THE CHEAP SEATS with STEVE CAMERON: My annual rant on the hypocrisy of Baseball Hall of Fame

Today is when I rant. 

No, not because Gonzaga’s defense has become soft as cotton candy. 

In the words of sophomore center Braden Huff, who wasn’t referring to the Zags losing two straight in the conference for the first time in 10 years (but he could have been): “It’s embarrassing.” 

Agreed, but that’s not No. 1 on my angry list today. 

No, it’s also not because the Mariners' big offseason spending spree produced 37-year-old Donovan Solano. 

As ESPN national baseball writer Jeff Passan put it: “Let’s face it, Seattle’s ownership could be blowing a fantastic window for success by refusing to spend any money.”  

Agreed, the M’s cheapskate owners are maddening, but that’s STILL not the top of the fury list. 

Nope. 

So, my reason to rant? 

The new inductees to the Baseball Hall of Fame are being announced today. 

My congratulations to the magnificent Ichiro Suzuki, who will lead the Hall’s newest class following a fantastic career. 

But. 

Every year on this day, I get worked up all over again about the stupidity – worse, the hypocrisy – of MLB and its HOF voters, vested members of the Baseball Writers Association of America.

IT’S JUST a disgrace. 

This is the sport that refuses Hall of Fame entrance to the man who had the most hits (Pete Rose) and the slugger who bashed the most home runs (Barry Bonds).  

Rose is locked out for betting on games — though not as an active player and not against the Reds team he managed. 

Pete apologized for the transgression over and over, right up until his death last September. 

Because he was banned from baseball entirely, Rose was never on the Hall of Fame ballot, which is another question entirely. 

That silliness rests with MLB itself. 

Bonds and several other players suspected (or admitted) users of various chemicals either didn’t make it to the ballot, or were blackballed by enough sanctimonious BBWAA members that they cannot reach the Hall of Fame. 

Bonds’ 10-year period on the ballot expired in 2022, and he reached 66 percent (with 75 percent needed) after seeing his totals increase each year. 

You think the Hall of Fame had it in for Bonds? 

Hah. 

The Hall switched to voting every year in 1966, and players named on 10 percent of voters’ submissions stayed on the ballot for 15 years. 

In 2014, with Bonds then on the ballot for two years, the suits at the Hall saw what might be coming and — with a little pressure from MLB — lowered the time to stay on the ballot to 10 years. 

Take that, Barry. 

The whole thing is a sham. 

Before steroids, which were WIDELY used for about two decades, there were amphetamines (“greenies”) common in every clubhouse. 

I saw players taking greenies myself. 

I saw MLB stars exchanging packets of cocaine. 

I saw reporters, who later refused to vote for suspected drug users, receive cocaine from players themselves. 

Lord, what hypocrisy. 

NOW WE get to the part of this voting that’s just truly wrong. 

I disagree with voters who believe they should exclude steroid users — baseball did not even ENACT a steroid policy until 2006 — but I can respect their position. 

It seems like being convicted of a law that didn’t exist, but OK. 

Remember that date, because almost all the big-name PED (performance enhancing drug) users played in the 1980s and ‘90s. 

Even Bonds’ harshest critics (Barry was not popular because he was rough on the media) concede he did not become involved with steroids until 1999, and he’d had a cinch Hall of Fame career BEFORE that. 

In 1998, The Sporting News included Bonds in a list of the 10 greatest players of all time. 

Yes, it bugs me that Bonds and many others may never find their way to the Hall of Fame. 

It bothers me even more that David (Big Papi) Ortiz is in the Hall, and soon Andy Pettitte will join him — and these are confessed drug users. 

I’m not dissing Big Papi, who definitely belongs in Cooperstown. 

It’s ridiculous, though, to ignore some players’ use of artificial aids — almost solely because they’re nice guys and friendly to the media — while getting on a high horse to deny others. 

Ortiz to Cooperstown, but not Bonds. 

That’s a joke, but I can’t laugh. 

Look, there’s a way to fix this. 

Let’s get the guys like Bonds and Roger Clemens and Alex Rodriguez into the Hall of Fame. 

Why not just induct them and put short paragraphs on their plaques that says simply they competed in baseball’s “steroid era”? 

Same with Rose, only with a different sentence on the plaque. 

There. 

That’s my rant. 

Email: scameron@cdapress.com 

Steve Cameron’s “Cheap Seats” columns appear in The Press three times each week, normally Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday unless, you know, stuff happens. 

Steve suggests you take his opinions in the spirit of a Jimmy Buffett song: “Breathe In, Breathe Out, Move On.”