The Predicament of the Baseball Hall of Fame

Former British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli once said, “The legacy of heroes is the memory of a great name and the inheritance of a great example.” Legacy and immortality are very difficult to quantify, but no matter how adamantly baseball players profusely deny it, they care about how the public looks back on their playing career. Juxtaposing the legacies of players from vastly different eras is quite an onerous task (just imagine trying to compare the careers of catchers Mike Piazza and Roy Campanella) and it has become even more difficult because of the recent performance-enhancing drug (PED) implications that will forever pollute the indelible image of baseball. However, comparing different ballplayers is a large reason why fans are so enamored by the game and the Baseball Hall of Fame serves as the representative platform for the judgment and assessment of players’ careers. 

The Hall of Fame voters recently made a statement when they elected to shun any player from entering the hall, who they had suspected might have used PEDs. The task of the Hall of Fame electors is to essentially answer the question, “Do the statistics compiled by a certain player along with his intangibles show evidence that he is amongst the greatest of his era?” The voting for the Hall of Fame is certainty not a perfect science and the sports world was left in pure dejection after there were no inductees to the hall for just the first time since 1996 and only the second time in over 40 years since 1971. However, players that used PEDs should not have been voted in baseball’s most prestigious club as the “memory of their name” will always be identified with tainting baseball’s legacy and their drug usage has certainty not left an “inheritance of a great example.”

Players that used or alleged used PEDs were not on a level playing field with the rest of their counterparts on the diamond. The unprecedented statistics that ballplayers like Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, and Roger Clemens were able to amass over the careers need to be looked at with a grain of salt, as their numbers are completely inflated due to their drug usage. 

Some fans argue that while Mark McGwire may have taken steroids, the performance enhancing drugs didn’t teach him how to catch up to a fastball or how to hit a breaking ball. However, anybody who makes it to the MLB is obviously good enough to contend with the greatest players in the world, and PEDs give major leaguers an extra edge, which could propel them from an average player to one of the most dangerous in the league. For example, in 2010 Melky Cabrera hit .255 with the Atlanta Braves and knocked out just 4 home runs. However, when he began to take steroids, his batting average leaped all the way up to .346 and he hit a career high 18 home runs two seasons ago. 

Steroids allow baseball players to build endurance, strength, and muscle, such as Barry Bonds, who went from a speedy 185-pound outfielder on the Pittsburgh Pirates to a stocky 230-pound power hitter on the San Francisco Giants. PEDs also allow players to recover from injury at a much faster rate. Andy Pettite, who testified in court that Roger Clemens told him in 1999 or 2000 that he was using steroids, has admitted that he was able to return quicker from elbow surgery because of human growth hormone usage. 

With all this in mind, voters were justified in their decision to not elect players like Bonds or Clemens into the Hall of Fame because steroids gave them an unfair advantage over the other players in the league.

The Baseball Hall of Fame is a museum that shows the history of America's national pastime, and honors the careers of the most outstanding ballplayers of all-time. Some people contend that by not putting players like Bonds and Clemens into the hall, the voters are neglecting a major part of baseball's history. However, just because the Hall of Fame may not induct steroid guys into its elitist fraternity, doesn't mean that players connected to PEDs won't have any part in the hall in terms of its artifacts, videos, and photos. The paradoxical nature of PEDs is that Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa's home run chase to catch Roger Maris's single-season home run record in 1998 was one of the most exhilarating events in baseball history, and it brought the game back to the forefront of sports after its embarrassing strike in 1994. However, McGwire and Sosa didn't do it the right way, which is damning to their own careers as well as to the history of baseball.

More than any other sport, baseball is a numbers game and its fans cherish its past history and stats. If somebody says 71,838 (the NFL career passing yards record set by Brett Favre) or 38,387 (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's NBA all-time scoring record), very few fans would know the significance of those statistics. When somebody says the number “56,” baseball fans immediately think of Joe DiMaggio’s hit streak in 1941, while “714,” the number of home runs Babe Ruth hit in his career, is revered by fans. Numbers are sacred in baseball, which is why the steroid era has infuriated so many people, as PED usage has tainted the game.

