I must admit that I do not get caught up in the Baseball Hall of Fame voting. It’s good material for sports talk radio debates (or in the case of Mike Francesa sports talk radio monologues) but the whole voting process is a little inexact and there has always been a considerable amount of judgment applied in the individual voting. Griffey was a no-brainer – one of the top players in his era and would have likely shattered all the records if his body had held up. The perception is that he was “clean” along the lines of Derek Jeter.
Mike Piazza was the top offensive catcher and statistically, you can’t argue whether he belongs. There have always been whispers about PED use with him – see “backne” issues and his elusive and vague answers about whether he ever used them. I mean hitting 450-foot homeruns to the opposite field flat-footed with no stride is unusual. But as is the case with most of these guys, there is no smoking gun.
It does seem like players such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are starting to pick up more votes now from the baseball writers. Again, there are no clear guidelines on whether suspected PED users should get in or not. Neither of them failed a drug test and while there are lots of stories out there, nothing has officially “stuck.” From SU’s standpoint, I would keep them out but I believe over time, we will start to see these players admitted to the HOF.
SU believes that Derek Jeter can now play a valuable role here through his Players’ Tribune web site. Let the players sign on to a letter of admission on the Players’ Tribune site, in their own words, and as a group confess to what they did. Once and for all, case closed. Pick a date when it’s published and get them all to sign.
A question for the intergalactic SU fan base: If Bonds and Clemens eventually get in, will we ever see A-Rod in there? His numbers are as good or better than anyone’s for his position. He was certainly much clumsier about his cheating. From my perspective, in terms of who did what, he falls in the same category as Bonds and Clemens and for that matter, David Ortiz. No clear factual evidence but lots of circumstantial evidence. The question becomes where do you draw the line?
Sports Update Intergalactic 
I honestly don’t think Bonds and Clemens will ever get in. 75% is an awfully high hurdle. A-Rod won’t either. Or Manny. And probably not Oritz when you combine the PED cloud with the anti-DH bias. And I’m fine with all of that.
I’m just satisfied that these are two all time greats. The kind of players you tell your grandkids about. To me that’s the HOF standard and some years it’s not met. (I’m not looking forward to the day a young fan asks me, “what was it like getting to watch Craig Biggio play.”)
Griffey was on pace to be the greatest player ever which, in this case, makes up for a disappointing, injury-hampered late career. (Here come the Mattingly fans.)
Piazza was absolutely awful defensively but his offensive numbers are through the roof. This is a little bit of a problem because many of his offensive numbers will be amplified because he played catcher. The question is, if you’re a terrible catcher, should that negate the “great hitter for a catcher” argument? In his case, I don’t think so. He was just that good a hitter. Still, if they’re willing to overlook defense, it’s time to start talking about Edgar Martinez.
There is a softening on the steroids guys but not at a rate that will make a difference. McGwire drops off the ballot this year and Clemens and Bonds are still far from 75%. By the standard in my first paragraph above, they need to be in the Hall of Fame. The fact is that we will never know who cheated and when and how. But we do know that there will be families walking the floor of the Hall of Fame and grandparents are going to be struggling to recount the exploits of Biggio while never being asked about Bonds. They will be asked about what Bert Blyleven did on the mound and not be asked about Clemens. To me, that’s just not fair to the fans. Baseball charged me money to watch McGwire and Bonds and Clemens. They should not ask me now to forget them.
Agree – don’t think Bonds and Clemens will make the cut as they are among the first. Could potentially see a bit of softening for ARod, depending on how much longer he plays, but not likely.
Another thing about the voting which is conducted by baseball writers. These are the same writers that were allegedly “covering” these athletes during the steroids era. They had access to these players, the training facilities, locker rooms, planes, buses and hotels.
You only need to read a few pages of the Mitchell report to see that players were openly discussing PEDs as well as making frequent PED transactions among themselves and with outside parties. During the “steroid era” how many baseball writers exposed PEDs. The only story I can recall was the one that uncovered andro in McGwire’s locker. Other than that, writers were generally silent on PEDs while others may have been complicit by participating in the ridicule of someone like Jose Canseco who turned out to be a truth teller.
Many baseball writers had to know what was going on and chose to make their living ignoring while ignoring it. These are the same people who are keeping players out of the Hall of Fame. Nobody is innocent here so we might as well let suspected PED users into the Hall. This way the Hall of Fame is an accurate representation of the greatness that took place on the field. Personally, I would rather walk the floor of the Hall of Fame and tell my kids about how Barry Bonds had some of the greatest seasons anyone has ever seen and tarnished his reputation by cheating than have to come up with something to say about Craig Biggio.
Seth, I have always wondered about the sports writers and PEDs. How could they not see anything? They are in the clubhouse all the time before and after games. I think you raise an excellent point about credibility here.
On an unrelated topic, I was refreshing my knowledge of which draft picks the Knicks still retained and decided to take a look at Brooklyn’s upcoming draft situation. Wow. They have traded everything away or given the option to swap picks when they were prohibited from trading the pick for the next 4 – 5 years. I know they thought they were going to be awesome and that those picks were going to be low first rounders – but the way that things are playing out, they are likely to all be lottery picks going to someone else.