Before reading this, you may never have heard of Dan Le Batard. If you were coming up with a list of important or influential people in the world, his name would almost certainly be kept off of it. Le Batard is a writer from Florida who has been on various ESPN radio and television programs. Le Batard also is a member of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Well, at least he was a few weeks ago.
When Le Batard received his ballot for baseball’s Hall of Fame, he decided to let fans have a say in who they wanted to get voted in. Le Batard turned his ballot to the website Deadspin.com, which allowed readers to vote yes or no on all eligible candidates. They decided the 10 players who had the highest percentage of yes would end up getting Le Batard’s vote.
After the fans decided, Le Batard approved their decision and cast his ballot. Unfortunately, the BBWAA didn’t approve of his methods and ultimately removed his membership from the association for one year, and have now made him ineligible to ever vote for the Hall of Fame.
The official statement released from the BBWAA declared that:
“The BBWAA Board of Directors has decided to remove Dan Le Batard’s membership for one year, for transferring his Hall of Fame ballot to an entity that has not earned voting status. The punishment is allowed under the organization’s .
“In addition, Le Batard will not be allowed to vote on Hall of Fame candidates from this point on.
“The BBWAA regards Hall of Fame voting as the ultimate privilege, and any abuse of that privilege is unacceptable.”
It seems ironic that they think letting baseball fans an opportunity to determine who is enshrined is an abuse of some sort of sacred system, but it’s their rules, so I guess we have to play by them. Don’t we?
In 2007, Vice-President of the BBWAA, Jose de Jesus Ortiz posted on his blog to have baseball fans meet him at a local restaurant to help him determine who he should vote for. Maybe that wasn’t Ortiz’s plan. Perhaps he wanted to help the restaurant get some extra business.
Well if you read further in that blog entry, you can find an interesting quote from Ortiz. “Ever since I earned my first ballot, I vowed to always fill it out with the help and guidance of the readers who know as much and sometimes even more about the history of the game. Last year I filled it out with a Texas Supreme Court Judge, several big-time lawyers in town and my father in-law.”
Unless I don’t understand what the BBWAA is so upset about, I don’t see how this is any different. Are you telling me that a Supreme Court Judge and a bunch of lawyers somehow earned voting status for the Hall of Fame, but baseball fans who read Deadspin haven’t? I don’t think you need to hire a lawyer to see that something doesn’t add up there.
This is just one of the many problems with the current voting system for the Hall of Fame. You have writers who refuse to vote and submit a blank ballot, some writers who won’t vote for players from the last twenty years because they’re from the ‘steroid era’ (I thought everyone was innocent until proven guilty?) and you have a limit on how many players you can even vote for each year.
I find it incredibly hard to believe that Le Batard was the only writer this year who asked others for their opinions and for some reason I doubt he will be the last.
