Why Are Sportswriters Whitewashing Baseball’s Dark Secrets

Posted March 29, 2018

External Article: The Daily Beast

Johnny Smith, assistant professor in the School of History and Sociology (HSOC) at Georgia Institute of Technology, wrote the Daily Beast, March 29, article, “Why Are Sportswriters Whitewashing Baseball’s Dark Secrets?” The School of History and Sociology is part of the Georgia Tech Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts.

Excerpt:

The results are in. Cooperstown has a new class. On Jan. 24, 2018, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America voted, electing Chipper Jones, Vladimir Guerrero, Jim Thome, and Trevor Hoffman to the Hall of Fame.  Once again, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, and Manny Ramirez, three superstars of the past whom the writers have branded “cheaters,” finished out of the running, and poor Sammy Sosa was so far down the list that he now will have to buy a ticket on StubHub to get into Wrigley Field. Baseball’s Fourth Estate, the sanctified moral arbiters of the national pastime, have spoken with righteous clarity. For more than a decade, since former Sen. George J. Mitchell’s investigation implicated 89 Major League players for using performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs), baseball writers have tried to reclaim the mythical purity of the game. Written by Johnny Smith, Julius C. “Bud” Shaw Professor of Sports, Society, and Technology and an Assistant Professor of History at Georgia Tech.

For the full article, visit the Daily Beast website.