Wednesday, September 26, 2007

The Votes Are In And The Winner Is . . .

Well, the votes have been counted and the fate of the infamous home run #756 ball has been decided. It will be branded and sent to Cooperstown! Here's the SI.com story. You can see the final voting break down at www.vote756.com.

I didn't tell you my vote earlier, although, as I said then, if you know me you could probably guess. Now that the vote is over, however, I'm more than happy to admit that I voted for branding it! And not just because it has a very "bastard-like" feel to it and the very idea made me laugh. I voted that way because, by branding it, the ball becomes a physical symbol and reminder of the whole damn mess. It no longer is just about breaking Hank's record. And it's not just about the allegations of steroid use. Or about the media, government, and public reactions. The branded ball represents all of that. It is a messy and unpleasant situation, but we should remember the whole situation, not just a part of it. Then again, I'm a historian, so this is how my mind works in general.

2 comments:

Cheesehead said...

I voted the same way. I also read a bunch of comments today from sportswriters that it's disrespectful to the sport. Funny, I thought the cheating was disrespectul to the sport but I guess that's just me.

RogueHistorian said...

Hmmm, yeah I would have thought the same thing. I guess we were both wrong!