remember when baseball was a gentleman's game?

All started because Sandy Koufax was too nice of a guy. He wouldn't clobber Marichal because he was afraid of hurting someone. And it wasn't in his nature. So to get back at Marichal, catcher John Roseboro was whipping his throws back to the mound within millimeters of Juan's ear. Look at the horrified expression on Koufax' face (far left). And Tito Fuentes (#26) also with a bat.

Marichal got eight games. He should have got 162 at a bare minimum. He very easily could have killed John Roseboro.

Years later Marichal failed to gain entry to the Hall of Fame in his first two years of eligibility. He was elected only after John Roseboro, by then a friend, publicly campaigned for him.

Baserunners used to "cut" third base, pass 2nd, and cut across the infield grass for home without coming within the same area code of 3b. Bet that would be overturned on review. Players would hold the belt of baserunners, hold their gloves over umpires faces, hide spare baseballs in the outfield grass etc. Like hockey in the late 70's, must have been fun to watch, but it bore no resemblance to that actual sport.

I feel that the complaints about Sutton's inclusion into the Hall of Fame for being a compiler ended up sullying his whole career.  Those complaints end up making people undervalue guys like Mazerowski, Rizzuto, Rice, and Sutton, as well as players that the sabermetrics community rail against for the Hall (like Jack Morris).