilizing to build support for voting movements and ideologies.
I think most people can agree that the Hall of Fame is facing several issues, both in this election and the upcoming ones, and people are always determined to come up with solutions to the problems. Ideas like letting the players and managers vote, introducing a limit on ballots a player can appear on and banning steroid users get thrown out with alarming frequency at this time of year.
So many of these fixes aren’t worth the trouble, though. The players and managers have a horrible track record in recognizing greatness in fellow players, whether it be All-Star Game backups or Gold Glove award winners. Limiting a player ignores the many deserving players who, for one reason or another, haven’t gone in on the first ballot. Banning steroids users ignores the long history of cheaters already enshrined.
In truth, the real fixes Cooperstown needs are much simpler.