Bonds begins HOF campaign

I respectfully disagree. I would put Ruth in the top five.

 

It's kind of sad because Pirates era Bonds (even early Giants ere Bonds) could make a case for the hall. Steroids Bonds so successfully stamped out his former self, that no one will even consider the prolific base stealer and gold glove outfielder any more. Absolutely should not be in the hall because his records are tainted and he's kind of a douche, but still a shame.

 

On what merit? Ruth was a much better fielder and baserunner than his portly physique leads many to think, and he's got Bonds in several of the most important offensive statistics. And there's that whole thing where he was an elite pitcher.

 

This criterion argues that Joe Jackson and Pete Rose should be in the HoF also. Do you support their candidacy too?

 

I'd wait until all of those who competed in the era are done, then have a special "Steroids and Cheaters" class one year. Let them all be linked forever.
If you make it in then?
Great. If not? Sorry, it never happens.

 

If we believe that museums are there to enlighten greater truths on our past (which may or may not be what museums actually do in practice, but it's a nice ideal to shoot for), why not let players like Bonds, Clemens, etc. in but don't shy away from highlighting all parts of their legacy? Mention their accomplishments on their plaques but also mention the fact that they were implicated or tried or convicted for various issues relating to PEDs. If Barry Bonds doesn't want his plaque to include mention of BALCO and his trial, that's fine - he doesn't have to be there for the ceremony or he can withdraw his name from candidacy.

Or he can show up and watch as 99 percent of the crowd gathered responds to his induction with stone silence. That works too.

 

That's great except we're going to have to lift Brett, Molitor, Yount, Larkin, Henderson, Rice, Gossage, Gwynn, Ripken ... basically anyone who crafted a resume at any time after the mid-1980s is going to have to step back out.

 

I'd be less surprised to find out that Ty Cobb was oxidizing his blood before every at-bat in 1907 than that Tony Gwynn used steroids. But your point is valid.

 

I'm just saying put ARod, Bonds, McGwire, Clemens and whomever else in together in the same class, not everybody who played in the era.

 

I'd really like to see the National Baseball Hall of Fame produce a documentary chronicling the "steroid era" in baseball and have it play in one of the galleries inside the Hall. Be fair but honest about it and dig into what happened that led to the explosion of PEDs and the resulting cartoonish inflation of hitting stats in the era. Leave it playing so kids 50 years from now will know how things went down and can judge the players from the era that are in the Hall accordingly.

 

I realize, of course, that the likelihood of that video being shown at the Hall of Fame is roughly the same as the Ronald Reagan Library screening a Michael Moore film.