I write to once again vent my frustrations with the sports world. You see, I hate the Baseball Hall of Fame, so it is no wonder that I was disappointed not once, but twice, by news out of Cooperstown this winter.On Dec. 12, the Hall of Fame announced the 26 members on the Veterans Committee ballot. Much to my chagrin, they botched it like a certain New York (football) Giants long snapper. Among the names eligible for baseball's greatest honor are Maury Wills and Bob Meusel, who enjoyed markedly brief and uneventful careers. In fact, of the 26 athletes selected for the VC ballot, less than 10 are Hall of Fame worthy. The recurring mistakes made by the Committee are all the more egregious when you consider the credentials of those that were snubbed.

Furthermore, the results of the annual Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) voting were recently released. Elected in his first year of eligibility was a very good player named Eddie Murray. While he is far from an all-time great, Murray belongs nonetheless. Over 21 seasons with the Baltimore Orioles, Los Angeles Dodgers, New York Mets and Cleveland Indians, Murray batted a solid .287 with 504 home runs and 1,917 runs batted in. More surprising was the selection of former Mets and Montreal Expos catcher Gary Carter. I was shocked not by his selection, but the fact that it took him so many years to attain the 75% of the ballot necessary to gain induction. We are talking about one of the best catchers of all-time, a player who was twice the force of Hall of Famer Carlton Fisk. He should have been on the ballot of any man who actually knows what it takes to be successful at baseball.

Ryne Sandberg was also snubbed, as he garnered just 49% of the ballot votes. Sandberg was an offensive dynamo at a defensive position: he played some of the best defense us mortals will ever be blessed to witness. If Sandberg does not belong in Cooperstown, I don't know who does.

This brings me to the crucial point of this argument, and that is the Hall of Fame is in need of serious reform. It is time to end the stream of mistakes that have hounded the reputation of the Hall. There are dozens of players in Cooperstown who should not be there, and as I said before, dozens not yet enshrined who should be. There are players like Bobby Grich and Lou Whitaker, who could easily outclass both Derek Jeter and Nomar Garciaparra, dropped from the ballot after one year because they couldn't get 5% of the BBWAA vote. Many of the greatest relief pitchers of all-time get snubbed by the same people who submit John Smoltz and Eric Gagne as their MVP candidates.

So what can be done? Frankly, nothing, for it is essentially in the hands of the same people who run Major League Baseball (see Bud Selig), and we've seen how they take it to the crapper year after year.

In a perfect world, BBWAA members wouldn't be allowed to vote for anything of any significance. They wouldn't go anywhere near a keyboard.