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Paul Ladewski is an American Sports Editor at the San Francisco Examiner and former sports editor, sportswriter and columnist for the The Daily Southtown in south and southwest Chicago and its adjoining suburbs. He is a veteran of the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA) and a voter for the Baseball Hall of Fame. He is a recipient of the Peter Lisagor and Illinois Sports Columnist of the Year awards, and his work was cited in A Century of Chicago's Best Sportswriting (University of Chicago Press), which was published in August, 2013. He is a graduate of St. Laurence High School (Burbank, Ill.) and Northern Illinois University. ==2007 Hall of Fame Voting Controversy== Ladewski touched off a national debate in January, 2007, when he became the first known Baseball Writers Association of America member to turn in a blank Hall of Fame ballot in wake of the steroids controversy. The disclosure was made by a Baltimore Sun sportswriter who had polled BBWAA members in an attempt to determine whether former Orioles shortstop Cal Ripken Jr. would be a unanimous selection. San Diego Padres outfielder Tony Gwynn also was on the ballot. Including his blank ballot, eight writers did not vote for Ripken, and 13 did not vote for Gwynn.〔http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/news/2007/election/results.htm〕 "I consider myself fortunate to be in a position to remain an independent thinker," Ladewski said. "Because I am not employed by a company that has a lucrative contract with a professional sports league, I have no restrictions. I have no hidden agendas. My only regret is that some believe I made my vote known to attract attention. That simply isn't the case. In fact, when the Baltimore Sun writer informed me that I was the only person who hadn't voted for Ripken among those he had polled at that point, I was beyond surprised. Surely, others wouldn't be inclined to take a premature leap of faith, I thought. For the most part, nobody knows who cheated other than the cheaters themselves, and that's the fundamental problem." "To say the least, I'm disappointed how quickly some of my peers have forgotten the widespread effects of the greatest scandal in modern baseball history. 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 and too little accountability in an era that tarnished the game forever."〔 After his vote became public, Ladewski and the Daily Southtown received more than 1,200 emails and phone messages in the next week, most of them from upset Gywnn and Ripken fans. "It's interesting to note that, years later, an increased number of Hall of Fame voters have excluded some if not all candidates in the Steroids Era," Ladewski said. "If I did anything to raise awareness on the issue, then I consider what I did to be worth it. Despite the criticism, I would do it over again." During a Jan. 9, 2007 interview on ESPN Radio's Mike and Mike in the Morning, Ladewski also said that he is not inclined to vote for any player on his first year of eligibility. He stated that, to maintain the standard that was set by his peers decades ago, no player should be inducted unanimously because not even those in the first class consisting of Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Honus Wagner, Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson were voted in unanimously.〔http://insider.espn.go.com/insider/podcast/download?id=2725250〕 ESPN.com contributor Jim Caple questioned his stance, saying "Sorry, but the slap in the face came from the narrow-minded writers who refused to vote for () Mays and Hank Aaron in the first place." 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Paul Ladewski」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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