Cooperstown Confidential: Heroes, Rogues, and the Inside Story of the Baseball Hall of Fame

Zev Chafets has written a witty and flowing history of the Baseball Hall of Fame, bringing to the surface the election process and inconsistencies that I had never read about anywhere else. The book alternates between being anecdotal as he discusses the HOF with Goose Gossage or Steve Garvey to analytical when he discusses the politics that have enshrined some very marginal players and ignored some worthy stars. Chafets biggest concern with the Hall seems to be the morality clause inserted into the language that is so nebulous that Ty Cobb can be a member, but Pete Rose cannot. This especially irks Chafets when good evidence suggests Cobb actually threw a ballgame for money, something no one accused Rose of doing. I didn't start disagreeing with Chafets until the second half of the book when he endorsed Marvin Miller for the Hall of Fame, and more importantly, used moral relativism to equate steroid use to alcohol addiction or pep pills. If I were a pro ballplayer I might not mind that Marvin Miller held baseball hostage through several seasons. As a fan it led to higher ticket prices, frenzied player movement, players who no longer identified with fans, strikes, lost seasons, and performance enhancing drugs to chase the bigger money. Miller's influence can be connected with most of what I don't like about today's game. I think Chafets make a good point that it's hard to identify every dirty player in the steroids era, but he goes a little too far when he says the HOF shouldn't penalize the known cheaters. I say let the cheaters sleep on their beds of money and wonder if selling themselves was worth the price of exclusion. Unless they learn a way to drive two sports cars at once they may realize that the extra money wasn't worth the banishment. It will give the next generation of players something to consider as well. Despite my disagreements, I still appreciated Chafets's take on the subject and would recommend it to fans as a good place to start the HOF discussion.

Baseball is big business; let's face it. Like any other slice of corporate America, the baseball hierarchy has its share of political schemes, especially in that hallowed sanctuary known as the Hall of Fame, in Cooperstown, New York. Certainly, most of the players who have been inducted into the HOF are among the greatest to ever play the game, while others have been mysteriously denied membership for various nefarious reasons. As Zev Chafets chronicles in this interesting book, the power brokers in Cooperstown rule the shrine with an iron fist, and quite often "fairness" is dialed out of the equation. The selection process has become highly political and difficult to comprehend. Pettiness seems to have replaced honesty and integrity; it's almost like working for a big corporation. I suppose the baseball hierarchy is much like the rest of corporate America; to play the game, you've got to know the rules; and the rules quite often don't apply; or they change. Whether or not things are as treacherous as Chafets suggests is open for conjecture. Clearly, there is strong evidence that things aren't as forthright as they seem in Cooperstown. It's an interesting perspective; perhaps it's half "sour grapes" and half reality. No matter how you slice it, the story makes for a compelling piece of baseball folklore; and it's surely worth reading.

If you love baseball you'll love this book. Lots of info and lots of fun. Many facts that I didn't know about players and teams

I see this book not so much as "a swing" at the Hall of Fame but as a refreshing call for a healthy dose of realism. I'm a fan of the days when players could be characters. Why should off-the-field antics reflect on a player's performance? This book makes a great case in support of fans who think the Hall should be institution celebrating sports achievement, not a whitewashed monument to artificial standards of behavior. And while I disagree that steroids should be legal (because that would mean all players HAVE to dope up to compete) it's important to acknowledge that doping of one kind or another has always been an issue. Why should the past suffer from taking away a revisionist soft-focus and seeing it as it was? In many ways it's richer for its complexity, and trying to sanitize it is a worse kind of cheat. This book is entertaining and provocative and funny -- full of colorful stories about often complicated people and issues -- a nice break from the violin-soundtracked Hallmark cards we see on TV and everywhere else.

Rule Five in the charter determining who gets elected to the baseball Hall of Fame states, "Voting shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played." Zev Chafets, a former sports columnist for the NEW YORK DAILY NEWS, would like to see Rule Five eliminated, making room for such players as Peter Rose, Barry Bonds, and Shoeless Joe Jackson. Chafets bases his argument on some of the characters already in the Hall who don't meet Rule Five standards. Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker conspired to fix a game and Judge Landis helped with the cover-up. Speaker was also a member of the Ku Klux Klan. Grover Cleveland Alexander pitched while drunk and there are several cocaine addicts in the Hall. Sports writer Red Smith recommended they blow the Hall up and start over again. Perhaps the most entertaining part of the book is the first section, where Chafets is less belligerent. He shows how the Hall of Fame came to be. Cooperstown was supposed to be the place where Abner Doubleday originated the game. This proved to be a flight of the imagination of Al Spaulding one of the first great players in the National League and an owner of the Cubs. Cooperstown was also founded by James Fenimore Cooper's father and was home to the Clark family whose forefather was a lawyer for Isaac Singer, the inventor of the sewing machine. The Clarks still own most of Cooperstown and run the HOF. While he's not ranting about steroids, Chafets talks to some of the members of the veterans of the women's baseball league who are sitting in the lobby signing autographs for five bucks a pop. When Chafets asks about their signatures and the HOF designation, they get all huffy, but women haven't been admitted as of yet. He also gives us a look at the memorabilia industry. Goose Gossage was just elected as Chafets was writing the book and his autograph was suddenly worth triple what it was and his speaking fees went way up as well. To emphasize the Hall`s hypocrisy, Chafets shows us the fake ball that Doubleday used in that first game. Perhaps Chafets's strongest argument regarding steroids use is that other professions use performance enhancing drugs. Scientists use "smart" pills; surgeons and pilots use pills to improve their alertness. Even the great Hank Aaron has admitted to popping a "greenie" to help him break out of a slump.