The author of the following article makes my point but with a questionable ethical position of his own: condoning and supporting a player who lies about his age. See my comments below.
Rubbing Mud: Aging an Angel
by Matthew Trueblood April 24, 2018
Albert Pujols ... was the worst everyday position player in baseball last year, and posted the second-worst WARP in an age-37 season in our database (which goes back to 1950)—if, that is, he was really 37. Though his listed birthdate is January 16, 1980, he’s probably not 38 years old now. Increasingly, the preponderance of evidence—a sufficient amount to merit a change to the official record—suggests that Pujols is 40 years old...
Firstly, let’s make sure to say this: I am not accusing Pujols of what I would consider unethical or truly fraudulent behavior. Pujols’ background and early life story are unique, involving living in the Dominican Republic until mid-adolescence, then immigrating to the United States...
... teams value youth. If two players show up with the exact same body (size and build), skills, and personality, teams might pay twice as much for the younger one. And they might not be willing to sign the older one at all. Scouts use age-versus-level as a heuristic even when a 23-year-old is up for evaluation in the Pacific Coast League. When the players in question are all teenagers and there are several years between the potential signing and a player’s matriculation to the majors, they lean even more heavily on crutches like that.
... Pujols’ age became an issue in 2011 ...
When teams need to make roster decisions that can have consequences for the following several seasons, and are trying to project how one or more players will perform over that long arc, ages matter. When players hit free agency, ages certainly matter. When we try to understand the careers of players, especially as those careers draw near to the end, ages certainly matter. If I were advising a player harboring the secret that he was a year or more older than the baseball world believed, right now, I would tell him to keep that secret, especially if he still had free agency in front of him.
Pujols, of course, doesn’t. He’s already made his fortune, and when previous stars like Vladimir Guerrero and Miguel Tejada have admitted that their listed ages were incorrect (Guerrero was one year older than he’d said; Tejada was two years older), there have been no legal actions taken against them. Still, this is a sensitive topic, and before offering evidence in support of the motion to change Pujols’ age, I want to make clear that I see no malice in the decision made by any player in this sort of position.
So, the balance of probability says that Pujols is now 40.
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The author above is condescending in granting absolution to Pujols and others based on country of origin and economic circumstances.
Hall of Fame criteria: 66% about character, which is all but ignored. Tuesday, January 6, 2015
http://baseballhall.org/hall-of-famers/bbwaa-rules-for-election
5. Voting: Voting shall be based upon
- the player's record
- playing ability
- integrity
- sportsmanship
- character
- contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.
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Honor Code: a player will not lie, cheat, steal, or tolerate those who do. Thursday, January 10, 2013
Fans should call for an honor code for Major Baseball League (MBL) players and that should take care of the "sportsmanship, integrity, character" qualification for the Hall of Fame.
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Honor code: "not ... tolerate those who do (lie, cheat, steal)". Friday, January 11, 2013
And cheating is more than using steroids. Cheating includes:
- faking being hit by a pitch
- faking catching a fly ball
- faking tagging a runner
- pitcher intentionally hitting a batter with a pitch
- messing with the bat or ball.
With an honor code teammates must report all violations. Otherwise, what's all the fuss?
It's a tangled web. I've said all along that it's the lying that bothers me.
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Albert Pujols
Positions: First Baseman, Leftfielder and Third Baseman
Bats: Right • Throws: Right
6-3, 240 pounds
Team: Los Angeles Angels (majors)
Born: January 16, 1980 (Age: 38 and 100 days) in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Draft: Drafted by the St. Louis Cardinals in the 13th round of the 1999 MLB June Amateur Draft
Obviously, when the Cardinals drafted Pujols they thought he was 19, not 22. Would it have mattered? Who knows?
When the Angels signed Pujols to that huge ten year contract for his ages 32 through 41 the Angels thought that Pujols was 32, not 35, which would have made the contract for ages 35 through 44, which would have probably meant that either it would not have happened at all or it would have been for maybe half the number of years and less money per season.
Now many people would look at any comparison of performance enhancing drug (PED) use and telling a lie, especially about something as innocuous as age, as absurd. But consider one of the reasons given for their staunch position against PED use:
It's unfair to clean players in that it may deprive another player of a roster spot and/or extra money.
Maybe Pujols got a Cardinal roster spot at age "21" that might have gone to another player who was 24. Maybe the tens of millions of dollars that Pujols is receiving in 2018 at age "38" might ... no, the Angels would not have given that ten year contract to any player for ages 35 through 44; nor would the Angels pay another 41 year old much, if anything.
And what about the team? The Angels probably signed Pujols through his perceived age 41 season for reasons other than what he could contribute as a player. Part of it was deferred compensation from the earlier seasons of the contract when the Angels thought they were getting Pujols at ages 32, 33, 34, 35. At those ages the Angels might have expected to get maybe 75% of the great player Pujols had been with the Cardinals. Did the Cardinals know by then that the 19 year old they had signed in 1999 had actually been 22? Was that a consideration in the Cardinals not matching the offer by the Angels?
Pujols may have also been signed for non playing reasons, maybe to appeal to the southern California population. Being older probably would not impact that unless his character became an issue. At this point it is highly unlikely that if it became generally known that Pujols is actually three years older than his listed age that the Angels would make it into a negative, which would reduce the value Pujols had.
So what about the Hall of Fame? Is this a big enough deal to prevent voters from supporting Pujols? VERY unlikely given that they never considered the admitted drug (cocaine) use by recent inductee Tim Raines. The list of things that would reasonably be considered cheating but have been ignored is long.
No, the one and only offense that is held against a player, preferably if the voters don't like him, is PED use. Now if it became known that Pujols had used PED, well then he might be in trouble. On the other hand even that is swinging away from where it was even five years ago.
Integrity, sportsmanship, character: what would be held against a player for any of these three things?
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