Yesterday, “the kids at Deadspin,” as Jason Whitlock likes to call them, disclosed that they had purchased a ballot for the upcoming Baseball Hall of Fame election from one of the voters. Yes, some scumbag actually sold a vote to Deadspin.
What is the point? Deadspin’s Tim Marchman explains:
Our idea was to make a mockery and farce of the increasingly solemn and absurd election process, and to take some power from the duly appointed custodians of the game’s history and turn it over to the public.
Yeah, right. The idea was to generate publicity for Deadspin. And it worked, unfortunately. Just heard discussion about the stunt on sports talk radio in Chicago.
The sad part is, Deadspin got some scumbag to buy in. That person remains anonymous for now, Marchman writes.
For obvious reasons, the voter will remain anonymous for now, but he/she will be filling out his/her ballot on behalf of Deadspin readers, who will be polled in binding elections. The voter will announce his/her name and motivations once his/her vote has been officially cast.
Oh really? A person actually is going to step forward and explain why he/she took on this noble crusade?
I’d be surprised if that occurs. The criticism already is fairly intense. Labeling this voter a “scumbag” actually is fairly tame considering what is being said elsewhere.
Also, if this voter was so intent on exposing the process, why did he/she have to sell the vote to Deadspin? Why not just donate the vote without a price? It says something about the integrity of the person that he/she can be bought.
Sure, the Hall of Fame voting process has its flaws. They all do. I continue to maintain sportswriters shouldn’t vote in the first place. It falls under the heading of, journalists cover the news, not make the news.
However, this scumbag likely has participated in the process for years. Why now to make a statement? Oh yeah, you’re getting paid. Don’t worry about stabbing your brethren in the back.
No, I suspect this scumbag won’t be able to weather the scrutiny by coming out of Deadspin’s closet.
More to come on this story.
The ‘it’ in the first sentence should be ‘they’
Thanks.
So if it’s not right in your mind that the journos be the voters, that makes the process itself wrong/bad, so why is he such a scumbag for making a mockery of a bad thing? why such respect for the HoF vote if you don’t think it’s done correctly anyways?
HOF voting is broken. Anything that draws attention to that fact can only be a good thing.
Whoever the guy selling his vote is, he likely doesn’t care about getting kicked out of the BBWAA, maybe because he hasn’t covered baseball in 20 years. The more people who realize that’s who the membership consists of, the better.
Pretty big assumption to think that this individual is going to pocket the money. It’s a safe bet that the money will be donated.
Meanwhile, it’s not an assumption to think that the BBWAA are a gaggle of holier than thou, pompous asses who feel they’re “entitled” to some level of respect that most haven’t earned in the least… Except for the one writer who evidently is seeing this for what it is.
Get over yourself dude. You’re not that important.
If you’re angrier about this than about the inevitable asshole who will leave Greg Maddux off his ballot because “nobody deserves to get in on his first ballot,” then you’re pretty dumb.
Given how many voters don’t vote (and/or don’t cover or even follow baseball), these conclusions are sweeping and merely guesswork at this point. Come back to me if the person doesn’t come forward and/or Deadspin doesn’t name him/her.
The idiocy of the HOF voting sure wasn’t changing on its own. Kudos to Deadspin for doing something about it, rather than getting on a moral high horse and complaining.
Well, SOMEONE’S got to vote for me to get into the Hall of Fame.
Tell us how you really feel, Ed.
So who SHOULD be voting for the Hall of Fame? Random people? Fans? Other players?
Tell me who the writers have gotten wrong – colossally wrong – over the years. Yes, you have your Corky Simpsons, but they are on the fringes of the bell curve and their delusional votes are largely obscured by the vast majority of voters who take it seriously.
Are there childish vendettas? Absolutely there are. Is it silly to make guys wait for whatever reason? Yes. Is it silly to think, “No one can be a unanimous choice,” or “that guy can’t be a first ballot guy” or “I’m going to get back at him because he was mean to the media?” Yes, yes and yes.
So tell me a better system. And then tell me why THIS person is a scumbag but Mike Tirico, Jay Mariotti and Colin Cowherd aren’t.
Are we so sure this person is a “scumbag”? We may want to wait to hear that person’s side of the story before judging.
It’s possible the sale price was $1, or that the money will be donated to charity. The voter’s argument could be that he wanted to turn his vote over to the fans.
There are numerous flaws with the Baseball HOF voting process. It’s very likely a few writers won’t vote for Maddox because they believe no one should get 100% of the vote. Writers have so many personal biases, odd views about first ballot, suspected steroid user, that it is a very tainted system. A writer who says he wants the fans to decide isn’t that far off.
The Hall of Fame is a private organization that announced a few years ago that those of us who were opposed to the war in Iraq were not welcome. Your defense of these ideological bigots is troubling…
If there’s one site that’s all about scumbags, it’s Deadspin.
You are right, Mr. Sherman. The HOF voting system isn’t perfect, but its been pretty good since it started. The reasoning that fans should vote is pure horseshit. Baseball fans shouldn’t be allowed to cast All-Star game votes, let alone HOF.