Sound Off: Should Steroid Users Get in the HOF?

[RaychelSnr]

In case you were hiding under a rock this morning (and some of you might've been like me) another year has passed with known steroid users from the height of the steroid era being denied entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

The 2014 Inductees included Gregg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas. Craig Biggio missed the cut by just two votes, and will likely have a real shot at making it in next season.

In what will be the biggest living HOF class since 1941, the three players above will be joined by managers Tony LaRussa, Joe Torre and Bobby Cox.

However, missing from the HOF at this stage are still Barry Bonds and Roger Clemons, each receiving approximately 35% of the votes. Both players should be shoe-ins for the Hall, but thanks to their ties to PEDs both have been shut out by the Baseball Writers Association of America thus far.

Another PED-linked player, Rafael Palmero, will be dropped off of the ballot after receiving less than 5% of the vote needed to keep a player on.

Should PED players get to be in the Hall of Fame? Let us know your thoughts!

[elgreazy1]

One word: Hell no.

[lhslancers]

Since a lot of these writers seem to be making judgment calls on who used how much and when maybe they can dissect a guy's career and see if he was a HOF before they were tested or suspended for use. I don't think steroids were illegal when Bonds used.

TBH I think if a player has the creds to get in he should get in. How many players did Clemens pitch to that were using?

Piazza is going to get screwed because he had back acne? Rumor? Inuendo? I think it's BS. And while they are at the writers should let Rose and Shoeless Joe in the sanctimonious creeps.

[Irishwhiskey119]

Ofcourse they should be in the Hall of Fame.

There will be PED's in sports forever. It will only get more diverse and easier to hide.

[braves_94]

I must be in the minority. But there is no way we can determine, with certainty, who used and who didn't. Just like we don't know if anyone else over the course of the game's history did. And as far as the "character clause" Sean Casey one of the greatest baseball ambassadors, didn't get one vote. You can't just use the clause to penialize somebody, then completely ignore it as a positive. Biggio spent his whole career in Houston and was great to the community. Despite that and the automatic 3,000 hits is supposed to be, he didn't get in in his SECOND ballot. I understand the luster of a first balloter, but come on. How can you justify someone with 3,000, 15th all time in runs, not get in. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens should get in, because you can't use one qualification just for reason not to elect someone. The positive has to count for something. And Sean Casey not getting a single vote is proof positive. Bonds and Clemens were HOF'ers before, and they should get in. And so should Jeff Bagwell and Mike Piazza. Frank Thomas was a first balloter, on what? The strength of his 2 MVPS? Bagwell just had one, but the numbers are insanely similar. So since because Thomas was taller by the good graces of God he gets in?

[DrJones]

Quote: Originally Posted by lhslancers

I think it's BS. And while they are at the writers should let Rose and Shoeless Joe in the sanctimonious creeps.

The writers (and the Veterans Committee) have no say in the matter. Both have been banned by MLB.

[Chip Douglass]

I hate the puritanicals on both sides on the debate: on the one hand, the writers who refuse to vote for the prominent (and obviously statistically qualified) steroid users purely because of their PED use; on the other, the writers who ignore steroid use altogether and vote for candidates based solely on the statistics.

I don't think steroids should be a disqualifier, nor do I think they should be totally ignored. In the case of Bonds, Clemens, and A-Rod in the future, they deserve admission for the simple reason that all 3 are among the greatest players in the history of the game and arguably North American sports as a whole. For that reason alone, they deserve admission and recognition in baseball's premier shrine.

[DrJones]

Yes. Anyone on the ballot should be judged on their on-field accomplishments only. At some point, somebody will get elected to Cooperstown who will later be found to have used PEDs, and the whole thing will come crashing down (the hypocrisy, not the Hall).