Major League Baseball announced the newest members of its Hall of Fame—Atlanta Braves pitchers, Greg Maddox and Tom Glavine, and Chicago White Sox slugger Frank Thomas—on Wednesday. And, with that announcement, came the revelation from popular website Deadspin that ESPN2’s Highly Questionable star Dan Le Batard had turned his HoF vote over to their followers.
The idea of a journalist giving his vote to the people is striking enough as it is, yet Deadspin used the term “buy,” as in they bought his vote. Granted, the whole of the story is that they will donate a sum of money to a charity in exchange for the vote, which in not inherently bad. However, with the internet being the endless void of inattentive trolls that it is, the backlash against Le Batard has been insane.
In the midst of all the insanity and hate-filled tweets being sent Le Batard’s way, Philadelphia 76ers center Spencer Hawes has come to his support.
Good for @LeBatardShow turning his vote over to the people. Better for the people voting Edgar in!
— Spencer Hawes (@spencerhawes00) January 8, 2014
Not that the vote of confidence from one professional basketball player will do much to curb the angry mob’s vigilant hatred. Some of the responses Le Batard has gotten have been filled with vitriol.
The selling of his HOF vote should get @LeBatardShow fired from all things ESPN and expunged from any legitimate journalistic operation — Steve Repsher (@SteveRep44) January 8, 2014
@Deadspin shocking. Le Batard isn’t a journalist. He’s a racism crying hack with a trash tv show. Disappointing — Patrick Moen-Lisk (@ThebestPML) January 8, 2014
Why the hell does @LeBatardShow even have a hall of fame vote?? — DetroitSportsNation (@detsportsnation) January 8, 2014
Shame on the santimonious attention seeker who turned his vote over to a website. #sad — Jon Heyman (@JonHeymanCBS) January 8, 2014
Of course, he would likely be remiss if he did not respond to the mobs’ accusations.
I didn’t “sell” anything. Only conditions were that I NOT get anything, and that the way this happened be explained. I didn’t seek this.
— Dan Le Batard Show (@LeBatardShow) January 8, 2014
Rather than disrespecting Le Batard for giving his vote away, we should consider the reason behind it.
I’m not sure what kind of trouble this is going to bring me. I imagine I’ll probably have my vote stripped. But I don’t want to be a part of the present climate without reform anyway. Given that climate, doing THIS has more impact than my next 20 years of votes as sanctimony bars the HOF door on the steroid guys. Because, in a climate without reform, my next 20 years of votes will be counted but not actually heard. At least this gets it heard, for better or for worse.
If the process is marred and broken, because it is all based on the biases and opinions of various writers and journalists—some, like Ken Gurnick, refusing to vote for anyone they deem to have played in the ‘steroids era’—perhaps it is time to consider change.
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