{"id":10584,"date":"2011-01-07T09:47:10","date_gmt":"2011-01-07T16:47:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.seamheads.com\/?p=10584"},"modified":"2011-01-07T09:47:10","modified_gmt":"2011-01-07T16:47:10","slug":"check-yes-or-no","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/2011\/01\/07\/check-yes-or-no\/","title":{"rendered":"Check Yes or No"},"content":{"rendered":"

The difficulties sportswriters seem to have with multiple-choice questions after the jump.<\/p>\n

Around the same time last year, I appeared in this space, more than a little miffed that Roberto Alomar had been prevented from entering the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.\u00c2\u00a0 Many readers shared my outrage, but many also responded: Don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t worry.\u00c2\u00a0 It was his first year on the ballot\u00e2\u20ac\u00a6he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a shoe-in next year.<\/em><\/p>\n

Well, they were right.\u00c2\u00a0 This past week, 90% of the eligible baseball sportswriters of \"\"<\/a>America voted Roberto Alomar into the Hall of Fame\u00e2\u20ac\u201dmore than enough to solidify his place among the all-time greats of the sport and earn him a plaque in Cooperstown, NY.\u00c2\u00a0 79.7% of the sportswriters also voted for Bert Blyleven, ensuring that he will have a room booked at the Otesaga resort for the weekend of July 22.<\/p>\n

Both are deserving.\u00c2\u00a0 Alomar was arguably the best second baseman of his generation.\u00c2\u00a0 In 22 seasons, Blyleven piled up 287 wins, 3701 strikeouts, and a few All-Star appearances.\u00c2\u00a0 He\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s also been the subject of a grassroots campaign to get him elected for a number of years.<\/p>\n

In the end, I should feel vindicated, right?\u00c2\u00a0 Alomar\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in.\u00c2\u00a0 So is Blyleven.<\/p>\n

What changed?<\/p>\n

A year ago, this same group of writers decided\u00e2\u20ac\u201dby majority vote\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthat neither of these two ballplayers had performed well enough throughout their respective careers to be considered Hall of Fame material.\u00c2\u00a0 Yet, here we are.\u00c2\u00a0 Now they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re good enough?<\/p>\n

Did I miss their respective comebacks to the game of baseball?\u00c2\u00a0 Did Roberto Alomar\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s stats go on a strict training regiment and diet in order to more properly prepare for this year\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s vote?\u00c2\u00a0 Did we uncover some undiscovered footage of Bert Blyleven pitching in high school, like ESPN did with Marcus Dupree in its 30 for 30 <\/em>series?\u00c2\u00a0 Were the voters visited by Lucca Brazzi and given an offer they couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t refuse?<\/p>\n

The problem is that many voters do not cast their ballots to answer the question at \"\"<\/a>hand.\u00c2\u00a0 Baseball is a sport that pre-dates the Civil War.\u00c2\u00a0 People have been playing it professionally since before the turn of the Twentieth Century.\u00c2\u00a0 As a result, many writers who have devoted their professional lives to the sport perceive themselves to be the guardians of baseball history and all that is holy.\u00c2\u00a0 They are the self-appointed Knights of the Diamond-Shaped Table, tasked with guarding the Holy Grail of the past.<\/p>\n

In some instances, they are correct, baseball\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s past must be kept sacred and unchanged\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe seventh inning stretch, a hot dog and beer at the ball game, Goose Gossage\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mustache.\u00c2\u00a0 However, Sir Sports-a-lot and King Bud have often clung to the tenets of the past while stubbornly blocking the progress of the game\u00e2\u20ac\u201dthe implementation of instant replay, the slow adaptation of anti-PED legislation, Pete Rose\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hair.\u00c2\u00a0 These people have become Monty Python\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s <\/em>Black Knight, obstinately fighting a losing battle in the court of public opinion.<\/p>\n

In the end, sportswriters are asked to answer one question: Is player x a Hall-of-Famer?<\/em> Instead, they try to vote according to a perceived situation.\u00c2\u00a0 They feel that if Roberto Alomar is inducted with five or six other players, his honor is diminished.\u00c2\u00a0 Either he won\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t receive enough attention for his accomplishments, or he\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll take away from the celebrations for other lesser-known but still deserving inductees.\u00c2\u00a0 They see it as a way of protecting the history of baseball and the reputation of the Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n

But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not their job.\u00c2\u00a0 Their job is to answer the question.<\/p>\n

Is Player X a Hall-of-Famer?<\/em><\/p>\n

Next year, do us all a favor.\u00c2\u00a0 In the words of George Strait, Check Yes or No.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Josh Deitch constantly fights losing battles while getting his limbs cut off.\u00c2\u00a0 Visit him on Facebook or Twitter<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The difficulties sportswriters seem to have with multiple-choice questions after the jump.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4235],"tags":[862,12022,47,2482,12612,420,1963,1371,12614,21230,12613,12608,12609,12610,9082,4179,2000,571,12611,1062],"class_list":["post-10584","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-stories","tag-all-star","tag-ballots","tag-baseball","tag-bert-blyleven","tag-brazzi","tag-comebacks","tag-cooperstown","tag-espn","tag-grassroots-campaign","tag-hall-of-fame","tag-majority-vote","tag-marcus-dupree","tag-multiple-choice-questions","tag-otesaga-resort","tag-outrage","tag-plaque","tag-roberto-alomar","tag-second-baseman","tag-star-appearances","tag-time-greats"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10584","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10584"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10584\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10584"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10584"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/seamheads.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10584"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}