Baseball players from the "Steroids Era" are now up for Hall of Fame selection. Each year more and more players from this era will be debated on whether or not they should be inducted into the Hall of Fame. I obviously do not get a vote, but like many people, I do have a view on how to handle this batch of players.
You have two choice. First one is: No One Gets In. It is impossible to guess who took a bite out of the apple and who did not. Sure you could look at spikes in stats, particular in hitters, but I'm guessing there were a lot more pitchers than most people think. So throw the baby out with the bathwater and lock them out.
The other choice makes more sense to me: pick the best guys from the era to represent the era in the Hall of Fame. McGwire, Bonds (that's painful), Clemens, A-Rod, and the gang of studs get their ticket to Cooperstown, NY. But I would have a mark on their plaque that denoted that they a) admitted to using performance enhancing drugs, or b) were under heavy suspicion that they used performance enhancing drugs.
Baseball has had many different eras. The Dead Ball Era comes to mind, yet there is nothing held against those players for playing in that time. Steroids is the black sheep part of baseball's history.
The baseball writers who vote on whether or not these players to get into the Hall are the same guys that gave these players all those awards. Bonds, Sosa, McGwire were all winning MVP awards. Clemens won SEVEN Cy Young Awards.
Bonds...don't get me started. (Check out his rookie card)
THERE IS NO WAY THE BASEBALL WRITERS THOUGHT THEY WERE LEGITIMATELY DOING THIS.
Maybe they didn't know exactly how, but they had to have know something was up.
Being a Dodger fan and watching Eric Gagne doing his thing was exciting. But my friends and I knew he didn't just become the most dominant reliever over night after being AWFUL as a starter.
Clemens went 40-39 in his last four seasons with Boston. Boston thought he was done and let him go. He heads up north to Toronto (where Canseco was playing at the time) and he goes 41-13 in two years!!! Click here for his career stats.
My point is...if MLB, the Player's Union, owners and fans all were enjoying the ride of wave of offense in the Steroids Era, don't lay ALL the blame on the players. Own up to this part of your history, pick the best of the best in the Era to be in the Hall. And let's move on. Please, please, please...no more Jose Canseco!!!
I looked up Bonds in his Rookie year and he was up for sponsor with World Vision's Feed the Children.
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