Quote of the day: Baseball’s problematic moralism

I think this comment, from today’s edition of The New York Times, fairly sums up the problems with penalizing an entire era of hitters (and one pitcher) because of steroids. It is time to reconsider Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and others — and to stop penalizing via guilt-by-association guys like Mike Piazza and Jeff Bagwell — and vote them into the Hall of Fame.

“The Bonds story may be the most complicated moral question of our sporting times,” said Stephen Mosher, a professor of sports management and media at Ithaca College. “It’s about an institution that wants to punish these guys but was also an institution that more or less encouraged them by turning a blind eye to what they were doing to keep the cash registers ringing.”

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Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie. View all posts by hankkalet