Baseball Hall of Fame and Forgiveness in Sports
How will fans react next summer in Cooperstown if Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, and Carlos Beltrán receive Hall of Fame plaques?
Concerns Beyond Baseball
There are questions about whether the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame will take action if Hall of Famer Chauncey Billups faces prison for his alleged involvement in gambling and money laundering.
Precedents in Sports Halls of Fame
- O.J. Simpson was never removed from the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
- The late Alan Eagleson remains the only person expelled from the four major sports Halls of Fame.
- Bobby Orr’s corrupt agent resigned from the Hockey Hall in 1998, just before the Hall’s board was set to expel him.
Baseball’s Current Climate of Forgiveness
Baseball today appears focused on forgiveness, as evidenced by the situation at Fenway Park. Alex Cora, one of the greatest managers in Red Sox history, is largely forgiven for his involvement in the 2017 Astros’ cheating scandal.
MLB suspended Cora, then a bench coach with the Astros, and Houston manager A.J. Hinch for a year, yet both are now back leading playoff teams with little public controversy.
Such examples highlight how some sports institutions are adopting a more lenient approach to past controversies.
Author’s Summary: Modern sports halls of fame and organizations increasingly show a tendency to forgive past misconduct, raising questions about how legacies are preserved and judged.