Thank you Baseball Hall of Fame

[LynneSin]

I don't care how great their records were - none of these people who used steroids should receive the highest honor by being voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Personally if they put Roger Clemons or Barry Bonds into the Hall of Fame then they should just allow Pete Rose in there too.

Steroids are just as bad if not worse than gambling on baseball. Players like Clemons, Bonds and other who used the drug to give themselves an edge abuse the trust of the fans. And yes, Steroids does impact the outcome of the game. Obviously a player who is juicing is more likely to hit that game-winning homerun or throw killer fastballs.

[we can do it]

1. I fully agree

[GoCubsGo]

2. Yes, and Sammy Sosa, too.

And, it pains me to say that. Mark McGwire, as well.

I honestly don't have a problem with Pete Rose going into the HOF. Yeah, the gambling was stupid. But, compared to the doping, and some of the other things that have gone on, it's pretty petty, IMHO. Hell, Ty Cobb was accused of killing someone, yet they forgave him.

[Blue_Tires]

3. It's still a shame that Biggio and Raines (among others) had to be punished

[Grantuspeace]

12. Biggio deserved to get in!

I don't think you can keep many of the "juicers" out forever. But make them sweat a couple of ballots for sure. But as for Sosa, I think all of his good years were a result of P.E.D.s.

[sadbear]

4. Maddux will get in next year.

And you know there's no way that guy juiced up!

[madinmaryland]

7. Glavine, also. nt

[ms liberty]

22. And Smoltz the year after...

We're Braves fans in our house, and we were saying this yesterday when we saw the news. Maddux, Glavine, Smoltz...they should go in on the first balloting, and no hint of steroids for those three!

[sadbear]

23. Poor Steve Avery.

When he came along, a lot of people thought he might be the best of the bunch.

[CanSocDem]

5. I object...

...to the phoney-baloney status of the "Baseball Hall of Fame". Professional athletes do it for the money. It's all about the money.

Lance Armstrong, RG3, etc.......

And watching Clemons accusing his best friend of "mis-remembering", in front of a fawning congressional committee, just so he could pocket 2 or 3 million dollars for another mediocre season.

However, having given up on any notion of the 'purity of athleticism' BS that professional sports in the modern world is trying to sell, I would favour a...more liberal attitude toward PED's (performance enhancing drugs). As a lapsed high school athlete, reduced by age and circumstance to just another spectator, I find I am more entertained by exceptional performances than I am bothered by what they had to ingest....


.

[sadbear]

16. Athletes shouldn't be forced to make that choice.

Should we punish the athlete who wants to remain clean, who doesn't want to deal with all the negative side effects of PED's?

[CanSocDem]

17. The best "choice"...

...for an athlete to "remain clean" would be to stay away from Professional Sports INC. They have different standards and physical requirements that may be contrary to the values of the athlete. It's a simple choice that we have all had to make.

What am I prepared to do for money?

I decided in my teen years that I didn't want to get my 'brains beat out' pursuing an athletic career. As it turned out, that question haunted me throughout my non-athletic life.

.

[sadbear]

18. That's inherently unfair though.

Any kind of false excellence should be frowned upon. I don't know the answer, but I'd be surprised to find out if they let women who have had surgical enhancement into beauty contests.

[CanSocDem]

19. Perhaps...

...but they have no problem rewarding "surgically enhanced" athletes with obscene amounts of money and a national merit award in the HOF.

And I know beauty queen contestants are into whatever PED they can get away with...

We all are.

.

[sadbear]

20. Are you talking about when a guy blows out his elbow, knee, or shoulder?

'Cause there are A TON of athletes whose careers ended after such an injury.

(Yes, there is a debate about pre-emptive reconstruction surgery going on right now. As you could probably guess, I'm against it. Again, I think that's choice athletes shouldn't have to make.)

[Spike89]

6. I understand, but have a different opinion

I'm a bit conflicted on how to handle the guys from the steroid era. The problem (for me) is that there is absolutely no way to know who was and wasn't using the 'roids during the beginning, middle, and end of the 'roids era. But, this isn't really where I disagree (although I wonder how you deal with guys that "might have" used PEDs once to get over an injury or used them early and supposedly stopped...A-Rod?).

