http://www.sportsgulp.net/?p=10591
Bobby Valentine Blasts Hall of Fame Voters,
Says Fans Should Be a Part of the Voting
January 11, 2013
Plenty of people have questioned the Hall of Fame and its voting process over
the years and especially the last couple days as no player was voted in on
Wednesday. But this might be the strongest opinion on the entire thing that I
’ve heard yet as former MLB manager Bobby Valentine puts sportswriters and
Hall of Fame voters on blast, while claiming that Barry Bonds and Roger
Clemens should be voted in and questioning if Greg Maddux will get an
asterisk due to bad pitches being called strikes.
Bobby Valentine joined ESPN Radio Las Vegas with Gridlock to discuss his
surprise that no players were voted into the Hall of Fame, why writers should
no longer be in charge of the voting, why fans should be a part of it, which
player was the most snubbed, if Craig Biggio belongs in the Hall of Fame and
next year’s ballot that will include Greg Maddux and Tom Glavine.
Were you surprised that no player was elected into the Hall of Fame on
Wednesday?:
“The reporters must have been at the computer and electronics show that you
guys have going on out there in Vegas, and they must have got their wires
mixed up. I was a little shocked, yeah. I think greatness should be respected
and acknowledged as greatness.”
Do you think that writers should be in charge of that vote?:
“No, I don’t think the writers should be in charge of anything, as a matter
of fact. … I think you should have had been at games, should have some kind
of credible knowledge of what’s going on during the era of which you’re
voting. … I guess to vote, all you need to do is have 10 consecutive years
as a sportswriter. Some of these guys haven’t been at a ballpark in 20
years, some of them haven’t turned on the TV in 10, and yet they have a
vote. I don’t get any of that. When they were in charge of this sanctuary,
they were in charge because they were the only ones to view the games live.
They were the only ones in St. Louis to watch Stan Musial; they were the only
ones in New York Polo Grounds to watch Willie Mays. Now everyone watches and
everyone has an opinion on it and that voting should be given to those who
pass a test before they vote.”
If the fans should be part of the vote:
“It’s the fans of the future that we’re handing over the game to and we’
re handing these Hall of Fame inductees to. I think that they should have
some kind of voice. I’m not sure how you regulate that and how you make that
happen, either. The world is closing in on us and the information age that we
’ve lived in and now the computer age that we’re living in will solve all
those problems.”
Who do you think got snubbed the most of this year’s potential inductees?:
“Barry Bonds is the best player I’ve ever seen play. How can he not be in
the Hall of Fame? It just goes against thought and reason. And Clemens, if you
’re supposed to dominate and era and that’s going to be your ticket to
fame, I don’t think anyone dominated their era like Roger did. If you’re
the best at your position, and you have a catcher who accumulated the
statistics that Mike Piazza did as a catcher, or a second baseman who got
3,000 hits, how do you keep these guys out? I don’t get it.”
Biggio’s numbers aren’t off the charts, but he did it for so long. So in
your eyes, he’s a Hall of Famer?:
“Again, it’s the Hall of Records, and 3,000 hits is one of those goals.
Everybody with 3,000 hits, except for, I guess, the guy with the most hits in
the history of the game, Pete Rose, and Barry Bonds, are in the Hall of Fame.
So how can he not be?”
Next year, Tom Glavine and Greg Maddux make the ballot. They’ve got to make
it right away, right?:
“Yeah, great statistics. They pitched in the umpire-widened-strike zone era.
Are we going to put an asterisk because those pitches that were outside were
called strikes? It gets ridiculous the more you look at things and the more
you wonder why we do things here, the more you have to question this. They
should definitely be in, Maddux for sure.”
http://www.ettoday.net/news/20130113/152115.htm
瓦倫泰批棒球作家 「他們20年沒進場看球」
ETtoday體育新聞 2013年01月13日
2013年沒有球員進入名人堂引起宣然大波，前紅襪隊總教練，現任NBC電視台球評的「大
情人」瓦倫泰(Bobby Valentine)當然不落人後，發表他的見解，認為邦茲(Barry Bonds)
等人應該要進入名人堂，而且還批評票選的棒球作家，這幾年來是真正看過幾場球賽了？
邦茲、克萊門斯(Roger Clemens)與索沙(Sammy Sosa)這三位被指控曾用禁藥的球員，今
年首次入選，其他第一次入選者受到波及，沒能進入名人堂，消息傳出後引起各方討論，
瓦倫泰提出他獨道見解，表示他對這個結果有點驚訝，「我覺得偉大球員，就該像我們所
認知的偉大球員受到尊重。」
瓦倫泰認為這些擁有票選資格的作家不應該去指控任何事，「有些人已經20年不曾到球場
了，有些人在10年內沒有開過電視，但他們還是有1票。他們只看過一場球就在指控，看
的球賽還是梅斯(Willie Mays)在紐約高地球場比賽。他們有權投票，也得在投票前接受
測試。」
名人堂票選不僅是票選，也包括後世球迷與媒體怎麼看待這些過程，尤其現今電腦資訊發
達的時代，瓦倫泰覺得只要用電腦，就能夠解決這些問題。他覺得雖然很多人可能不同意
他的想法，但他自認代表理性的聲音，尤其當大家對於邦茲該不該入選，意見分歧時。
「邦茲是我看過最棒的球員，」瓦倫泰表示，「你怎麼不會選他進名人堂？這就是理性與
思想的對抗。還有克萊門斯，如果你見識過他主宰球場，就該給他名人堂的入場券，我不
覺得有人能創造像他一樣的世代。」
最後瓦倫泰再說，「如果你在你的守備位置上累積可觀的打擊數據，像是皮耶薩(Mike
Piazza)或是一位二壘手擊出3000安(指前太空人隊名將畢吉歐，Craig Biggio)，你怎麼
忍心將他們拒於門外？我就不會這麼做。」