Baseball HOF and PED Ballot Players and my Thoughts on them
- Andrew Curran
- Feb 17, 2022
- 3 min read
As many baseball and sports fans know, MLB has had a very bad history when it comes to Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) and players being put onto the ballot. I’m here to discuss my thoughts on this whole issue. So, before we get into that, the way a baseball player gets onto the Hall of Fame ballot is “Voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.” (desert.com). After you have been on the ballot, you have 10 years to be voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame by the baseball writers with 75% vote percentage or higher, before you're removed from the ballot. Now that was explained, it is time to dive into the steroid era of players who have made it onto the ballot.
During the steroid era, we have a lot of big-name players to discuss here. The biggest one of them all is Barry Bonds. He holds the single season homerun record as well as the all-time homerun record. Now he has never tested positive for a PED, he did acknowledge that he was taking something, but had no clue if steroids or PEDs were in it. Bonds was placed on the ballot, but in the 10 years that gets eligible to be voted in, he did not make it in. For me personally, I 100% agree with this. He used a concoction of drugs obtained through BALCO which is most likely what led him to reach these records. Now yes today’s technology is off the charts and if they can recreate that drug concoction, if it comes out saying that it does not fit under the PED category, then I will change my mind and agree that Bonds should be in the HOF, but for now, I believe he does not deserve it.
The next big-name player in the steroid era is Roger Clemens. Clemens had a 24-year career that included 354 wins and a record holding 7 Cy Young Awards. Now Clemens is another player who never tested positive for PEDs, but his former personal trainer claimed that he injected Clemens with PEDs. Clemens also had denied every statement on his involvement in using PEDs. Clemens is another player who would make it to the HOF ballot, and all 10 years he was on it, he never made it to the HOF. Now I do also agree with this because when you hear a personal trainer come out and say he was told to do this, as well as looking at Clemens numbers in his late 30s and early 40s, they are off the charts for a player of his age. Until more comes out about Clemens, my thoughts on him not being in the HOF will stay the same as he should not be in it.
Now let's talk about all the other big-name guys here as in Gary Sheffield, Andy Pettitte, Manny Ramirez, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro, and Alex Rodriguez. All these players here have at least tested positive once in their careers, and some have even twice. All these players are 0-63 in the HOF Ballot (Sports Illustrated), so we can see here that a line has been drawn that PED players are not welcomed in the HOF. I 100% agree with this line being drawn. Another HOF player and Baseball legend Henry Aaron said “There’s no place in the Hall of Fame for people who cheat. (Sports Illustrated). Now I understand at the time that there were no rules on PEDs at the time and everyone was doing it, but I still don't condone cheating to try and make it into the HOF.
Now there’s some other things I did not touch on like the 2017 Houston Astros scandal, but I believe any player who is a part of that should not be allowed in the HOF until they are proven innocent, then my mind would change for said player(s). Another player we know about is Pete Rose. Now I will not go into much detail on his situation, but I feel he should be in the HOF because he was gambling his own money on other teams and not for the purpose of shaving stat lines. I do agree that PEDs saved the game of baseball, but I still do not condone any of the players who have been caught cheating and should not be allowed in the Baseball HOF.
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