It Only Takes One Letter to go From Fame to Lame 1/6/11

The National Baseball Hall of Fame announced its inductees this week, and I can’t say I was too surprised, just concerned. Roberto Alomar and Burt Blyleven do deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. Alomar didn’t have a particularly long career by Hall of Fame standards, but he certainly put up impressive numbers in those years. A career .300 hitter with over 2,700 hits, over 400 stolen bases, 10 Gold Gloves, a decade of All-Star selections from 1991-2001, and two World Series titles back to back with the Toronto Blue Jays of 1992 and 1993. He was first on the ballot last year, but was clearly “punished” by the Hall of Fame voters, in their own particular, subjective, ridiculous and self important way because of a spitting incident with an umpire in 1996.
As for Blyleven, his numbers are not particularly mind blowing until you use a bit of perspective. He played 22 seasons, most of them on shitty teams and still he managed to win 287 games. He has 60 that’s right, 60 shutouts, which means he had as many and more complete games, something that no pitcher in this era will ever do, which is why we should not look at his 250 losses too harshly. After years on the ballot, I am happy for the guy.
But it's the snub of Jeff Bagwell that presents the Hall of Fame, the voters, and fans with an odd dilemma. Given the fact that support for admitted users of performance enhancing drugs is tepid to say the least, I think it will be a while before those players are ever considered if at all. Unless of course, the Hall of Fame steps in with some guidelines as to how the so-called “steroid-era” should be viewed when voting in players. And I of course, have an idea as to how that should work should they decide to do it.
Let's go by tiers - The first should players who have actually tested positive after 2004 when a comprehensive testing system was begrudgingly put in place by Major League Baseball. The only player on this level so far is Rafael Palmeiro. And what a loss he would be if not eventually elected. 3000 hits and 500 homeruns are usually an automatic lock for the Hall, and he has both.
The second tier would include players who have never tested positive, but who have admitted to steroid use. Mark McGwire comes to mind here. Having said that, I also believe that in considering both McGwire and Sammy Sosa you should ask yourself, had it not been for the slight extra boost that PEDs gave them would they have had such numbers? How many seasons of their careers were steroid enhanced? If it was one or two years it shouldn’t be a factor (Alex Rodriguez comes to mind here), but if their entire careers were spent using PEDs then they should not be considered.
The third tier (and for the record, this is where I believe it becomes unfair to snub) would be players who have not actually tested positive, but who have so much circumstantial evidence against them that election would be difficult. The major players here are Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, but Juan Gonzales, Ivan Rodriguez and countless others are also on this list.
After that, you really can’t punish any other players, which is why I believe that Bagwell, who certainly has Hall of Fame numbers, is the first casualty of a disorganized, self important voting process; a process unregulated and unchecked by the Hall itself. It is at this point, that players will be unfairly excluded because of the mere opinion of some voters, and not any actual concrete proof, no evidence at all (circumstantial or otherwise), but just the notion that he “looked muscular” during an era where many players used steroids, so he must be guilty. Needless to say, such a ridiculous argument would never see the light of day in a courtroom in the United States. Now of course I acknowledge that the Hall of Fame is not a court of law but a non-government entity that is entitled to admit or reject whomever they choose, but it is subject to that standard that we as Americans hold so dear as to use in any situation possible. The idea that we are all “innocent until proven guilty”
And in the words of President Richard M “tricky Dicky” Nixon, Let me make one thing perfectly clear…I am not suggesting that any player did or did not do anything, but only that a standard of dealing with the so called “steroid era” must be put in place or a lot of innocent players are going to be unfairly excluded.
The easiest thing to do would be to acknowledge that like the amphetamine era of the 60’s and 70’s and the cocaine era of the late 70’s and early 80’s, you have great players that would have been great regardless, and bad players who would have sucked regardless. Factor in that both pitchers and position players were accused, and some players didn’t benefit from PEDs enough to give them Hall of Fame numbers. David Segui and his 139 career homeruns will never get him into the Hall unless he buys a ticket like the rest of us, so maybe it’s not as relevant as we wanna make it out to be.