InkStainedWretch

Steve Carlton, Jim Rice and Eddie Murray weren’t chummy with the media and they got in.

Don Mattingly was a hoss, the kind of guy you want playing on your team. Utmost respect for him.

Fans that at bitch about the thing being watered down and “The Hall of Very Good” don’t understand that if nobody goes in, it’s a black eye for MLB and akin to the impact of a major hurricane on Gulf Coast beach tourism for the town of Cooperstown, a lot of their annual economy depends on that induction weekend and having a bunch of people go in.

The people who run the Hall … and it’s run by a private family foundation, it belongs to them and not MLB and certainly not the fans …want a steady stream of new inductees, the more the merrier, to them it’s a museum and a tourist attraction designed to make money, not a sacred shrine to the baseball gods.

I saw somewhere that if you literally doubled the current membership it would still not be 2% of everyone who’s ever played MLB so it’s still pretty damn exclusive.

I agree with your assessment.

I think Yadi Molina who will be on the 2028 ballot is an absolute mic drop mortal lock for first ballot, strictly because of his historically elite defense that was in Bench and Pudge R. territory. Peak Posey was great but I'm not sure he's first ballot material.

Yeah fans that bitch about the thing being watered down and “The Hall of Very Good” don’t understand that if nobody goes in, it’s a black eye for MLB and akin to the impact of a major hurricane on Gulf Coast beach tourism for the town of Cooperstown, a lot of their annual economy depends on that weekend.

The people who run the Hall … and it’s run by a private family foundation, it belongs to them and not MLB and certainly not the fans …want a steady stream of new inductees, the more the merrier, to them it’s a museum and a tourist attraction not a shrine to the baseball gods.

IMO all political discussion should be limited to the political board, period.

I post at several other sports and music discussion boards where posts about politics and religion are strictly banned, and there’s much less strife.

The legislatures and courts are recognizing that there is nothing … N-O-T-H-I-N-G … different or special about college sports compared to any other business. The power conferences and the coaches of course want to see the status quo return because it’s in their best interests and fans just want their bread and circuses.

Again, the fix for this is a collective, contractual agreement with the athletes.

I will remind you that the Supreme Court can overturn legislation from Congress, and that their decision clearing the way for where we are now was 9-0 with strong signals that they are ready to go farther toward the athletes’ side.

The only guard rail that can be put in that will pass judicial scrutiny is a collectively and mutually bargained agreement between the players and the colleges.

Fans act like college sports are something unique and special. In 2026, they are not. They are an entertainment business just like any other business and subject to the laws that govern all other businesses about restraint of trade and hindrances placed on people trying to seek fair market compensation for their talents and barring mutually and contractually agreed to restrictions to seek that compensation from a different employer.

This whole thing was a house of cards for generations and was destined to collapse when the right case got before the right judges and I remind you that the Supreme Court case that cleared the way for this was decided 9-0 with some justices signaling strongly that they were willing to go even farther in the players’ favor.

This action is a publicity stunt designed to shore up the midterms. But fans who think they have a tangible sense of ownership in this product … they never really have and never really will … like I said are going to ejaculate on themselves thinking that Daddy has fixed everything and is going to bring those uppity players to heel and restore everything to its true and righteous and rightful state.

I don’t know if you misunderstand me but I was 100% in favor of giving Madonna a chance. I responded to someone questioning why no Division I team has hired her away from Shelton State yet, speculating that maybe she’s gotten some offers … I cannot envision her not having received some calls from schools … but she’s rebuffed them and Shelton State is as high as she wants to go, especially with her nearing her mid-50s. She’s been there for a quarter century, they’ll probably name a building on campus for her when she retires.

Yeah it’s not exactly like they just picked someone out of the phone book to give it to, Antoine has done a super job at Kennesaw. If I’m not mistaken it’s the first time they’ve had two winning seasons in a row since they went D1.