Hall of Fame voters snub Bonds

Every baseball fan has an opinion about accused steroid users and the Baseball Hall of Fame, but the voices, or at least the votes, of three Petaluma residents have a say on the matter.

There were 549 votes cast this year for induction into the Hall of Fame. All members of the Baseball Writers Association of America with at least 10 years of continuous membership are eligible to vote. Of those who voted in this year’s selection, three - Paul Gutierrez, Bob Padecky and Dave Albee - live in Petaluma. Neither Padecky nor Albee voted for Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens or any player linked to steroid use. Gutierrez was unavailable for comment.

“Barry Bonds is the greatest baseball player I’ve ever seen,” said Albee, who covered sports for the Marin Independent Journal for a number of years. “Pitchers wouldn’t pitch to him. He would get maybe one mistake a game and he would deliver. He did more with fewer opportunities than anyone in baseball history, but I didn’t vote for him.”

Albee points to Rule 5 of the voting criteria which reads: “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.”

“It is a matter of integrity and character for me,” he explained. “What Barry did was, in essence, cheat the game.” He said players who used steroids made a conscious choice to cheat. “God gave them ability, and that wasn’t enough,” he said.

“It is more complicated than people think,” said Padecky, a retired Press Democrat columnist who, for years, covered professional sports. “If you got caught cheating, it was pretty simple, you don’t get in.” But he admits he waffled over players who were linked to steroids, but never confessed or were proven to have been users.

“I voted for Clemens and Bonds when they first became eligible because there was no hard and fast evidence that they used steroids,” he explained.

Padecky acknowledges that, although Bonds never confessed to using steroids, was never suspended and never convicted of their use, the circumstantial evidence is overwhelming. But he said there was something more that made him change his vote and reject the Giants’ slugger.

“When you think about a Hall of Famer, the first thing you should think about is what a great player he was. When you think about Bonds, the first thing you think about is that he was a cheater and a druggie,” Padecky says.

He suggests that any player elected to the Hall of Fame who played in the so-called “Steroid Era” between 1998 and 2012 have an asterisk placed on their plaque. “Do that, and let the fans decide,” he says.

The one person Padecky is definitely decisive about is Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig. “If he gets into the Hall of Fame, it would be the travesty of travesties,” Padecky says. “He allowed this (the Steroid Era) to happen. He is the only person who gets me hot. The commissioner had to know what was happening and he allowed it to happen. He will be forever known as the commissioner of the Steroid Era.”

A person Padecky has empathy for is former Oakland A’s and St. Louis Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire. “He is one of the most decent men I’ve ever met,” the journalist says.

Padecky interviewed McGwire when he was with the A’s and the player described his injuries and ailments from top to bottom. “It sounded like someone who was 85 years old,” Padecky recalls. “He told me, ‘If I could just stay on the field I could put up some great numbers.’ I thought he was on his way out of baseball.”

McGwire went on to set the single-season home run record with the Cardinals and, in his words, “put up some great numbers.” He later admitted to using steroids.

He has never received a vote from Padecky. “I have never voted for anyone who has admitted they have used steroids,” the writer says.

Albee explains his votes this year on his blog at davealbee.com. His votes went to the four players elected - Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, John Smoltz and Craig Biggio along with Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines, Mike Piazza and Jeff Kent.

“It is aggravating and agonizing the number of statistics now available,” he says. “Basically I voted on how dominant a player was in their era.”

He explains that is reflected in the number of awards - MVPs, Silver Sluggers, Gold Gloves, etc. - a player has won.

While Padecky, Albee and Guiterrez have a say on who enters the Hall of Fame, every baseball fan has an opinion. It has always been that way and always will be.

“Baseball thrives on controversy,” says Padecky. “It makes for great bar conversation.”