A man of principle, the libertarian presidential candidate opposes commemorative coins for the Hall of Fame. Why?

Ron Paul circa 1976, playing baseball in a Houston Astros replica uniform

As innocuous bills go, the National Baseball Hall of Fame Commemorative Coin Act sounds about as controversial as naming a post office after a war hero. Who could oppose the minting of a few commemorative baseball coins?

As it turns out, three Republicans, including Ron Paul.

When that bill made it to the floor of the House of Representatives on Wednesday, it was opposed by Reps. Justin Amash (R-Mich.), Paul Broun (R-Ga.), and Paul, the libertarian presidential candidate and renowned currency hawk. The bill passed 416-3.

Paul's office did not respond to a request for comment about his vote, but when it comes to money, Paul has made his views well known.

The congressman has long opposed what he has deemed manipulative intervention by the Federal Reserve, which controls national monetary policy. In his book End the Fed, Paul blamed the Federal Reserve's alleged inflationary shell game for an artificial boom-and-bust economy that will lead America down a path to inevitable ruin. In Paul's book, the Fed sounds a bit like Matt Taibbi's description of Goldman Sachs.