Baseball writer, Dave Newhouse, loses faith in HOF

From The Mercury News, 8/21/06

Longtime Bay Area sportswriter Dave Newhouse won't have to wrestle with his votes as players of the steroids era become eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame. He has turned in his Baseball Writers' Association of America card.

Newhouse, a Hall voter for more than 20 years, wrote last week in his column for the Oakland Tribune that he no longer recognizes ``the game I grew up with, idolizing Stan Musial and remembering significant moments -- Jackie Robinson's educating baseball about civil rights, and Babe Ruth's dying.''

Newhouse explained that he misses the sense of purity that preceded the cancellation of the 1994 World Series and the arrival of steroids.

``This whole thing weighs heavily on my mind,'' he wrote, ``and I don't want the unwanted responsibility of bringing further disrespect to the game I cherished.''
by Mercury Staff