Ken Gurnick and Murray Chass Speak on Their Hall of Fame Votes

With the negative chatter regarding their Hall of Fame votes, a pair of voters attempt to explain why.

So the Baseball Hall of Fame made their announcement on who will be enshrined as members of the class of 2014.

[RELATED: Maddux, Glavine and Thomas Elected to Baseball Hall of Fame]

Much was made regarding at least two of the votes. Those belonged to MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick and one-time Yankees beat writer, now website writer (or as many would note, blogger) Murray Chass. The pair took to MLB Network Radio to explain their 2014 ballot.

In due time, we’ll hear the audio.

Well, Gurnick’s ballot, as most of you know by now, was…

"KEN GURNICK, Dodgers beat reporterMorrisMorris has flaws — a 3.90 ERA, for example. But he gets my vote for more than a decade of ace performance that included three 20-win seasons, Cy Young Award votes in seven seasons and Most Valuable Player Award votes in five. As for those who played during the period of PED use, I won’t vote for any of them."

When I initially saw his ballot and his thought process for such on MLB.com, I was, well, “curious”.

Initially his ballot created firestorm on Twitter. Where else, right? Not to mention there was a tirade or two from fans. And the ensuing insults which is practically customary on social media. And such is mentioned in this video clip from MLBN Radio.
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Look, it’s not logical, to most of us, as Gurnick explained and noted. He has his timeline concerning the steroid era, we each have our own. And when I first heard him reiterate what he penned for the MLB.com piece, my first thought was “how is he (Gurnick) ever going to vote again”?

Later Gurnick answered the question by saying he will most likely never cast another ballot. And that does make sense. Not only because players that played during his timing of the steroid era, but, as alluded to in the clip, we’re still in it. Now, PEDs may not – stressing may not – be as prevalent as they were a decade or two ago, but it’s obvious there’s still some form of use by the players. Our collective eyes were opened to this ongoing issue with PEDs thanks largely to the Biogenesis scandal.

As for Chass, I feel so much has been written and noted regarding him on numerous occasions. For years, he voted only for Jack Morris. This year, he added a name or two to his ballot. Still, there was something amiss. More on that after this audio clip.
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Got to the point where I was barely able to comprehend the direction…

Biggio with current Astros second baseman

(Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports)

While not everyone is on board with Craig Biggio being a Hall of Fame player (read within the comments section of an article stating Biggio was an “aggregator”.), Chass noted he will not vote for Biggio because Chass believes Biggio did PEDs as well. He has no proof, but only info from what he thought was legit from a dependable source.

However, when Chass was pressed on the matter and asked if his source actually observed Biggio in the process of taking PEDs, well, he stated his source “felt” Biggio did, then abruptly turned the discussion toward Mike Piazza and his back acne.

For the love of…

Wait. You’re telling me that Biggio missed by two votes?

Well now…