I do think there is a huge and very important distinction (at least to me) between the 'roid boys and the Pete Rose saga. It is weird to rank cheating, but I do think cheating to win is vastly different than cheating to fix games. The roid guys may not have exactly had their teams best interests in mind, but the point of PEDs is they make you better. Betting on baseball does nothing to help baseball (at the best), and at it's worst, the involvement can result in a player/manager trying NOT to win, or not to win by too much.

[Stuart G]

8. Cheating..is still....Cheating ...isn't it???nt.

[MiddleFingerMom]

10. + a bazillion zillion

[underpants]

9. Just read this - next year we have two classic CLEAN pitchers Maddux (who was better than Clemens)

and Glavine.

good for the baseball writers - Clemens and Bonds are dirtbags...and that doesn't even account for the steroids

[hibbing]

14. Mad Dog

Hi,
Maddux was a fantastic player. He played for so many crappy Cubs teams that I remember watching him losing because they would only score 1 or 2 runs every time he was on the mound it seemed. He would have even more wins if had some decent run support more consistently throughout his career. I guess that could be said about others, but it seemed to be even more so with him.

Peace

[CheapShotArtist]

11. I'm probably in the minority for saying this, but

Bonds probably should have been inducted into the HOF. It requires at least some skill to be able to make contact with the ball and to have such power behind your swings, juicing or not. Even the BALCO founder said on the local news that he should've been inducted.

[Grantuspeace]

13. I agree. Bonds had HOF numbers before the steriod era.

He will get in. It will just take some time.

[PRETZEL]

24. More than likely true

but his numbers would probably be more in the Ken Griffey Jr. range than they are now.

[LynneSin]

15. Then under your criteria so should Pete Rose

I mean he became the all time hits leader BEFORE he started gambling on baseball. And he got those hits without the juice

[Art_from_Ark]

21. You're right

"Charlie Hustle" should finally be inducted into the Hall of Fame

[UncleYoder]

26. You do know

that he never bet against the team he was managing and then proceded to throw the game, right?
Hell, compared to some of those old-timers, Charley Hustle was a saint.

[madinmaryland]

25. "Even the BALCO founder said on the local news that he should've been inducted." That is reason

enough there, that he should never be inducted.

CHEATERS!!

[EastTennesseeDem]

27. That's why it's sad.

The guys in question all had Hall of Fame talent, Bonds being the most exceptional (although did you see McGwire's numbers as a skinny little rookie? Holy sheeeeeit.). They simply gave into the pressure of wanting to keep up with their peers, who did not have their level of skill.

In a way, I sympathize, because sacrificing the juice would probably also mean sacrificing the leg up that they had on those against whom they competed (who also largely were juicing too; they were just doing so with an inherent lack of ability compared to Bonds, Mac, Sosa, Clemens, and Palmeiro).

Pete Rose cheated too. It was a different type of cheating, but he broke the rules. I get that it did not give him an advantage over his competition, but he still disqualified himself.

Although, in my opinion, the right thing was done by the voters, with the exception of not voting in Biggio or Raines (if they had really wanted to make a statement, they would have admitted those who have zero in the way of connection to the controversy)--time will tell if they forgive and contextualize or keep the door shut--Major League Baseball still needs to be ultimately held accountable for this. Some people have blamed the fans for looking the other way; I don't get that. I simply did not even know, although to be fair, I was only eight when McGwire broke the record.

[WooWooWoo]

28. nonsense

it's technology in all respects that gives players an advantage today that they didn't have decades ago.

Medical technology allows players to recover from injuries in months that years ago would have ended careers.

Sports science technology allows players to train in ways that make them bigger, stronger, faster than they would have been decades ago.

Video technology allows the scouting of pitchers and hitters to the point of absurdity, much moreso than what regular scouts had back in the day.

Nutritional technology allows players to eat better and be more efficient year round to prepare themselves for the season.

Glove technology makes fielding ground balls easier. Ever see a baseball glove from the 30s?

Transportation technology makes a 162 game schedule and frequent trips across the country less taxing on the body.



And yes, drugs help make players better today too. Pain killers, cortizone shots, ect. They all help a player do what he's already skilled at, and do it better.

Did steroids help? Of course, but if most of the players of that era were on them, did any of them have a real advantage?