A Possible Baseball Hall Of Fame Problem

Curt Schilling’s social media posts can make life difficult for the museum if he is selected.

The people who vote on whether a former player belongs in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown may have a problem this year. And it is not about whether a player like Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens allegedly used performance enhancing drugs. It is about Curt Schilling and his highly politically charged social media posts and that could make for a very polarizing induction ceremony, something that the Hall of Fame officials and central New York State visitors bureaus may not want if Schilling gets in. The Hall of Fame induction ceremony in a non-COVID-19 world is a money maker for the hospitality industry in Central New York. An induction of Schilling could prompt a boycott by some.

The people who vote are members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, a group given that authority by the people who run the Cooperstown museum. Whether baseball writers should vote for a high honor on the subject or individual they have covered in which the honoree could financially benefit is a journalistic integrity question for another day. But Hall of Fame officials don’t care about that. Integrity is supposed to be part of the consideration for a Hall of Fame vote. Schilling was fired by ESPN as a baseball analyst in 2016. ESPN said a Schilling Facebook post insulted the transgender community. Schilling was barred from ESPN’s Little League World Series coverage in 2015 because of a social media post. He also feuded with teammates, management and reporters during his baseball career. Schilling has Hall of Fame credentials, but there is Rule 5 the election criteria. Voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played. Does Schilling have an integrity and character problem? The voters will decide.

Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes-https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191