Although many people agree with the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s (BBWAA) decision to not elect PED users into the hall, that doesn’t mitigate some of the other head-scratching judgments that the journalists from the organization have made in their Hall of Fame voting history. While a preponderance of the writers are very fair and accurate voters, it is baffling that some of the journalists still refuse to elect players into the Hall of Fame on the first ballot. The fact that Willie Mays, arguably the greatest baseball player ever, and Stan Musial, by many accounts the greatest left-handed hitter of all-time, were both left off more than 20 Hall of Fame ballots in their first year of eligibility is an absolute abasement and disgrace.

Furthermore, statistics are set in stone once a ballplayer ends his career, and it is up to the writers of the BBWAA to determine if a player is Hall of Fame worthy. It makes little sense how Andre Dawson could receive 67 percent of votes in his 8th year on the Hall of Fame ballot, but the next year receive more than 77 percent of the Hall of Fame votes. Dawson's career was cemented once he retired from baseball in 1996, so it is puzzling that "The Hawk" can receive an additional 50 votes from one year to the next when nothing about his baseball career actual changed.

We should get some Hall of Fame clarity next year when Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas are all eligble for the ballot. Maddux (355) and Glavine (305) are both 300 game winners, and Frank Thomas is one of just 9 players along with Willie Mays (.302 BA, 660 HR), Babe Ruth (.342 BA, 714 HR), Ted Williams (.344 BA, 521 HR), Hank Aaron (.305 BA, 755 HR), Jimmie Foxx (.325 BA, 524 HR), Mel Ott (.304 BA, 511 HR), Manny Ramirez (.312 BA, 555 HR), and Alex Rodriguez (.300 BA, 647 HR) to have hit 500 home runs and have a career average of at least .300. Hopefully, the writers will do everybody justice by voting in all three of the deserved first ballot Hall of Famers next year.

Adrian Peterson Deserves The NFL MVP Award

As the NFL playoffs head to the Divisional Round and we reflect on the outstanding season in the league, it is hard to say that this year was anything less than extraordinary. The variety of intriguing storylines such as the success of the rookie quarterbacks and the historic record chases by Adrian Peterson, Calvin Johnson, and J. J. Watt created a tremendous amount of interest across the league. Like every year, the great individual and team performances were mixed with a multitude of bizarre moments such as the replacement officials simultaneous catch ruling in the Packers-Seahawks game or Jim Schwartz illegal challenge on a play that was already getting reviewed. The 2012-2013 NFL season was a year to remember.

The NFL MVP award has become a glorified honor for the best quarterback in the league the last 20 years. Since 1994, the award has been captured by 15 quarterbacks including both Peyton Manning and Steve McNair when they split the honor in 2003, and just 5 running backs. There is no doubt that the NFL is driven by the quarterback position and that the league has become reliant on the vertical passing game. While the play of Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, and Aaron Rodgers shouldn't be overlooked, Adrian Peterson deserves the MVP award this season.

The fact that Peterson tore his ACL and MCL in December of 2011, and returned for the first week of this season, makes his entire year that much more special. Although Peterson started out the season a little slow for his standards and had just one 100-yard rushing game through the first 6 weeks of the season, he ran for at least 100 yards in 9 of his last 10 games and averaged nearly 160 yards and a touchdown per game over that stretch. If you don't even take Peterson's first 6 games into account, he still would have been the 2nd leading rusher in the league. While Peterson's 2,097 yard season was just 9 yards shy of breaking Eric Dickerson's single-season rushing record, he still became just the 7th running back to ever rush for 2,000 yards along with O.J. Simpson, Eric Dickerson, Barry Sanders, Terrell Davis, Jamal Lewis, and Chris Johnson, and he accomplished the feat just a year removed from a horrid knee injury.

Peterson's value to the Vikings in their surprising run to the playoffs can not be understated or minimized, as a preponderance of Minnesota's offensive attack was contingent upon AP. With a passing game that was dead last in the NFC in yards per game and a weak receiving core, especially after Percy Harvin was sidelined with an ankle injury, Peterson carried the load for the Vikings week-after-week. Despite the fact that defenses knew Peterson was going to get the ball, his rare combination of power and speed was unable to be corralled all season long. In the Vikings week 17 victory over the Packers to send them into the playoffs, Peterson carried the ball a career high 34 times and rushed for 199 yards and a touchdown despite 7 or 8 Packers in the box for the vast majority of the game.

