Once again, I find myself in the unfortunate position of strongly agreeing with those who believe Jeff Bagwell belongs in the Hall of Fame, while finding myself embarrassed over the personal attacks by many who share my view. Two primary punching bags, Dan Graziano and Jeff Pearlman, have taken a huge number of insults. To be clear, I am separating holding Graziano/Pearlman accountable for their published words,  a strength of the media landscape thanks to the Internet, from words getting tossed around like “cowardly“, “bozo“, “piece of sanctimonious dogshit,” etc.

The latter is both frustrating and perplexing because of how unnecessary it is.  There’s a very strong statistical argument to be made for Jeff Bagwell‘s inclusion in the Hall of Fame. There’s a very strong argument against voting out players on the suspicion, absent any proof, that they took steroids.  Craig Calcaterra does a fantastic job of elaborating on the logical endpoint of guilt-by-association voting. Making those arguments, and publicly engaging in discussion with those voters who disagree, is a worthwhile exercise, not only to possibly change the mind of that particular voter, but to steer the public debate for the many other voters who are likely paying attention.

By contrast, name-calling actually gives voters a chance to claim a higher moral ground, instead of allowing the debate to exist and focus solely on the player and rationales themselves. In a follow-up post, Pearlman leads by saying:

Why I hate the internet …

Because one can’t have a debate without inevitably getting hit with stupid insults and mindless taunts.

I would love to hear people tell me why I’m wrong about Jeff Bagwell and the steroid era.

Seriously, I would.

But why rely on childish insults and slurs? So juvenile.

In any debate, taking the focus off of the specific issue at hand will, by definition, make the debate less about the specific issue. So if you are so certain that your argument is right- why on earth would you move beyond merely putting that argument forward, and dive instead into the realm of personal attack?

Moreover, while people are not entitled to their own set of facts, they are certainly entitled to weigh those facts or suspicions subjectively. That’s inherent in the Hall of Fame rules. And something I love, frankly, is disagreeing about those subjective judgments.  Like it or not, replacing the BBWAA with a different group of voters would result in subjective analysis-perhaps a different kind, but indisputably subjective. The 3,000 hit club is, indisputably, for people who accumulate 3,000 hits. A Hall of Fame vote has no specific, immutable benchmark.

Why it is impossible for some people to make peace with these differences in opinion- yes, weighing statistical evidence less is a difference of opinion- and resort to insults instead- is beyond me.

Two things happen as a result of this name-calling. One, some writers are less likely to publicize their ballots, let alone explain their reasons behind their choices. It’s not worth the trouble, when the response is likely to be so vitriolic. Two, my guess is that some other writers are going to make intentionally contrarian choices to generate publicity, since the firestorm is apparently guaranteed.

What I doubt will happen is that Hall of Fame voters who can be persuaded to change their votes will be more likely to consider an alternate point of view from someone engaged in scatological nonsense. When it comes from sabermetricians, a group I consider myself a part of, and one that is supposed to value logic over ad hominem attack, it gets embarrassing, and helps nothing.

Howard Megdal is the Editor-in-Chief of The Perpetual Post. He covers baseball, basketball and soccer for Capital New York, MLBTradeRumors.com, New York Baseball Digest and has written for ESPN.com as well as numerous other publications. He is the Poet Laureate for SBNation New York. His book about Jewish baseball players, “The Baseball Talmud,” is available for purchase on Amazon.com and wherever books are sold. His next book, "Taking The Field", is available for pre-order on Amazon.com and will publish in May 2011.

Howard Megdal

View all posts by Howard Megdal
Howards website

Tags: Dan Graziano, Hall of Fame, Houston Astros, Jeff Bagwell, Jeff Pearlman