PRUETT COLUMN: Enough passing over the greats

Published 11:44 pm Saturday, January 21, 2017

One of the most hypocritical entities in sports always seems to grab some of the biggest headlines every year.

I am talking about the baseball Hall of Fame.

The place where Bud Selig can join the crowd but the greatest pitcher, Roger Clemens, and hitter, Barry Bonds, of my lifetime are shut out.

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Selig was the commissioner of baseball from 1992 to 2014, and the man did do some great things for the sport. Revenues soared and the league now has 30 teams.

One of his best ideas was to turn the other way when it became obvious the game had a steroid problem.

MLB had come out of the 1994 strike and needed a spark. How about guys hitting homers at record paces? Chicks dug the long balls.

So did Selig. The homers hit by Bonds and others brought the fans back in a big way. That means the money was coming in and everything was wonderful for Selig.

He is in the Hall of Fame.

Bonds and his career record 762 homers and single-season record 73 bombs cannot get in because he was linked to steroids for a lot of his last years in the sport. Plus, he was quite a jerk when he was denying it, but why should that matter?

Clemens has an even better argument to be in because he was a dominating pitcher in an era when batters had the upper hand.

He is a seven-time Cy Young winner, won two World Series titles, collected 354 wins and finished with the third most strikeouts in the history of the game with 4,672.

Clemens, like Bonds though, is linked to steroids, so voters have kept him off.

They have left Bonds and Clemens out of a place that has its questionable characters already enshrined.

Remember, steroids were not against the rules until Congress basically forced Selig’s hand in 2005. It was not even the man’s idea to ban steroids.

Clemens and Bonds were not breaking rules during the times of taking juice. No players were.

The Hall of Fame voters have no right to keep these two legends out when guys like Ty Cobb are in.

Cobb was a known racist and was once charged with of attempted murder against an African American.

That must be OK because that situation and the fact Babe Ruth, the most celebrated baseball player of all time, was a drunk and used women like they were paper towels.

It looks like Clemens and Bonds will both get into the Hall of Fame.

The voters really need to make sure it happens soon because the two did not cheat like it has been said, and they both were at the top of the game for many years.

Isn’t that what a hall of fame is supposed to pay respect to, anyway?

Gabriel Pruett can be reached at 721-2436 or at gabe.pruett@panews.com. On Twitter: @PaNewsGabe

About Gabriel Pruett

Gabriel Pruett has worked with both the Port Arthur News and Orange Leader since 2000. A majority of the time has been spent covering all aspects of Southeast Texas high school sports. Pruett's claim to fame is...being able to write his own biographical information for this website.

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