Obviously, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, and Aaron Rodgers all have very compelling cases for the MVP award as well. Manning completely transformed a Broncos offense and his command of the team and his consistency was astounding. Brady had another typical Tom Brady year, as the New England quarterback didn't throw an interception in 11 of 16 games this season. Finally, Aaron Rodgers led the league once again in quarterback rating and had a very impressive 39-8 touchdown to interception ratio. However, the award should still go to Peterson, as he had one of the greatest single-season efforts in running back history.

Chip Kelly's Offensive System Can Work In the NFL

Over the past ten years, the NFL has seen a dramatic transformation in the way the game is played and it is no longer your father's league. With a bevy of new rules benefiting the vertical passing game, teams are throwing the ball at a historic rate. For example, Detroit Lions quarterback Matt Stafford attempted 727 passes this season, which is an average of more than 45 passes per game. Furthermore, old NFL cliches are becoming quickly outdated. The notion that rookie quarterbacks need time to develop and can't play right away and that college coaches can't be successful in the pros is being discredited. Rookies Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III, and Russell Wilson all led their respective teams to the playoffs and Ryan Tannehill and Brandon Weeden both had fairly good years. In the NFC West, two former college coaches, Jim Harbaugh and Pete Carroll, both led their teams to the playoffs and the Bucs showed promise this season under former Rutgers coach Greg Schiano. The NFL is quickly molding into a new type of league and Oregon head coach Chip Kelly and his unique offense could definitely be very effective.

Although the college and pro games are obviously played at much different speeds, it would not be prudent to discredit the success that Chip Kelly has had at Oregon. Since Kelly was named the head coach in 2009, the Ducks have had an incredible record of 46-7 (33-3 in conference) including four straight appearances in BCS bowl games, which has only been matched by Miami, USC, and Ohio State since 1998. Kelly has run the most dynamic offensive system in the country with the Ducks, which makes his NFL coaching prospects so enticing. In each of the last three years, Oregon has finished the college football season in the top five of rushing yard per game, yards per game, as well as points per game, which displays just how proficient the Ducks have been on offense. Despite the undeniable talent gap between the pros and college, the collegiate game is swiftly becoming much more advanced and the difference between the NFL and college game has never been smaller. Although Kelly's success with the Ducks certainly doesn't mean that he will experience the same feats in the pro game, it is an indication that his offensive attack can work at the next level.

One of the main criticisms of Chip's spread offense is that it can only prosper with a quick and mobile quarterback under center and a speedy running back along side him in the backfield, which is what Kelly has had at Oregon. While Chip's high-powered offense would definitely flourish with a duel threat quarterback like Cam Newton, RGIII, or Russell Wilson, it can still be very effective with a pocket passer. Kelly's offensive system is predicated on its tempo more than anything else and therefore if Kelly had a quarterback that lacked mobility, he would just increase the pace of the team's offense. For example, Kelly has made numerous visits to the New England Patriots, upon Bill Belichick's request, to show the team his up-tempo offensive style. With their no-huddle and faster pace, the Patriots led the league with an average of 74.4 plays per game, which in comparison was almost 14 more plays per game than the defending Super Bowl Champion New York Giants ran during the season. Kelly's offense is all about tempo and speed, which is starting to become a popular trend in the NFL, and this exemplifies why so many league executives are attracted to him.

The Buffalo Bills, Cleveland Browns, and Philadelphia Eagles have all set up meetings with the Oregon coach, and all three of the clubs seem to be very interested in his services. Each of the teams could use an offensive revamp, as they all finished outside of the top 20 in points per game this season. Aside from the promising improvements that Kelly could bring on the offensive side of the ball, his "win the day" mantra of playing hard every day, and the fact that all of his players seem to very much like him as a coach, could bring a much needed cohesion to an NFL team, especially one with the talent level of the Philadelphia Eagles.