Not Everyone Is Cool With TLR Going Into The Hall of Fame

Y’all getting turnt up for the baseball Hall of Fame ceremony this weekend?

After all Cardinals non-affiliated baseball great Tony LaRussa is taking his place in Cooperstown and the national media is welcoming his induction with open arms.

Right Bryant Gumble?

“Finally tonight, a few words about fame and shame — and how they’re both being blurred in Cooperstown,’’ Gumbel says. “Cooperstown, is of course the New York home of baseball’s Hall of Fame and where this year’s inductees on this coming weekend will include Tony La Russa.

“La Russa is being honored for guiding teams he managed to 2,728 wins — a total that ranks third in baseball history. But here’s the rub — about 43 percent of all of those wins were recorded when La Russa was managing Mark McGwire and winning because of his prodigious power. That’s the same Mark McGwire who has been denied inclusion in the Hall because voters believe that prodigious power owed a great deal to steroids.

“By what logic can the guardians of the Hall vilify McGwire for his pharmaceutically assisted feats — yet glorify La Russa, who benefitted most from those same feats — and who, by the way, conveniently played dumb while his slugger morphed into the Incredible Hulk?

“Look, I’ve nothing against Tony La Russa — nor have I great admiration for Mark McGwire — but it’s hard to understand how the Hall can shame one and fame the other when their achievements are so interdependent. I mean, if La Russa truly deserves induction to the Hall, how do you not make room for the guy who got him there?”

Thanks to Dan Caesar for transcribing that whole bit in the P-D this AM.

OK, so not everyone is pumped up… err… excited about Sunday’s ceremony. But that’s not going to stop CBS This Morning from making us all feel like cynical a-holes:

 Daw.

Photo: LA Times