OK, the Hall of Fame

OK, here's the thing ...

Everyone is stunned that I don't watch MLB's Hall of Fame ceremonies. This won't take long to explain. It's pretty simple, really.

I plan to take my family there one day. I can hear the questions now. "Daddy? Who has the most home runs all time?" Barry Bonds. "Let's go see his plaque." He doesn't have one. "Why?" He took steroids. "Well, who had the most hits of all time?" Pete Rose. "Can we see his plaque?" He doesn't have one, either, because he bet on baseball while he was a player and a manager.

Look, the Hall of Fame is a museum, and whether these guys belong in the hall can be debated all day, but they need to be represented in the museum. Not putting Bonds and Rose in the Hall of Fame is somewhat like denying that they even played. The bottom line is, Bonds was a hall of famer before he started juicing. He was an idiot, he cheated the game, but he's a hall of famer. When you create his plaque, say he took steroids, and that explains how a guy who never hit more than 47 homers somehow hit 73 in 2001, but put the guy in the museum, already. Same with Rose. Engrave the words "banned for life for gambling" on his plaque, but Rose is a hall of famer.

It's not the Hall of Clean, the Hall of Good, or the Hall of Values. We should put the best players on display, and tell their stories. Cobb was a racist dick. Ruth a fat drunk. All of these characters make up the fabric of this wonderful game.

And Bert Blyleven ? In my opinion, he's a hall of famer, but goddamn, if you've missed the cut 14 times, and finally make it, have you really made it ? What if they revoted the guys that made it every year, and if they miss one year, they take them out of the hall ?

The Hall of Fame voting should happen once. You're either a hall of famer, or you're not.

So, that's why I don't watch.

Brewers Fever

I love the K-Rod trade. If adults can put their egos aside for 3 and a half months, we can make a run at a world championship. Everyone's saying, "but we don't need another closer". Enough with the labels, we traded for a great relief pitcher, regardless of what inning he's throwing in. He'll get his chance to close games, which will be great, especially if Axford goes 2 or 3 days in a row. You want quality arms coming out of that pen. This is a much better option than Kameron Loe or Latroy Hawkins. You have to love a franchise that goes out and gets a player that can have an immediate impact.

Now, on to the J.J. Hardy rumors. Do it. Do it now. It the Orioles don't extend him, again, this improves the team. They traded Hardy because they were high on Escobar, but they traded Escobar after one year, so that is the best evidence that they regret the deal. If you have a chance to get him back, even for the rest of this season, do it now.

The Brewers are the talk of baseball, just like they were in 2008. Prince Fielder hits the first Brewers homer in All Star history, takes MVP honors, we trade for K-Rod, and we get Braun back tomorrow night, with the 22 game hitting streak in tact.

The next 11 games are key. All on the road, all against decent teams. If we want to show the baseball world that we are contenders, we have to take 6 of 11 on this trip. Take 3 of 4 in Colorado, split the 4 games with Arizona, and steal 1 in San Francisco. That would be an acceptable trip, for the team that has the worst road record in baseball.

I'm excited for the second half of the season.

My love of Gracie and baseball

You can mark 2011 down officially as the year my daughter, Gracie, became a Brewers fan. She is very attentive during the game, sings during home runs, has a handful of favorites (Randy Wolf, Tony Plush, Prince Fielder), and cheered when Braun, Weeks and Fielder were introduced at the All Star Game tonight.

With the Francisco Rodriguez acquisition for the Brewers tonight, it may be realize that the Brewers are making a run at a World Series this year, but it also made me realize that Gracie will most likely have to say goodbye to one of her favorites in the same calendar year that she became a fan. I remember how heartbroken I was when Gorman Thomas was traded to Cleveland in 1983, and I am now starting to prepare to have the Prince Fielder conversation with her this winter.

In an honest moment tonight, Gracie mistook Jose Reyes for Rickie Weeks, and looked genuinely sad to see what she thought was Rickie Weeks wearing anything but a Brewers jersey. She exclaimed, "Daddy, Rickie Weeks is a Met?"

Her favorite Brewer is Randy Wolf. We will be getting his bobblehead on September 25th, and I will buy her his t-shirt on the way to our seats. I'm sure this will be a huge thrill for her. It will be hard to tell her that Randy Wolf is no longer a Brewer, if and when he ever leaves for the next town on his journey, but I guess that's baseball. It may be hard, but in a way, it will be a bonding moment for father and daughter.

Just a few things I'm thinking about tonight. I love that Gracie has embraced baseball, like her father. What a thrill ....