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From: roger1@ihlpg.UUCP (Mills)
Newsgroups: net.sport.baseball
Subject: Re: Maris for Hall of Fame?
Message-ID: <1546@ihlpg.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 8-Jan-86 11:51:47 EST
Article-I.D.: ihlpg.1546
Posted: Wed Jan  8 11:51:47 1986
Date-Received: Thu, 9-Jan-86 02:59:49 EST
References: <6727@duke.UUCP> <4500067@hpmtla.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories
Lines: 38

> >I'd like to start a new topic that I hope will generate a lot of
> >controversy....
> >
> >All baseball fans mourn the passing of Roger Maris, holder of one of the
> >best-known records in the game.  There is no question that Maris was an
> >outstanding player.  My question is, does he belong in the Hall of Fame?
> 
> I'd would have been satisfied if they removed the asterisk before he
> died. It could be the greatest deliberate injustice in the history
> of baseball*.
> 
> Roy
> 
> * This, of course, applies to US Major league baseball only.

I vote for Roger Maris for the Hall-of-Fame.  Maris may not have had
the impact that Sandy Koufax, but in his semi-short career he did 
play on teams that went to a World Series 7 out of 9 years.  Plus,
he did get screwed by having the asterisk attached to his name.

Maris may of been the first instance where the press realized that
they had the ability to "destroy" a player.  They no longer just
reported the news, they started to make the news. 

And television was also just getting its start also.  Perhaps this
is where sleazy news got its start.

I don't mean go on about how bad baseball reporting is, but it does
seem to me that Roger Maris was a turning point for media ideas
about reporting news.

my $.02

rlm

-- 
Roger L. Mills
ihlpg!roger1