One of the major concerns for writers who were considering selling or giving their Hall of Fame ballot to Deadspin was the potential loss of their job. Dan Le Batard gave his vote to Deadspin without knowing what kind of backlash he might receive from his employers. It sounds like ESPN disagrees with his actions, but it doesn’t look like they’re going to discipline him.
Shortly after it was revealed that Le Batard gave his vote away to Deadpin, ESPN commented on his actions.
“We respect and appreciate Dan’s opinions and passion about Hall of Fame voting. He received his vote while at the Miami Herald. We wouldn’t have advocated his voting approach, which we were just made aware of today,” ESPN said in a statement to Sports Business Journal’s John Ourand.
That seems like a pretty soft stance by them, which I think is fair. Le Batard will almost assuredly lose his Baseball Writers Association vote because of what he did, but I don’t see why ESPN would have a reason to discipline him.
Le Batard was looking to make a statement and he is advocating change to the process. I agree with his feelings on the change that is needed. Mainly, I want the Hall of Fame to get rid of its outdated morals clause and to create a
“Steroids Wing” so that all players from the Steroids Era will be judged solely by what they did on the field. It’s wrong to put writers in the position of picking and choosing who they think did steroids and who didn’t; players should all be evaluated equally.
