Has Baseball's Hall of Fame lost its purpose?

With each passing year comes the inevitable debate over whether a particular retired MLB player deserves a chance to have his name cemented in Cooperstown forever. Varying questions always pop up, primarily those regarding past steroid users and controversial players, and those who have not yet been enshrined despite being on the ballot before. Nobody seems to be asking, does it really matter anymore?

The prevailing pattern seems to be easy to predict at this point. The initial ballot release causes a few days of banter on social media platforms and among newspaper columnists. Casual fans tweet out who they would vote for as if to state their personal criteria for greatness. Writers who have votes vow to be objective and weigh their options as if it were the nuclear codes. After a few days, people move on to Thanksgiving and football and things of the like.

Then eight weeks later it gets dragged up again when the formal announcement of election results is released. That’s where we are today. Expectedly, we’ve seen the clutching of pearls from purist voters over the omission of Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, among others, because of performance-enhancing-drug use. Likewise, there’ve been cases made by younger folks that the Baseball Hall of Fame should include such players because it helps tell the story of the game.

My take is pretty simple: If you want to include players with perceived character flaws, most notably steroid users, then go right ahead. It does tell a story. But please don’t pretend like that player didn’t use PEDs.

The best analogy is a marriage. Pretend you’ve been married for over a decade and your spouse is awesome. You have great kids together. You go on vacations together. You have a loving and supportive relationship. Then one day, it ends with infidelity or a messy divorce. Would your peers then vote your marriage into the hypothetical Marriage Hall of Fame? Probably not. So don’t be surprised if they pass.

What this debate still doesn’t address, however, is the growing disconnect among the game’s most diehard fans. Sure, we’ll talk about it for a few days, then go right back to our usual way of thinking about the game. Extra inning rules, universal designated hitter, pitch clock, and the ongoing labor stoppage will keep dominating the national conversation of baseball. The Hall of Fame’s purpose was, is, and should be to unite fans over a shared history of the sport. Instead, it has just become another add to the laundry list of things that have divided baseball fans this century.

Therefore, the Hall has lost not only its purpose as of late, but also, its meaning for some.

Cooperstown is one of the most magical places on earth. It still matters. Therefore, we need to address how it can keep being the place that all baseball fans point to as their North Star. The future of the game lies with educating young people about the glory of the sport. It should ultimately tell the story of those shadowed careers but not ignore why those shadows exist. More importantly, it should highlight the true torch bearers of the game as an example for all of us to follow. Perhaps if the Hall could highlight the past in order to offer a brighter future, it would rekindle its meaning to fans.

As the great Roberto Clemente once said, “Why does everyone talk about the past? All that counts is tomorrow’s game.”