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Baseball Hall of Fame: More than just talented athletes BY PRESTON CROWDER Guest Writer
Swimmers from Ouachita and Henderson competed against each other in their second Battle of the Ravine meet on January 24, 2020. Both teams will be competing in the NSISC Championship this week. (photo courtesy of Dr. Wesley Kluck)
Tiger Sharks to compete in NSISC BY MITCHELL EMRICH Staff Writer
The men’s and women’s swim teams will be competing in the New South Intercollegiate Swim Conference Championship today through Saturday. The 2020 NSISC Championship will be held at Delta State University in Cleveland, Mississippi. The meet will consist of five men’s teams and six women’s teams all looking to become the 2020 NSISC champions. Ouachita is looking to take the conference title after strong seasons from both the men’s and women’s teams. Unfortunately, a conference title does not guarantee a trip to the national championship meet. Each swimmer has to qualify on their own by having a fast enough time to make it to nationals. Senior Mitchell Lee put things in perspective when talking about the upcoming meet. “My motivation is that it could be my last meet,” Lee said. “I just want to make sure that I give it my all in
every event or relay that I swim.” Freshman Rachel Sansano has also set a goal for this meet. “Stay positive and swim fast,” Sansano said. “I have goal times in each event that I really want to hit, but I also want to be there for my teammates and support them no matter what.” Both teams have worked hard and are looking forward to this meet, considering how far they have come in just a few short years. Ouachita Swimming has seen a rise in numbers over the last few seasons, with the women’s team having the most significant growth. The team has gone from only five swimmers during the 2016-17 season, to having 23 on the current roster. Sansano has seen the women’s hard work in action, and she also sees how this meet will test their skills. “We’re definitely ready for all of our hard work to pay off,” Sansano said. “Coach has told us so many times that if we trust him and work hard, it’ll pay off at conference. We’ve done that and we’re all look-
ing forward to swimming crazy fast.” Ouachita will be facing Henderson and the University of Texas Permian Basin at this meet, after losses to both teams earlier this season. Winning against both would be great for the Tiger Sharks, but that’s not the teams’ only goal at conference. “We just want to do the best we can and have fun while we’re at it,” Sansano said. Any kind of a victory at conference gives the teams a chance to show just how much they’ve put into this season. Ouachita’s teams have put in the work, and bringing home a win would be a great way to end the season. “For us to do well at conference would show how far we have come and how far we can go with all of the hard work that we put into our sport each and every day,” Lee said. This week will show just how much the teams’ hard work will pay off as the Tiger Sharks swim for a chance to become the 2020 NSISC champions.
There is something special about the National Baseball Hall of Fame. It could be that it has a history unmatched by any other sport, or maybe that it’s located in the small town of Cooperstown, New York. But more than all of that, it is the fact that it is incredibly selective on who it enshrines. Every year, in mid to late January, members of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) cast their votes on the hall of fame ballot for who should be elected into this exclusive club. The ballot consists of players that have completed 10 seasons in the MLB, have been retired for at least five seasons, and have passed through a screening process that determines whether or not they are worthy. Once a player is placed on the ballot, they have 10 seasons to be elected by obtaining 75% of the BBWAA’s votes. If they are unsuccessful by their tenth year, the player will then be removed from the ballot and only eligible to reach the hall of fame through the Veterans Committee (a committee of former players and managers that will vote on select players years later). If that’s not enough to show you how hard it is to be inducted, take a look at the election of 2013. The ballot featured several illustrious players, including Craig Biggio, who at the time was one of 27 players in the history of the game to collect 3,000 hits. That year the BBWAA did not vote anyone into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Biggio would eventually be elected into the hall, but this particular election proves how difficult it is to receive the highest honor in baseball. As for the other players on the
infamous 2013 ballot, some of them weren’t as lucky as Biggio. Two of the most decorated players that have yet to be enshrined are Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. In fact, they may be the two most adorned players in the history of baseball. Bonds is the all-time home run king, smashing 762 long balls over his 22-year career. He won a record seven Most Valuable Player awards, including four in a row from 2001-2004. Clemens, the best pitcher of his era, won seven Cy Young Awards, the most ever. He is also third on the all-time strikeouts list and in the top 10 all-time wins with 354. Both Bonds and Clemens, based on stats alone, should be in the hall of fame, but because of suspicions and allegations of them using performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), they have yet to be elected. The two all-time greats are both suspected to have started using PEDs near the turn of the century in an attempt to lengthen their career. The case can be made that they had already achieved a hall of fame resume, but because of the suspicions of PEDs, they have both been denied the honor. In the 2020 election, their ninth year on the ballot, Bonds received 60.7% of the vote whereas Clemens received 61%. Next year will be their final opportunity to be voted in by the baseball writers. For them to make the trip to Cooperstown, they’ll need a 14% increase of the BBWAA’s support. Not having arguably the best position player or the best pitcher in the hall of fame could make one question the legitimacy of this exclusive club. But in my opinion, it proves you need not only talent, but integrity and respect for the game to achieve baseball immortality.
