Paul Ladewski

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Paul Ladewski is an American sportswriter and columnist for Chicago's Daily Southtown. He is a 23-year veteran of Baseball Writers Association of America and a voter for the Baseball Hall of Fame.

[edit] 2007 Hall of Fame Voting Controversy

Made headlines in January, 2007, when he confirmed in an article that he turned in a blank Hall of Fame ballot, rather than vote for any player from the "Steroid Era". Ladewski disclosed the result of the secret vote to a Baltimore sportswriter in a poll of BWAA members. [1] Including his blank ballot, eight writers did not vote for Cal Ripken Jr. and 13 did not vote for Tony Gwynn. [2]

During a January 9, 2007 interview on ESPN Radio's Mike and Mike in the Morning Ladewski also said that he does not vote for any player on his first year of eligibility. He stated that he believes that no player should go in unanimously because no player, not even the first class consisting of Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson has been voted in unanimously. [3] At least one contributor to ESPN.com, Jim Caple, blasted this stance, saying "Sorry, but the slap in the face came from the narrow-minded writers who refused to vote for [Willie] Mays and Hank Aaron in the first place." Yet Gwynn himself later admitted that he did not want to be inducted unanimously because he did not consider himself to be worthy of the honor.

"To say the least, I'm disappointed how quickly some of my peers have forgotten perhaps the greatest scandal in baseball history," said Ladewski, whom Associated Press selected as the top Illinois sports columnist in 2005. "We need to demand more answers about the subject and pay less attention to the Boston Red Sox third-string catcher. Until then, there remains too many questions about an era that tarnished the game forever." [4]