Fair Lawn baseball writer (Murray Chass) discusses the hall of fame

I remember when The Record used to feature hard-hitting articles like 6-month-old wolf pups escaping Jungle Habitat...now they’re down to interviewing basement bloggers.

Hall of Fame baseball writer Murray Chass is an authority on America’s Pastime and a voter for the Baseball Hall of Fame that produced no new members as the steroid controversy has raged on.

For more than 45 years, Chass covered the sport for the Associated Press and New York Times, chronicling baseball greats across the historical timeline from Mickey Mantle to Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Mike Schmidt, Rickey Henderson, Ken Griffey Jr. to active greats like Albert Pujols and Derek Jeter. Since 1962, the 74-year-old’s been a member of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA). Chass officially retired from the Times in 2008, but remains one of the most influential voices in the baseball media. Shortly thereafter, he started his own baseball site (murraychass.com).

...Chass feels the steroid link is why there were no players elected this year.

“Bonds and Clemens would’ve got into the Baseball Hall of Fame on the first ballot without question had they not (been linked to) steroids. Neither received more than 36 percent of the vote,” said Chass. “There’s another group of players who were suspected but were never caught, so they got a good amount of votes. That includes (former New York Met) Mike Piazza, Craig Biggio and Jeff Bagwell. I don’t know if any of them used. Of the three, I feel strongest about the possibility that Piazza used them than the other two. The reason is because through 2002, his back always had acne. I don’t know a lot about roids but I know acne on the back is a telltale sign of steroid use. As soon as baseball started testing for steroids, Piazza’s back cleared up. I think any writer who covered him believes he used steroids. He was never caught because he was smart. He stopped once testing came in.”