| Baseball Hall of Fame: Ripken and Gwynn In, McGwire Snubbed |
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| Written by Steven Hastings | |||||||
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Wednesday, 10 January 2007
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 Cal Ripken, Jr. and Tony Gwynn both made the Hall of Fame in their first attempt yesterday as the Baseball Writers Association of America voted both players to live on forever in the shrines of Cooperstown. Gwynn received 97.6 percent of the vote with 13 people deciding he was not worthy. Ripken received Ripken 98.53 percent, third highest total votes in the history of baseball. Noticably left out was Mark McGwire. Big Mac was not available for comment after learning of the snub."It's an unbelievable feeling to know people think what you did was worthy," said Gwynn after learning what many baseball fans thought would be obvious. Mark McGwire was named on 128 of the 545 ballots cast, a mere 23.5 percent in his first attempt to gain entry to Cooperstown. In a career that spanned 16 seasons with the Oakland Athletics and the St. Louis Cardinals, McGwire was ranked 8th all time for home runs with 583. He hit 40 or more homers six times in a season including 70 in the summer of 1998 and was named to baseball's All-Star Game 12 times. Big Mac currently holds the record for home runs per at-bat with a career average of one for every 10.6 at-bats. However the Baseball Writers Association did not feel the same way as Gwynn and many other fans which thought Big Mac deserved induction into the Hall of Fame. It has not been proven that McGwire took steroids yet the stigma associated with the banned substance is what surely kept him out of Cooperstown on his first attempt. The biggest thing that hurt Big Mac was when he decided not to address his use of steroids on Capital Hill in front of Congress in March 2005. Mark McGwire stated "I'm not here to talk about the past." Bet on Baseball at BetUS.com. Ever the diplomat, Cal Ripken Jr. decided not to make his opinion on the subject known instead saying he was quoted as saying, "I don't think it's my place to cast judgment." Ripken added, "I feel the truth will be known. It saddens me that baseball as a whole had to go through this process and had the integrity of the game questioned with steroids. All the stories haven't been told yet. I'm for all the stories to be told and debated. But for me, I don't think it's my place to do that." Tony Gwynn on the other hand did not beat around the bush and let his opinion be heard as he stated, "I'm not saying he [McGwire] did it, because I don't know, but in the late 1980s and early 1990s, we had no rules. I tend to focus on competition and on the field and what he was able to do. When you see firsthand what he does to a baseball, and you see how he was able to bring a town and a country together, that carries some weight with me. I hope some day Mark gets in the Hall, because he deserves it." The Point-Spreads.com team would like to congratulation both Cal Ripken, Jr. and Tony Gwynn for earning their well deserved place in the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, Ohio.                        |
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| Last Updated ( Wednesday, 10 January 2007 ) | |||||||