New York Times Joins Hall of Fame Bashing Party with Classic Sports Page

The Baseball Hall of Fame may have whiffed on sending anyone into Cooperstown in 2013, but at least they are giving fans a ton of laughs while we await the induction ceremony. 

Oh, yes. There will be an induction ceremony. Don't think for a second that just because Craig Biggio and other past stars of the game were snubbed they wouldn't have a ceremony. 

As the The Baseball Hall of Fame reports, July 28 will feature a ceremony of umpire Hank O’Day, New York Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert and 19th-century player Deacon White. 

The New York Times couldn't bring themselves to print those names in this hilarious joke of a sports front page, tweeted to the masses by ESPN's Dana O'Neil.

"

Exceptional sports front page in New York Times# twitter.com/ESPNDanaOneil/…

— Dana O'Neil (@ESPNDanaOneil) January 10, 2013"

That grand landscape of nothing perfectly encapsulates the lunacy of the day. The Hall of Fame will, for the most part, be a barren wasteland as far as inductions are concerned. 

This, however, is hardly the lone comedic turn in all this. Twitter was abuzz on Wednesday after the ballot announcement. When there are no players to debate, it only leaves fans with the duty to mock, and mock they did. 

Aaron Sele received one vote, as you can see on the BBWAA website. That single ballot cast in favor of the pitcher who ended his career with a 4.61 ERA started a riot on Twitter. 

You can see some of the tweets at Storify. 

Then there was the case of L.A. Daily News columnist Jill Painter, who decided to cast votes for the likes of Kenny Lofton, Bernie Williams and Shawn Green. 

That she also voted for Craig Biggio and Edgar Martinez hardly matters, at least not to those who gave her grief on Twitter.

"

@daviddjohnson longtime coverage of dodgers. every season. columnist, not a baseball writer, so i do other stuff too.

— jill painter (@jillpainter) January 9, 2013"

That was, by far, one of the more pleasant exchanges she had with fans. 

As you can see, the BBWAA gave us something when they delivered us zero inductions this year. 

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