The hallowed halls of Cooperstown.

Nice turn of phrase.  If you're a major league player they are one of the things you play for.  A chance to join to legends. 

Which is also the argument against people like Mark McGwire joining the Hall.  How can we put a cheat into this shrine to the immortals.

Easy.

The same way baseball put Ray Schalk in.

If you ever saw the great movie "8 Men Out" you know, or think you know, Ray Schalk.  The tough as nails little catcher who saw what was going on during the fixed 1919 World Series and nearly fought his crooked pitchers to stop it.  Old school integrity.

Schalk caught for eighteen seasons, but only 12 where he played as many as 100 games.  Put up the following numbers:

11-594-177-.253.

You read it correctly.  11 home runs, 594 RBI, 177 steals, and a .253 average.

In fairness, Schalk was a very good catcher, rated one of the best of his era.  He lead the American League in fielding percentage for eight seasons and caught four no hitters.

Which makes him an early 20th century version of Jeff Torborg, but hardly Hall of Fame material.  Yet, there he was in 1955 getting his plaque in Cooperstown.  And no matter how much you value his defense, no matter how much credit you give him for trying to stop his teammates from throwing the World Series, you still come back to the same question.

What is Ray Schalk doing in the Hall of Fame?

The answer may go back to 1917.  Baseball players were under the reserve clause and without the leverage of today's free agency they worked for fractions of their value to teams.  If a player challenged the contract he was offered, owners often sent back another lower offer.  Players were bound for life to one team and treated like chattel.

Trying to fight the system, players formed a "Player's Fraternity" in 1912.  It was not a formal union, but it was recognized by the National Association (the primary baseball management group).  It achieved limited improvements in player conditions and focused much of it's attention on conditions in the minor leagues.

In 1917 the fraternity asked it's players to sign pledges not to sign contracts or report to spring training until it released them to do so.  At issue was the "Ten Day Rule" which said teams did not have to pay injured players after they were unavailable for ten days.  

Momentum was behind the players until some began to break ranks.  The first two included Ray Schalk, who had refused to sign the pledge.  Ultimately the attempt failed and emboldened management to refuse future dealings with the fraternity.

Owners like Charles Comiskey of the WhiteSox had the upper hand and played it out to the hilt.  Despite having the best team in baseball, Comiskey paid about sixty cents on the dollar for talent.  Which played a big part in why his players sold out themselves and the game to gamblers in 1919.

Schalk got a day in his honor in 1920 from Comiskey.  Late in his career, ever loyal, he offered to play one last season for a substantial pay cut.  Comiskey rewarded his loyalty by knocking his offer down even lower.  Schalk retired, but later came back to manage the WhiteSox for two seasons.

Then in 1927, Swede Risberg of the "Black Sox" appeared before Commissioner Landis and testified that in 1917 the Sox had gotten together $1100 cash to give to Detroit players to roll over during a pivotal four game series late in the season.  Risberg specifically mentioned Schalk as having contributed to the fund.

How does this relate to a .253 hitting defensive specialist getting a plague alongside Ruth, Cobb, Speaker, Gehrig, Williams, DiMaggio, Mantle, and Mays? 

The Hall of Fame Veterans Committee which elected Schalk didn't have but a single player on it in 1955.  It included the presidents of the American and National Leagues, the minor's Internation League, the secretary of baseball, Branch Rickey (Pirates GM), and three writers.

Harridge was assistant to the American League President back in 1917 when Schalk helped derail the developing strike against baseball.  The others, excepting the writers and former player Charlie Gerringer, were all closely associated with the powers who ran baseball.  And, in 1953 the players had just organized the MLB Player's Association.  There can be little doubt Harridge remembered Schalk's loyalty, or that the others appreciated it.

Was the fix in for Schalk?

Nobody can say for sure.  But it certainly is easier to believe than accepting that a punchless catcher, even one as gifted defensively as Schalk, found his way into the Hall of Fame purely on merit. 

And, you may ask, what is your point?

Simply this.  The idea that the Hall of Fame is so pristine in purity it cannot tolerate the likes of Mark McGwire or Barry Bonds, or Pete Rose or Joe Jackson for that matter, seems a bit absurd.

Ray Schalk was not a bad man.  He sized up life and followed where his conscience lead.  No doubt many steroid users did the same.  We can question them, and Schalk, with 20-20 hindsight.

The Baseball Hall of Fame is alot of things to alot of people.  But if you're going to keep certain players out based on the idea that everyone already in Cooperstown got there without politics and is beyond reproach, you would be mistaken.

Of that I'm at least .253 percent sure.