06/19 (Not Guilty) Quickie

I think what frustrates me (and others) about the Clemens verdict is that the trial seemed so unnecessary. Everyone has an opinion: He cheated or he didn't. Most people are pretty willing to stipulate that he cheated. So the real question is: Do you care? And when we ask "do you care?" we're really asking "Should he be in the Hall of Fame?"

That Clemens had a Hall of Fame career is beyond question. I think most people are willing to overlook the PEDs -- if nothing else, as a product of the era itself -- and recognize that one of the 5 best pitchers of all time should be in baseball's Hall of Fame.

But others are hell-bent on denying him that entry -- the trial and its verdict was never going to change that. I have a bigger problem with the strident baseball writers -- baseball Hall voters -- than I do with Clemens' PED use (his lying is another thing).

The Hall's looming crisis isn't the vote on players like Clemens and Bonds or the integrity of the Hall should those players (and others from the so-called Steroid Era) be admitted. Its looming crisis is that enough of its runaway electorate themselves threaten to hijack the integrity of the Hall. The Hall's biggest problem is what happens when those all-time greats don't get in.

BTW: R.A. Dickey. Amazing. Best story in baseball this season and a clear-cut pick to start for the N.L. in the All-Star Game.

-- D.S.