Brat Hatin'

When I was reading the Hall of Fame results, one line caught my attention.

Chuck Knoblauch, Minnesota's second baseman in the 1990s, received one vote in his first year of eligibility and will be dropped from future ballots.

My first thought was, "What? Who in the world voted for him?" And I noticed that others felt the same way too. But then I thought about it a little more and wondered why I was so quick to get all hateful on him.

Now, I'm not big into statistical analysis - you could show me a whole bunch of numbers and I couldn't tell if they represented a good player or a winning strategy for Deal or No Deal - but I'm pretty sure Knobby wasn't a bad player. Chances are, however, he simply wasn't good enough to get in. It's hard to get in for a reason. But there are plenty of guys who are not quite good enough on the ballot, and I don't get riled up if they get votes.

So what's the cause of his demise (or, despise, I guess) in public opinion? Some of it probably has to do with his decline once he was traded to the Yankees. But I think a lot of it has to do with his remarkably bad attitude.

At least, that's what did it for me.