Gulfbird44
12-16-2009, 08:52 PM
I was lucky to have thought to bring two books with me when I traveled to Green Bay for the MNF a few weeks back as I quickly finished the first, a military history book and finished this one before flying back to Florida.
Admittedly I didn't find anything in Zev Chafets book that I hadn't heard or read some where else. I guess I was curious as to his points of view and I think he covered about everything from flandering to steriods and what affect they have and in some cases have not had on a HOF nomination. He even briefly covers the sports memorabilia industry and how a players nomination affects the market.
I would agree with Mr Chafet on a two of his points. The main one being that despite rule five which includes the word "character," alot of the early nominations would have failed the character litmus test which seem to be the standard of todays nominations when it comes to Pete Rose, Bary Bonds and Mark McGuire to name a few. Although I agree with the underlying sentiment, even he points out this unfortunately goes back to how players were treated and even protected by the media in the early days compared to the 24/7, all angle, sensationalistic press of today where any dirt is a story.
The other point he makes that I agree on is the long delay in recognizing both the Negro League and Latino players and their contributions to the game. No excuse here but I do disagree with his argument that the lack of recognition by the HOF is a major contributor to the low numbers of blacks in the MLB today.
The book is midly amusing at times as well as being a bit on the absurd. In his argument on steriods one of his referrences included Bob Dole's appearance in a Viagra add as part of the culture which makes it hard to say no to "performance enhancers" and his reference that if the Football Hall of Fame disapared, only a few in Canton would notice. Give me a break!
If you have an interest and an open mind (I'd recommend reading more from other sources), here is the Amazon link for the book:
http://www.amazon.com/Cooperstown-Confidential-Heroes-Rogues-Baseball/dp/1596915455/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261008611&sr=1-1
Admittedly I didn't find anything in Zev Chafets book that I hadn't heard or read some where else. I guess I was curious as to his points of view and I think he covered about everything from flandering to steriods and what affect they have and in some cases have not had on a HOF nomination. He even briefly covers the sports memorabilia industry and how a players nomination affects the market.
I would agree with Mr Chafet on a two of his points. The main one being that despite rule five which includes the word "character," alot of the early nominations would have failed the character litmus test which seem to be the standard of todays nominations when it comes to Pete Rose, Bary Bonds and Mark McGuire to name a few. Although I agree with the underlying sentiment, even he points out this unfortunately goes back to how players were treated and even protected by the media in the early days compared to the 24/7, all angle, sensationalistic press of today where any dirt is a story.
The other point he makes that I agree on is the long delay in recognizing both the Negro League and Latino players and their contributions to the game. No excuse here but I do disagree with his argument that the lack of recognition by the HOF is a major contributor to the low numbers of blacks in the MLB today.
The book is midly amusing at times as well as being a bit on the absurd. In his argument on steriods one of his referrences included Bob Dole's appearance in a Viagra add as part of the culture which makes it hard to say no to "performance enhancers" and his reference that if the Football Hall of Fame disapared, only a few in Canton would notice. Give me a break!
If you have an interest and an open mind (I'd recommend reading more from other sources), here is the Amazon link for the book:
http://www.amazon.com/Cooperstown-Confidential-Heroes-Rogues-Baseball/dp/1596915455/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1261008611&sr=1-1