Maddux Snubbed For Unanimous Vote

Christopher C. Wuensch takes us through baseball history...via the vast baseball card collection in his basement.

In baseball, there are swings-and-misses and then there are swings-and-misses that corkscrew a batter into the ground.

Ken Gurnick is thoroughly embedded in the proverbial clay after swinging and mightily missing on his Baseball Hall of Fame ballot.

In a year rife with slam-dunk, surefire, no-doubt hall of famers, the Dodgers’ beat writer opted to leave everyone off his ballot — save for Jack Morris, a pitcher who’s been denied entry into Cooperstown for 14 straight years.

Notably omitted from Gurnick’s ballot is former Atlanta Braves pitcher Greg Maddux, who is about as qualified as anyone to grace the halls of the Hall.

Maddux won 355 games with the Atlanta Braves, Chicago Cubs, Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres. He topped the National League in wins three times and ERA four times. Yet despite gaudy numbers, Gurnick decided to punish Maddux, not for his ERA, but rather for his era. More specifically, the “Steroid Era” in which the scrawny (almost nerdish) pitcher spent his career battling juiced monsters twice his size.

No one gets into the Baseball Hall of Fame unanimously.

Since Hall of Fame voting began in 1936, no one has gotten in with 100 percent of the votes. Not Ty Cobb. Not Joe DiMaggio. Not even Cy Young and he has a coveted award — one that Maddux has won four times to Morris’ none — named after himself.

Tom Seaver and Nolan Ryan share the highest mark with 98.8 percent of the votes their first year. There were nine voters who snubbed Ted Williams on his first ballot. Some 22 voters denied Willie Mays’ first attempt, as did 28 and 38 voters for Jackie Robinson and Mickey Mantle, respectively.

In short, intentionally not voting for a first-year-ballot player is a baseball tradition as steeped in history as the intentional walk. The other side of the coin is that a hall of famer is a hall of famer; their stats don’t improve in retirement — just their legend.

Perhaps Maddux doesn’t deserve to be the sport’s first unanimously-elected player. But he’s certainly the best candidate since Cal Ripken kicked open the Cooperstown doors in 2007. Even then, Ripken — the man adored by all — garnered 98.3 percent of the votes.

But that’s not Gurnick’s argument. Gurnick snubbed Maddux because of the perceived chicanery of his opponents.

Gurnick stated that he won’t vote for any player that hails from baseball’s “Steroid Era” – including New York Yankees closer Mariano Rivera, who is undeniably the greatest relief pitcher in baseball history. When Rivera retired in October at the age of 43, he was still making those very same alleged PED users look as if they were swinging syringes, rather than bats, at the plate.

But that’s not enough to earn a Hall of Fame vote from Ken Gurnick.

Exactly when baseball’s steroid era officially began is based on fuzzy math. According to Gurnick’s logic, it must have ended after Jack Morris retired after the 1994 season. That means the likes of alleged users such as Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro spent their strike-shortened down time picking up a needle instead of a glove.

Maddux made his debut in 1986. His career overlapped Morris’ by nine years.

Morris won more games (131) during that nine-year-overlap than he did prior to Maddux entering the league. During that nine-year timespan, Morris surrendered 5 home runs to Ruben Sierra, 4 to McGwire and 3 to Canseco — all of which have been linked to PEDs.

Barry Bonds, the most widely-speculated juicer of his era, took Maddux deep more than any other pitcher. But to win 355 games and strikeout 3,371 in a “Steroid Era” should be applauded, instead of punished.

Morris had a heckuva career and is Hall-of-Fame worthy. He went 4-2 in the World Series for three teams and was named the MVP of the 1991 Fall Classic for the Minnesota Twins. He finished with 254 wins and registered double-digits in complete games 11 times.

To put that in perspective, St. Louis Cardinals’ Adam Wainwright led the Majors in complete games in 2013 with five CGs. Since Morris retired, only nine pitchers have reached double-digits in complete games in a single season. Three of them came at the height of the “Steroid Era” in 1998 and one of them was Greg Maddux (10 CGs in 1995).

Turns out, Maddux got in by a landslide (97.2 percent) this year, regardless. He’s joined by former Atlanta Braves teammate Tom Glavine. Jack Morris received 61.5 percent of the vote. After 15 years, Morris is now off the ballot.

To leave Maddux off your ballot in Year One might make us question your baseball acumen, but far better players have been jilted on the first try by writers attempting to build exclusivity for what’s supposed to be a hallowed establishment. To deny a man who excelled in light of a tainted age is flat-out wrong.

By not voting for Maddux, Gurnick, on principal, must forfeit his vote from here on out. The “Steroid Era” is here to stay. And if Greg Maddux and Mariano Rivera doesn’t pass Gurnick’s non-PED test, then no one will.

Gurnick is entitled to his vote and opinion. Even if it is one Hall of a mistake.