Baseball Writers

The incarceration of Pete Rose brought baseball moralists out of the woodwork by the thousands and kicked off a lively debate.The question at the time was this:Should a convicted felon be allowed entrance into the Hall of Fame?It was a legitimate question with legitimate arguments on both sides, but the answer didn't figure to arrive until Rose's name was placed on the ballot in 1992 and the approximately 450 voting members of the Baseball Writers Association of America had their say.Now, there is speculation that an answer will come much sooner than that, when a committee of nine meets in December or January to review the Hall of Fame selection process.

Every baseball fan knew this day would come, and yet yesterday's announcement that Cal Ripken Jr. has been chosen for induction into the National Baseball Hall of Fame packed an emotional wallop, particularly for this city. The two-time Most Valuable Player deserved the overwhelming first-ballot acceptance he received; his streak of 2,632 consecutive games played will likely never be broken, and his solid career numbers, 431 homers and 3,184 hits, could justify his entry alone, especially when compared with other shortstops.

Had it not been for the presence of Calvin Edwin Ripken Jr., in all likelihood the Baltimore Orioles would have fallen out of the American League and you would have needed a telescope to find them spinning, as a spent meteor, somewhere over the bauxite fields of Arkansas. Yes, one man was that important.It's implausible to believe the Baseball Writers Association won't pick him as the Most Valuable Player in the American League, which is a more coveted award than what happened yesterday when the Associated Press announced Ripken was selected as its Player of the Year for all of baseball.

Longtime Orioles first baseman Eddie Murray is expected to take his place among baseball's immortals today when the Baseball Writers' Association of America announces the results of this year's Hall of Fame election. Murray, who played 12 1/2 of his 21 seasons in Baltimore and helped lead the Orioles to their last World Series title in 1983, must be named on 75 percent of the ballots cast by tenured BBWAA voters to earn induction in his first year of eligibility. That should be no problem for a player who amassed 504 home runs and 3,255 hits and played more games at first base than anyone else in major-league history.

On the day that Alex Rodriguez was named the American League's Most Valuable Player, it was difficult to determine what means more to the All-Star shortstop: vindication by the baseball writers, or his liberation from the woeful Texas Rangers. Rodriguez kept trying to steer reporters back to the MVP award during yesterday's conference call, but his deteriorating situation in Texas has become far more compelling now that he is helping to orchestrate his exit from the Rangers. Rodriguez, who has a full no-trade clause built into his $252 million contract, admitted yesterday that he has spoken with team officials about working on a deal that would deliver him to a club of his choosing.

Fantasy baseball players, I give you a simple task: Ignore most of what you see and hear from baseball writers over the next six weeks. OK, so I'm overstating to get at a more general point. Come November, passionate baseball fans begin counting the days to that glorious February morning when pitchers and catchers report. By the time we reach that day, which arrives later this week, we're incredibly thirsty for new baseball content. Baseball writers are equally eager to shovel new material our way. So every little happening in spring training is magnified.

Hours at a time, baseball writers stand in clubhouses with notebooks and tape recorders waiting for players to offer pearls of wisdom. Most times, we get nothing. Cliches. Brief answers. Nasty stares if the questions are particularly stupid or the one being interviewed is particularly surly. Occasionally, though, ballplayers and managers fill it up with introspective stuff, funny stuff, bizarre stuff. The reigning king, of course, is Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, who already has a book of quotes published.

Cleveland Indians slugger Albert Belle said last week that he is the victim of a smear campaign by the media.How did the man figure it out? Belle must have friends in the Central Intelligence Agency, sleuths who sniffed out the nationwide conspiracy. Or maybe there's a leak in the Baseball Writers' Association of America, and if there is, we'll find the cad and thrash him or her with our press passes.Belle must know the whole story by now. He must know about members of the baseball media secretly gathering at a remote Montana cabin in 1989, the year Belle broke into the majors.

The middle of the 1990 season was the nadir of Cal Ripken's career. He was hitting .209 in mid-June, and, for a time, he thought he was through."To let you know how frustrated I was," Ripken said at the time, "I let the thought come into my mind that I might not be able to play that long -- that my days as as player, my years as a player might be numbered."Retirement would have ended his consecutive games streak and ruined his chances of getting into the Hall of Fame.Ripken's 1991 season -- his 10th in the major leagues -- resurrected his confidence, his career and his Hall of Fame credentials.

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Albert Belle was the most dominant hitter of the 1990s and one of the most controversial figures in baseball history. Of that, there is no dispute. He hit 381 career home runs and is the only player ever to have 50 home runs and 50 doubles in the same season. He also is one of only four players in baseball history to amass at least 30 home runs and 100 RBIs in eight consecutive seasons. Of that, there is statistical proof. So, what is going to happen in five years when the voting members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America consider Belle's candidacy for the Hall of Fame?