Big day for Rob Manfred. He has a choice of either (a) chucking aside all rules and traditions and completely debasing baseball history in the process; or (b) he has to tell Donald Trump "no." Given how Manfred rolls I honestly have no idea which one he'll choose to do.
Already changed the rules once just to keep Clemens and Bonds out. Otherwise, they'd be on the ballot for a 14th time this year, assuming they hadn't already gotten in.
Trump telling Manfred to jump is highly likely to result on Manfred saying "how high, sir?"
Has anyone checked to see if ARod is on Trump’s card?
To be safe, Manfred will declare only white Christian nationalists will be eligible. Plenty of current players will get in
Maybe things have recently changed, but my understanding is that the HOF is a completely independent entity from MLB, so Manfred doesn't have any sway over it.
He is on the board and Major League Baseball has tremendous influence on the Hall of Fame, even if it's informal.
Clemens' assistant has started writing his acceptance speech
Oh see, I know he's going to roll over like border collie. Manfred is one Skeet away from pressuring the Hall on removing DEI players, starting with Jackie Robinson. Maybe putting someone in charge of baseball who actually doesn't like baseball is actually a terrible idea.
Eh. Stupid typos.
Roger Clemens entering Cooperstown
It’s not b
Manfred has no authority here, and I doubt Jane Forbes Clark is going to take orders from Trump.
Manfred changed the rules for Pete Rose specifically because Trump wanted him to. He was never going to change eligibility rules for Rose otherwise.
But Clemens is already eligible for the Hall, whereas Rose was banned. Manfred can’t guarantee either will be elected.
No, and as Trump's post says today, Trump is mad that he won't do more for Rose, despite the fact that making him eligible was a HUGE deal that wouldn't have otherwise happened. Which goes back to my initial point: Manfred has to tell Trump no. Which he never has done before.
i think if he can create a special induction ceremony just for these creeps and sell the naming rights to Doosan and maybe get another jersey or hat patch slapped on there i think he does it
He will just announce they’re putting him on the players ballot or whatever much earlier than he normally would be
he's gonna end up with his own special ceremony during the 7th inning of game 1 of the world series. it'll be replacing the stand up to cancer bit
I think the ballot is about to go back to being completely secret as the voters won't elect Clemens and won't want Trump to target them if their ballots are made public.
Ballots are secret, but Clemens is no longer eligible on the BBWAA ballot. He was considered by the Veterans “Eras” Committee and still didn’t get enough votes.
He'll be eligible for consideration again in December.
He will, but he got 4 votes in 2022 and he needs at least 12 for election. That’s a big hill to climb.
If I know anything about baseball writers, they don't like being told what to do
Most voters for the Eras Committee are not writers. They're current Hall of Famers and retired players.
If MAGA players don't get in under a secret ballot...doesn't Donnie just target all of the voters? 🤔
Yet another distraction, eh?
He’ll cave within days
You know exactly which way he’ll choose…
