A New Ethical Debate Looms for the Baseball Hall of Fame
The New York Times
Some controversial players have fallen off the ballot, but with Carlos Beltrán expected to be a finalist next year, a different form of cheating will be in the spotlight.
It might have been the best game Jim Palmer ever pitched: 11 scoreless innings on a summer afternoon in Baltimore in 1977, with nine strikeouts and no walks. Palmer didn’t win it, though, because the Orioles never scored. Gaylord Perry, the slippery ace of the Texas Rangers, was dominant.
“I come out to get the ball and there’s two big fingerprints right on the slick spot of the ball, which is how you throw a spitter,” Palmer said. “So I go up to the umpire and I say, ‘I guess we don’t have to book him, his fingerprints are already on the ball.’ He just laughs, and they laughed all those years.”
“But Gaylord pitched all those innings, he was durable, he was marvelous. Are we going to keep him out of the Hall of Fame when he won 300 games?”
