Sound Off: Should Steroid Users Get in the HOF?

[Money99]

gsize19, I really enjoyed your post.
But let me ask you this; what if a kid doesn't want to use PEDs due to moral, ethical or medical reasons?
Maybe they don't want any longterm medical problems from using?
So now, if you allow certain PEDs, that kid is already behind the 8-ball. He might never earn an MLB paycheck because he's doing it clean while everyone else looks like a T-Rex on the field.

Not only that, but if one of my kids were on the cusp, I'd hate for them to risk their health in order to make a living at baseball by using drugs.

I too was enthralled by the HR race in 98. But I'll be honest with you, now that I know the truth, I wish it never happened. And if knew about it at that time, I wouldn't have watched one game.

[Clarke99]

They should all go in so this topic doesn't come up every year.
Separate wing in the HOF for the users, like it or not they dominated the sport in that era you cant just take that away. Cheating sure, its not like players in the 70's weren't on speed or "greenies" also we all knew they were juicing and we still watched, hell I was in grade school in the 90's I knew hands down they were using steroids but now its a big deal, Just put them in. one year lets just say 2017 at the same time put in all that had great careers with no Ceremony

Bonds
Clemens
McGuire
etc...

[CoachDavid]

I love sports but its just games we play. We play when we are young and grow old. The hall of fame will not change the fact that they cheated to get rich. Now there rich... Oh well.

[12]

I used to be 100 percent opposed to PED users gaining admission into the Hall of Fame, but I've backed off on that quite a bit and I am simply indifferent on all of it now.

I would think that the Hall would be a portrait into baseball's history. The good, the bad, the ugly. We're kidding ourselves if we believe that baseball has ever been completely clean and pure. It hasn't. It has been a game marred with scandal, controversy and extreme racism, just to mention a few black marks.

I don't like that the steroid era happened, but it did. It's now part of the game's history. I guess I have always looked at it somewhat like this - to me, baseball is a perfect game. Absolutely perfect. The people that are inside of it, including fans, are not.

The part that I hate is players who have never tested positive on an MLB administered test have been blackballed. That is wrong.

This article about Mickey Mantle changed my thought process quite a bit. A commenter of that article said something like, "The voters are a joke and are making it so no one cares about the Hall of Fame." I think he's not far from the truth because I once cared and now I think it's been cheapened to nearly its death.

The thing I do despise is the players who get caught and deny, deny, deny. It's the same thing with Pete Rose. He was a great player, but he vehemently lied for what, 15 years? That doesn't take away from what he did on the field, but in the eyes of many, it makes him unlikeable. Look at Andy Pettitte. He got caught, he owned it, and it was done. He didn't shake his finger at Congress and look other men in the eye and lie like a raging lunatic. He didn't act like Ryan Braun. It's those players that rub me the wrong way. We all know it was prevalent in the era, so why lie about it? So many of these guys are great players without the juice, but if you get popped, come clean and own it. Then people can typically move on.

[mb625]

I think 12 makes a great point. Baseball is purely a product of its era and in this particular era of baseball PED use was widespread and not just limited to the best players.

In terms of baseball being a product of its era, let's look at the spitball. It was outlawed in 1920, however, players like Burleigh Grimes were grandfathered in and they were doing something that was illegal for everyone else and guys like Gaylord Perry did it for their entire careers long after the ban was in effect. Notice the parallel here. PED users were also doing something that was illegal by the laws of the game. Now, is anyone going to sit here and say that Burleigh Grimes or Gaylord Perry is unworthy of being in the hall? Probably not.

So, is PED use right? Absolutely not. It should be banned, gotten rid of and otherwise purged from major league baseball. However, when there is a level playing field, with plenty of players who have been known to use PEDs, you have to recognize the fact that the feats these players achieved are worthy of inclusion in the Hall. I wouldn't be opposed to raising the mythical "standards" of what a Hall of Famer is for these kinds of guys, but guys like Bonds are, to me, impressive enough to merit inclusion in the Hall, because baseball is a product of its era, and this era just so happened to be marked with PED use.

[TripleCrown9]

Personally I could start juicing right now, and never hit a Stephen Strasburg fastball. So for me, yes steroid users should get into the Hall of Fame. Sure it made them faster and hit the ball farther, but so what? That made games more exciting.

[BDKiiing]

Bonds and Rocket belong in.

[TripleCrown9]

Quote: Originally Posted by bdolski

Bonds and Rocket belong in.

Just curious, but why not McGwire?