Add new comment

Nice one, Doc.
All time hits leader - Pete Rose -- (not in Hall ... gambling)
All time HR leader - Barry Bonds - (Hall? - likely not, steroids)
Single Season HR leader - Bonds - (Hall? - likely not, steroids)
First to 70 HRs - Mark McGwire - (Hall? - nope - PEDs)
7 Cy Young Awards - Clemmons - (Hall? -- likely not, steroids)
You could add Shoeless Joe to the list -- or bring up any number of other "character-challenged" players who have been denied entry.  Of course, if you keep locking out the most productive players for character reasons, who actually ends up IN the Hall? 
This year, Andre Dawson.  Dawson had a nice little career, and was certainly an above average player.  But, why did it take (13?) tries before they let him in?  Well, because he really wasn't THAT good.  Everyone's heard the arguments with basic stats - but what about some of the more modern stats?
Dawson finished with a 119 OPS+.  That ranks 358th on the all-time hitter list, (Sexson is currently sitting at 120).  McGwire finished at 162, (12th all time.
Career offensive winning percentage?  Dawson .5944 (463rd all-time).  McGwire (.737 - 36th all-time).  Mike Sweeney is in slot 442, just fyi.
Adjusted batting wins - Dawson sits at 22.14 (220th all-time - which isn't all that bad.  Mike Hargrove (21.63) ranks 226th.  McGwire is at 54.76, (28th all time).
There are other measures where they end up closer.  There's LOTS of different ways to examine a career.  But, my position is that the more Andre Dawson's that go in, while the Pete Rose's and Mark McGwires, (and likely Barry Bonds), are locked out - the more TRIVIALIZED the baseball HoF becomes. 
=================
How many people out there have ever driven a car over the speed limit?  Just 5 mph?  Didn't get caught?  Why do *YOU* not march down to the police station and hand over $25 for each time you did.  It *IS* against the law.  It *DOES* put lives in jeopardy, (including, but not limited to your own).  It *DOES* set a bad example, which children learn from.
The truth of the Steroids Era is that if a law/rule is *NOT ENFORCED*, it is not a law or rule.  Prior to 1992 steroids weren't illegal.  After that - baseball's policy was that the penalty for illegal drug use was mandatory rehab.  And that didn't change until 2004.  They didn't test.  They didn't punish.  It was an unenforced law -- just like driving 5 mph over the speed limit. 
The excuses are identical.  The detrimental outcomes of speeding are VASTLY more severe and more immediate.  But, fine -- no way for me to prevent all the self-righteous "hang the cheaters" crowd from flogging the players (or me) with their hypocritical rhetoric as they drive home from game with 3 beers in them with the kids in the backseat while ranting on their cell phones about what a bad example those cheating ballplayers are setting for the kids.
=========
There will always be speeders.  There will always be cheaters.  But, at least, today, they are actually policing the issue - while during the entirety of McGwire's career, they weren't.