I’m Just Saying

This has been done before, most often by Craig Calcaterra, but after reading a host of articles about why this writer or that writer is not voting for Jeff Bagwell, I’m compelled to offer the following comparison.

Morris, writing about Raul Ibanez last summer:

Thirdly, it’s time for me to begrudgingly acknowledge the elephant in the room: any aging hitter who puts up numbers this much better than his career averages is going to immediately generate suspicion that the numbers are not natural, that perhaps he is under the influence of some sort of performance enhancer. And since I was not able to draw any absolute parallels between his prodigously improved HR rate and his new ballpark’s hitter-friendliness, it would be foolish to dismiss the possibility that “other” performance enhancers could be part of the equation.

Sorry Raul Ibanez and Major League Baseball, that’s just the era that we are in — testing or no testing.

Dan Graziano, writing for AOL FanHouse.

No, I didn’t vote for Jeff Bagwell for the Hall of Fame. Yes, it’s for the reason everybody loves to hate. I don’t know for sure that Bagwell took steroids or any other performance-enhancing drugs to help him attain his Hall of Fame-caliber numbers. I don’t have evidence, like we do against Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro. But I’m suspicious. And this year, that suspicion was enough to make me send back my ballot without the Bagwell box checked.

Morris was publicly eviscerated for his comments, and the entire concept of blogging was condemned by many professional writers. If we’re really about being objective and consistent, I can see no reason why those who railed against Morris should not also now take to the airwaves to assault Graziano. The only difference between Morris’ piece and Graziano’s is that Morris provided alternative theories and presented steroids as simply one possible explanation, while Graziano simply says he thinks Bagwell cheated, and that’s that.

Morris’ piece is by far the more fair, balanced, and well-reasoned article of the two. If anyone embarrassed the writing profession with his veiled accusation, it was not the blogger, but instead, the professional journalist. Worse, Morris’ opinion had no effect on Ibanez’s life, while Graziano is a gate-keeper to the Hall Of Fame. If either of the two should be held to a higher standard, it should be the latter, no?

Intellectual honesty and consistency of opinion. That’s all we really want.