海角大神

For the first time since 2013, Tuesday to get into the National Baseball Hall of Fame this year.

Many awesome athletes were on the 2021 ballot, including Curt Schilling, Roger Clemens, and Barry Bonds. But none got into Cooperstown.聽

Perhaps, that鈥檚 a good thing.

When members of the Baseball Writers鈥� Association of America cast their votes each year, they鈥檙e not just taking into account performance on the field. The Hall of Fame voting rules require that writers also consider 鈥�.鈥�

In recent years, many writers have refused to bestow the honor on excellent players who have had their careers tainted by accusations of steroid use, domestic abuse, and in Mr. Schilling鈥檚 case, for apparently endorsing , among other off-the-field transgressions.

Some writers loathe this character clause. They don鈥檛 feel qualified to make such judgments. Others say the clause has been ignored for decades. ESPN鈥檚 Jeff Passan, who stopped voting in 2017, described Cooperstown as a 鈥� where 鈥渞acists, wife beaters, drunks, gamblers and purveyors of manifold moral turpitude otherwise are celebrated.鈥�

Yes, Hall of Fame voting rule No. 5 was often ignored in the past. But since the steroids era, many of today鈥檚 sports writers are now wrestling with this morality requirement. It鈥檚 not fun. It鈥檚 not easy. And maybe that鈥檚 the way it鈥檚 supposed to be. 聽