Tyler Kepner, writing in The Athletic :

Carlos Beltrán and Andruw Jones, graceful center fielders and slugging stalwarts of the 2000s, were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame on Tuesday in voting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. The pair will join Jeff Kent, a second baseman elected by an era committee last month, at the July 26 ceremony in Cooperstown, N.Y.

I hate all three selections, and not (just) because of their career numbers.

Beltrán was a solid slugger, with 435 home runs and a .279 batting average, and a consistent base swiper (312 stolen bases). He had a cup of coffee with the San Francisco Giants in 2011, collecting his 300th home run on a Splash Hit into McCovey Cove, after six years with the New York Mets. He was also the putative ringleader of the Astros’ “bang-the-can” sign stealing scandal during their World Series championship season, leading to massive fines and firings, including Beltrán’s eventual dismissal as Mets manager.

Jones was also a strong hitter (434 home runs, .254 batting average), and an outstanding center fielder (10 Gold Gloves). He played primarily for the Atlanta Braves, so as a Mets fan I have a natural distaste for him. He was arrested on accusations of battery against his wife.

Kent was a stellar second baseman throughout his career, but most especially with the Giants. He hit 377 home runs (more than any other second baseman in MLB history), with a career batting average of .290 and 1,518 RBI. (He was also with the Mets during a terrible stretch, even by Mets’ standards, and still managed to put up very strong numbers.) He was a good player throughout his career, but it was with the Giants where he achieved greatness. He’s also a massive jerk who, among other things, supported a ban on same-sex marriage in California.

The Baseball Hall of Fame has a “character clause” that voters are supposed to use when deciding who gets in and who doesn’t:

Voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character and contribution to the team(s) on which the player played.

This clause is discretionary, subjective, and inconsistently applied.

Here we have three soon-to-be Hall of Famers, each with arguably HoF-worthy careers, each with a significant failing of integrity, sportsmanship, or character. These players’ numbers are sufficient to be elected to baseball’s highest honor despite their failings.

And yet Barry Bonds—seven-time MVP and baseball’s home runs and walks leader who, by any objective measure, outshines all three—will never make it to the Hall of Fame because of accusations of performance-enhancing drug use.

For the record: Bonds was a career .298 hitter, with 1,996 RBI, 2,558 walks, and 514 stolen bases. Oh, and 14 All-Star appearances, 12 Silver Sluggers, 8 Gold Gloves, and holds the MLB home run records for a single season (73) and all-time (762). He was a generational player.

Kent’s inclusion is especially galling as a Giants fan, because he benefited immensely from having Bonds in the lineup. Kent—who was booed when his name was announced in December, on the same ballot as Bonds—has a career slash line (.289/.358/.489/.847) that’s well below that of his Giants era (.297/.368/.535/.903). If you remove those prodigious Giants years, his numbers drop even further: .284/.350/.445/.795. Would Kent even be sniffing at the Hall of Fame without Bonds? I doubt it.

I’m not excusing the allegations against Bonds. As I wrote of Pete Rose after he was posthumously removed from the Hall of Fame’s “permanently ineligible list”:

I’ve long held that the Baseball Hall of Fame should be stats-based. If you top the leaderboards, you should be eligible. […] it makes no sense to visit Cooperstown and not see the game’s most prolific hitter on display.

The same is true about Bonds. If you can ignore “integrity, sportsmanship, and character” for these three players, with their numbers and their failings, but not for Bonds, it isn’t about numbers nor failings. It’s punitive. And personal.