Tony Paul:  Baseball insider

Writers seek guide for Hall voting

Members of the Chicago chapter of the Baseball Writers Association of America are meeting Friday to discuss how they plan to handle the upcoming Hall of Fame elections, which are certain to be smothered by the steroid saga.

Of the 25 members of the 500-home run club, 15 already are in the Hall of Fame and the other 10 aren't eligible yet. Of those 10, only Ken Griffey Jr. (Mariners), Jim Thome (White Sox) and Frank Thomas (retired) haven't been linked to using performance-enhancing drugs.

The Chicago chapter hopes to come up with guidelines to follow when deciding the Hall fate of suspected juicers, the first wave of which are scheduled to be on the 2011 ballot (Rafael Palmeiro, Juan Gonzalez, Kevin Brown).

"We're debating it in press boxes anyway, so it's a good idea we all get together and discuss," Paul Sullivan, the Chicago Tribune's Cubs writer, told the Associated Press. "It's possible we can't come to any decision. That's quite possible. But I'd sure like to try."

Of course, nothing the Chicago scribes come up with will be binding for the national chapter of baseball writers. More than 500 BBWAA members have Hall-voting privileges, but it's surely wise to start opening the lines of communication.

Currently, the Hall's guidelines leave plenty of room for personal interpretation, though voters are asked to consider several factors when poring over their ballots, including integrity and character. That, you'd think, would be more than enough to make so many cases a definitive no. Except voters haven't always followed that script. (Cooperstown hasn't exactly slammed its doors, for example, on womanizers or racists.)

My take on the whole debacle: Put them all in or none of them. Just don't cherry-pick. Don't tell Alex Rodriguez yes and Roger Clemens no, or vice versa. The era is what it is: Totally tainted. And, frankly, the Hall of Fame should strongly consider illustrating that ugly truth in all future exhibits on the 1990s and 2000s.

Fehr leaves his mark

Speaking of the Steroids Era, one of its ringleaders is stepping aside. Donald Fehr, the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association for more than a quarter of a century, plans to retire by March.

His highlights include: proving ownership collusion in the mid-1980s (leading to $280 million settlement), staving off contraction in 2002 and, via a 232-day strike in the mid-'90s, winning the fight against a salary cap.

Most impressive, of course, is how rich he made his constituents: When he took over, the average player salary was $289,000, or about $617,000 today. Today, the average salary is $3,240,206.

The biggest knock on Fehr, 61, no doubt will be his foot-dragging on the issue of steroid testing, which didn't become commonplace in the majors until 2004, only after Roger Maris' three-decade hold on the single-season home run record had been shattered six times in a four-year span (1998-2001).

"We make the money we make, we have the deals we have, all because of Donald," Joe Nelson, a journeyman reliever collecting $1.3 million from the Rays told MLB.com. "He gets an A-plus from me."

tpaul@detnews.com