Tuesday, January 07, 2014

MLB.com Dodgers Beat Writer Screws Greg Maddux

Wow, I knew Ken Gurnick, beat writer for the Dodgers over on MLB.com was a feisty guy. But screwing Greg Maddux because the non-power pitcher happened to pitch in the steroid era? That's some cold dish being served:

NEW YORK -- Greg Maddux won't be a unanimous selection for the Hall of Fame.

Ken Gurnick of MLB.com, a former reporter for the Los Angeles Herald Examiner, says the only player he voted for was pitcher Jack Morris. Morris is on the Baseball Writers' Association of America ballot for the 15th and final time after falling 42 votes shy last year.

Gurnick said Tuesday that he excluded "everybody from the steroid era."

"I just don't know who did and who didn't," Gurnick said, adding: "Some people quibble over when the era starts, but the bulk of [Morris'] career was in my opinion well before all of the widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs."

As you can imagine, the internets are not happy. "Criminally lazy", said one pundit over at NBC.com.

The Los Angeles Herald Examiner closed its doors in 1989. I wonder if steroids can also be attributed to Gurnick's prolific publishing in the post-Examiner era? Gurnick certainly tweets a lot more now than he did in the 1980s. Maybe Gurnick is juicing, too?

(Look, there's never been a unanimous inductee to the Baseball HOF. It's unfortunate for Maddux, but you know--there's always someone, right?)

UPDATE 1/8: Looks like Gurnick wasn't the only one; 15 others agreed with him that Maddux wasn't HOF-worthy on his first ballot.

6 comments:

Fred's Brim said...

and it looks like we'll have Donnie to kick around for a few more years

Dusty Baker said...

I always respect Gurnick, including in this space, but this is ill-thought-out tripe.

Fred's Brim said...

Agreed, DB. Morris won 92 games after 1987 and 21 games in 1992 (at the age of 37) as the goons in Oakland started their gooning. I don't think he did any steroids and I don't think this is the same steroid era as the Bonds steroid era but it's not nothing. To say he was the only one that was 100% exempt is silly

karen said...

If anyone should go in on the first vote it should be The Professor. That guy was beyond awesome. Always someone I admired even when he was with the hated braves.

You sucked on this one Gurnick.

rbnlaw said...

I bag full of "meh" on this. I've always felt leaving the HOF to baseball writers was like letting the busboy decide what should be on the menu.

Mike Friedman said...

Ken has as much integrity as anyone I know and loves baseball more than anything. AND HE HAS BETTER SOURCES THAN ANYONE. I give his opinion great credence.