BBWAA vote on MLB.com

Oh. Now I figured it out I think.

 

Fixed.

 

Good edit, winger

 

Always a pleasure.

 

BBWAA membership doesn't have anything to do with how someone is treated by others. That's up to you. Jack Lang was Mr. BBWAA and I always thought he was a prototypical horse's ass.

 

I've been around forever and have NEVER found this to be true.

 

How do you tell MLB.com writers yes, but other non-card carrying members from other outlets like AOL, Yahoo, ESPN, and others, no?

 

The difference is, no matter how you try to pretend mlb.com is independent from MLB (and therefore the team), it isn't.

It's like giving BBWAA membership to the guy who would have edited the team newsletter/paper in the pre-Internet era.

 

Smasher,

I'm glad we seem to be on the same page on this.

 

Like Michael Gee, I am a gold card member and know many other members. And we're not just talking about Noble and Sullivan here, there are many who have been ousted -- or left -- the dying newspaper world for MLB.com. Off the top of my head, there's Jack O'Connell, a national officer; also Barry Bloom, Lyle Spencer, Ken Gurnick, Tom Singer. To the best of my knowledge, they can't vote for the BBWAA awards (MVP, Cy Young, Rookie or Manager of the Year) but can still vote for Hall of Fame. And I don't see why they shouldn't be allowed to maintain that. I see no conflict of interest with a HOF vote whereas there could be a perceived conflict with one of the other votes.

Dan Castellano

 

Just as an aside - the Boston Globe parent company owns 17% of the Red Sox and the Red Sox are the only thing turning a profit in the NYT family of companies. So to a degree - the money to pay for the sports reporters covering the Red Sox - well part of that money comes from the Red Sox. Should all Globe reporters be banned as well because of potential conflict of interest? How about Chicago Tribune writers who cover the Cubs? They still allowed to vote?

I love the MLB.com coverage. I think its the best baseball coverage going by a mile.

The ethics angle to this argument seem hollow when a guy like Dan Shaughnessy gets his daughter a job with Tom Werner's company in Hollywood and not only still covers the team but also retains his BWAA voting privileges.

 

I don't think players care about which credential is around your neck and base on that on whether they want to talk to you. If they see you regularly, especially if they're on a team you cover, that's when you perhaps get them to talk to you and not others.
I would be against MLB.com writers voting on awards because they are an extension of the club. Want tickets to the Rangers? Go to THEIR web site where you will also see T.R. Sullivan stories. I believe MLB.com beat writers get tickets for games, too. There's just too much conflict of interest.