Honorable Alan H. Selig
Commissioner of Major League Baseball
245 Park Ave, 31st Floor
New York, NY 10167
or
Honorable Alan H. Selig
Commissioner of Major League Baseball
777 E. Wisconsin Ave.
Suite 2010
Milwaukee, WI 53202

Thankyou,
Norman W. Nonnweiler

I’m tired of hearing about steroids in baseball without seeing anything done. It’s a tragedy that so many players are so silent on the issue. Screw the players union. Even those who didn’t use steroids are responsible if the hold the knowledge of those who did. I still love the game but it has lost a lot of my respect. If people don’t start coming clean, baseball has no respectability. Tell me why ERAs skyrocketed in the 1990s. Why were the batting averages higher with more runs being scored. The average ERA in the 1970s was 3.65 in the National League. The ERA for the last ten years is about 4.36. Tell me that that is not a huge difference. Are they better batters, worse pitchers, or are the stats juiced. I don’t care if it was to deal with an injury or to deal with pain. The players cheated. No, it wasn’t in the rule books but was it fair to those who didn’t cheat? Each and every game a juiced player played in is suspect. How many outcomes were decided by juiced players? Hundreds, thousands? These guys cheated in every game they played in and to me that’s worse than Pete Rose and the Black Sox. It is not fair to those who played the game with integrity and it’s not fair to the fans. I’m disgusted. Like I said, Injuries or pain is not an excuse. To me it would set a great example to these guys if a guy like Bill Buckner were inducted into the Hall of Fame. Although he played with a limp because of his ankles for most of his career, he still was the active player with the most career hits towards the end of his career. He struck out only one in twenty one at bats. Only Tony Gwynn beats that in the last thirty years. He doesn’t quite have what you would call Hall of Fame numbers but if you look closely you’ll see he was one of the best of his era and he did it with a limp. Bill played the game with heart and that’s more important to me than mere stats. Bill didn’t cheat. He made an error late in his career. He dealt with the pain the right way and he still had a good career. How many players have had twenty two year careers like Bill and he did it with an injury. Ban the cheaters and induct Bill. I can’t think of anyone who deserves this more than Bill. I know there are others in the past too that deserve another shot. I plead with the Baseball Writers to have a heart. Set an example. Fair play is more important than mere stats. Players should be judged against people of their own era and I think if you look back, silently Bill Buckner was one of the best of his era and he did it with a limp. Steroid users affected each and every game they played in. That’s worse than Pete Rose or the Black Sox. No one deserves vindication more than Bill. Again, he didn’t cheat. He made an error and I think we should forgive him that. I remember an extra inning Cub game where he made a diving catch to save the game. When hitting was its toughest in the National League, Bill was the toughest hitter. You couldn’t strike him out.

Thank you,
Norman W. Nonnweiler

Tom Humes

Peter Quinn

Hi - thanks for your question on delegates. Delegates - both pledged and super
delegates - are not bound to vote for the candidate that leaves a primary race for President in the United States. However, they usually vote according to the retired
candidates’ endorsement. For example, today, February 14th, 2008, Mitt Romney officially endorsed John McCain for President. It is expected that
his 280 delegates will unite behind Romney’s sentiment
and vote for McCain also. This is typically what happens. However, this year may be different. The reason Huckabee is still in the running is because a good percentage of
conservative Republicans stand behind him and are unsure of McCain’s conservative leanings. Well, it’s more like they doubt that McCain will aptly represent their
conservative social agenda. So, don’t be surprised if, at the Republican convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul in September, some of Romney’s delegates swing to Huckabee.
Last point, the swing in delegate votes from Romney to Huckabee could be a mute point if McCain secures more than the 1,191 delegates needed to nominate the Republican
candidate for President.