Cuban to Buy Cubs...Someday...Maybe

This is how rumors get started. A website called radaronline.com published an article indicating that billionaire famous guy Mark Cuban is on the verge of making a $625 million offer for the Cubs. Radaronline.com credited the scoop to “a source familiar with the matter.” Then it must be true.

Deadspin.com picked up on the story and published it on their website. The Deadspin.com story was picked up by BaseballThinkFactory.com. Then, as if on queue, we all got excited. What are we, lemmings?

Eventually the truth came out. Cuban has indicated in the past that in the right circumstances, he would be interested in purchasing the Cubs. However, the Chicago Tribune contacted Cuban via email and he denied that an offer was in the works. “Not true,” Cuban said. “I have no idea where they got their info.”

I’m all for Cuban purchasing the Cubs. I’m also in favor of accurate reporting and professional journalism. Unfortunately, we missed out on both in this case.

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The Veterans Committee blew it again. Once again they failed to elect anyone into the Hall of Fame, including Ron Santo. As a consolation prize, Santo received the most votes of anyone under consideration, but he still came up four votes shy of the 67 votes needed.

I’ve written in the past about why Santo should be enshrined, so I won’t go over all of the arguments again. However, there is one salient point that stands out above the rest: Santo’s offensive statistics were better than the majority of the third basemen that are currently in the HOF. They are also better than the majority of all of the position players in the Hall. Defensively, Santo is one of the top third basemen to ever play the game. Bottom line: Ron Santo belongs in the Hall of Fame.

There is another issue that needs to be dealt with. The new, revamped Veterans Committee has been in existence for six years. The way the process is set up, the Veterans Committee considers players, managers, and others that were considered by the Baseball Writers of America (BBWWA), but were not elected to the Hall. The Veterans Committee votes every other year.

So in six years – or three elections – the Veterans Committee has elected a total of… wait for it…zero players. That’s right, none, zero, zip, zilch. According to the Veterans Committee, no one that is not currently in the Hall deserves to be in the Hall. Baldersdash (and I don’t say that lightly).

The Veterans Committee voting process needs to be revisited. The percentage needed to get into the Hall (currently set at 75%) needs to be lowered or committee members need to be required to vote for a minimum number of candidates. Right now, too many committee members are submitting blank ballots.

If the Veterans Committee has its way, they will never elect anyone. And that's not good for the HOF, which is in the business of enshrining former ball players. The six year Veterans Committee experiement has been a failure. They need to try something else.