Tony La Russa’s unanimous election to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown last week has really gotten under my skin. There are the little things like being McGwire and Canseco’s manager through the birth of the Steroid Era. His DWI sticks in my craw as well.  Throw in the fact that he was McGwire’s manager through the heydays of the steroid era, and I guess I have questions about the unanimous nature of his election.

Maybe the Hall of Fame members on the Expansion Era Veterans Committee doesn’t have to look at CHARACTER OF THE PERSON like the Baseball Writers Association has to consider?

Hall of Fame Members like Bert Blyleven, Eddie Murray, and Jim Rice (Blyleven on the committee) (and all three are some of my all time favorite players) probably all have some serious love for a guy like La Russa who is renowned for being a “difficult” interview, and a “difficult” person.

I’m not comparing him to the disgusting Ty Cobb or awful Cap Anson, but to not have a single person stand up against him says to me that character must no longer count.

If that’s the case I expect the Expansion Era Committee to start letting in Rafael Palmeiro, McGwire, Canseco, and, in coming years as eligibility allows, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and handfuls of other players who’ve been associated with steroids when the BBW Association continues to refuse them (as I’m glad they have!).