BlackDoor Ventures, Inc.

Baseball’s latest Hall of Fame ballot, a referendum dreaded for several years, was released this week. Now all of the hypothetical debates on enshrining steroid users will play out for real, argued by roughly 600 members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. And those fine folks receive a lone instruction for making their determination:

“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.”

That doesn’t help much.

Is each category weighted the same? Are they listed in order of importance? Do overwhelming “yeas” in a few areas override “nays” in some others? Voters are on their own, answering those questions as they see fit.

I don’t have a vote, but I wouldn’t have the slightest hesitancy in selecting Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens at the very least. Their record, ability and contributions are exceedingly and abundantly above the threshold for inclusion, notwithstanding nebulous concerns about integrity, sportsmanship and character.