To Become Less Conservative as You Get Older

     This is how Marvin Miller-the great baseball union leader- described the great baseball writer, Red Smith in counter-distinction to a writer like Dick Young.

     http://www.amazon.com/Whole-Different-Ball-Game-Revolution-ebook/dp/B004BKJQE6/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1428851942&sr=1-3&keywords=marvin+miller  

     See page 57 about Smith and Young

     Here is some Red Smith

      http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00MSYTMWS/ref=s9_simh_gw_p351_d0_i3?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=desktop-1&pf_rd_r=06GW5F0DKBGN6TV5JS0T&pf_rd_t=36701&pf_rd_p=1970559082&pf_rd_i=desktop

      It seems to me that this is a very attractive quality for someone to have. It seems to me that most folks get more conservative as they get older. This is certainly true of many sportswriters like Mike Lupica. At least, he seems more conservative to me nowadays. Maybe it's because I'm becoming less conservative myself...

    Most who write about baseball are certainly very conservative. Overall, the football punditry is much preferable to the baseball punditry because most of the guys you see on tv for the NFL at least have experience with playing or coaching the sport. 

   The voting for the Hall of Fame in baseball is just a travesty. For these writers like Lupica, Bill Madden, et. al to have all this power in deciding by themselves who goes to the Hall is appalling. I think it desperately needs to be reformed: maybe a system where the votes of the writers is only one third of the vote, another third goes to former players, and another goes to fans like in the All-Star game. 

   Why should who makes it to Cooperstown be solely up to Bill Madden who thinks that Marvin Miller-who everyone admits has been as important to the game as Babe Ruth and Jackie Robinson-doesn't deserve to make it to the Hall because he questioned Bud Selig's steroids witch hunt?

   Of course, Selig who was just the errand boy for the owners-really the other owners as Selig himself was an owner-will be a shoo in for people like Madden, which just goes to show how perverse their scale of moral values are.  

   I can think of a few baseball writers today who don't become more conservative as they get older: Bill James-I will admit it even if he uses his great knowledge in Baseball Abstract for evil; ie, to help his Boston Red Sox. He has that great phrase where he talks about this strange desire to 'spit on Mark McGwire's shoes to protect Roger Maris' honor.'

   http://www.amazon.com/Bill-James-Handbook-2015-ebook/dp/B00R5QQCF4/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1428852828&sr=1-1&keywords=bill+james  

   Another is Jayson Stark

   http://www.amazon.com/Wild-Pitches-Rumblings-Grumblings-Reflections-ebook/dp/B00J75EYZG/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1428852731&sr=1-1&keywords=jayson+stark

   One thing I notice about the baseball writers who vote on the Hall is that they're mostly old white men, and most old white, men who watch baseball are very conservative-a la George Will. 

    This might explain why they tend to be so allergic to seeing records broken-old guys hate when they see young bucks breaking their records of the old greats. 

    It's easy to forget that the writers at the time spit on Roger Maris' shoes when he broke Ruth's record. For 30 years there was asterisk next to his home runs-whereas there is no asterisk next to any of the players that are knocked for steroid use. 

   Records may be meant to be broken but this is not how the old guys feel and this is part of why there has been so much piling on about steroids: in a way it's a godsend; now we are told that the old timers records all get to be kept totally intact. 

   If there were no steroid scandal they would have had to invent one. 

   P.S. It isn't just baseball writers who get more conservative. We've seen this has been true for many who write about politics and economics as well.