JG Spink Award winner Murray Chass, who I actually have long respected, has gone off the deep-end.  In a blog post- and yes it is a blog post, no matter how well written- Chass writes the following:

“Clearly deserve” in whose judgment? His, of course. Does that make him right and me wrong? Of course not. Am I right? Yes. Why? Because my opinion counts and his doesn’t. My ballot was one of the 539 counted in the election. He did not have a vote. Therefore, his opinion is worthless as far as the election is concerned.

That’s the real problem self-proclaimed experts have. They want to be the ones voting, but they don’t have that privilege. It’s their own fault. They chose the wrong profession. Accountants, lawyers, doctors, teachers and salesmen don’t get to vote for the Hall of Fame. Baseball writers do.

Clearly, Chass hasn’t been to a Baseball Writers Meeting in quite awhile, because you know what the group is not just for newspaper men (people) any more.  While newly admitted writers like Keith Law and Will Carroll don’t get Hall of Fame votes yet, they will.  It takes 10 years of writing about baseball on a daily basis for any writer- newspaper or not- to be granted the write to fill out a ballot.  The organization, realizing that newspapers are dying, started admitting website writers into the organization two years ago.  They have added more website folks this off-season.  So you know what Murray Chass?  You no longer need to hang around a clubhouse trying to be one of the guys to be someone that counts.

There are plenty of bloggers out there for who this is not their full time work, nor do they want it to be.  They still can make good arguments, and study the facts.  Oh yes, the facts aren’t just available to sports writers with subscriptions to Elias Sports Bureau anymore.  They are available to anyone.

And there are plenty of other folks that are committed to writing about baseball everyday in a new and insightful way.  It might be examining or creating stats that will shed light- that certainly is a very tangible way to examine the game- or it could be writing about the business in a very factual way, or for me, in a very reachable way.

There are a lot of great people writing about this game.  And if you love this game, you should want to grow your own vision.  Its like democracy. Its not meant to be held by just a few folks, its meant to be held by all.

Everyday, just about, I discover a new writer that I really like.  My personal blogroll is ridiculously long.  Shame on someone who thinks he is an expert on baseball who only reads his colleagues in a newspaper.  That list is getting shorter by the minute- perhaps Chass hasn’t noticed.