01-28-2021, 05:00 PM
What if a player who clearly had a Hall of Fame career was found out to be a serial killer who sexually molested numerous children before killing them?
I get that it is really messy to take into account the life of a player outside of their purely baseball (football, etc) exploits, but the truth is that if a player's actions are reprehensible enough, people in general are going to be too disgusted to let them in (or stay in) the Hall of Fame for their sport. I don't think it is realistic to just make it a blanket principle that what a player does outside their sport should not have any bearing on whether or not they are in their sport's Hall of Fame. Assessing whether or not a player's life outside their sport should exclude them from a Hall of Fame is rife with many problems that people rightfully call out - where to draw the lines is bound to seem arbitrary to many - but I think it's unavoidable.
I get that it is really messy to take into account the life of a player outside of their purely baseball (football, etc) exploits, but the truth is that if a player's actions are reprehensible enough, people in general are going to be too disgusted to let them in (or stay in) the Hall of Fame for their sport. I don't think it is realistic to just make it a blanket principle that what a player does outside their sport should not have any bearing on whether or not they are in their sport's Hall of Fame. Assessing whether or not a player's life outside their sport should exclude them from a Hall of Fame is rife with many problems that people rightfully call out - where to draw the lines is bound to seem arbitrary to many - but I think it's unavoidable.