Just a couple of Hall of Famers busy not getting to be in the Hall of Fame. Mandatory Credit: Brett Davis-USA TODAY Sports

I suspect a large portion of the problem lies in the hands of the bitter, PED-obsessed voting crew Major League Baseball entrusts its historic annals with. Instead of getting to witness several players some of us admired and owned baseball cards of in our youthful years take their rightful places among the game’s greats, we’re getting exactly zero new members of the baseball Hall this year. Zero! I’m just as much for strict entrance guidelines as the next guy, but this most recent ballot was absolutely loaded with deserving candidates.

As I alluded to briefly above, it really seems as if MLB’s Hall voters are out of touch with the game today. If there is so much as a whispered rumor by a drunk fan in front of a urinal trough that a player used steroids, you’d better believe that player will never pass muster with the voters once his career has ended. For a group that seems bothered and daunted by the prospect of learning a stat that wasn’t in newspapers a half-century ago, it seems curious that such rapt attention is devoted to sports-related tabloid rumors.

Oh, and if rumor mongering isn’t enough to convince you that something has to change, what about those delightful writers who take it upon themselves to hop up on their imaginary thrones and vote for no one each and every season out of some sort of ill-conceived respect to the original Hall of Fame classes? Can you even imagine being that terrible at your job and getting to keep it? No research is done, no numbers are crunched, and no brain activity is necessary. These writers and alleged historians scoff at every fan out there who believes a baseball player has had a right to greatness beyond the prohibition era.

Seriously, some of these omissions are just shocking. Craig Biggio had an incredible career and stands among the best at his position in the history of the sport, and yet he didn’t get through Cooperstown’s gates. Biggio doesn’t have a speck of dirt on him, but not even his clean bill of media health even seemed to matter when it came time for ballot punching. I’m in the crowd perfectly willing to let the jaw-dropping work of Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens stand for itself, but at least those taking a stance against known steroid users are, well, taking a stance at all. Keeping out players like Biggio and voting more heavily for the mediocre stylings of Jack Morris is just embarrassing.

I grew up as a baseball fan in the 90′s, and I can’t help it that I want to see the stars of my generation get something resembling fair treatment. I’m not going to waste any time getting on my “disregard PEDs” soapbox (not for now, anyway), but I am going to demand better of Major League Baseball when it comes to honoring its legends. It wholly seems that the sport is getting further away from justice when it comes to cementing its legacy, and witch hunts don’t make fans choke up quite like seeing a hometown hero take the podium five years after a storied career. Let’s do something different so that recent, current, and future generations of fans and players get what they want and what they deserve. If Ken Griffey, Jr. isn’t getting a plaque made in a few years, all hell’s going to break loose. I didn’t save this 1995 Wheaties box for nothing.

If Brian’s writing strikes your fancy, read his work at StanGraphs and follow him on Twitter at @vaughanbasepct.

I have heard some voters say they will never vote for anyone whom they suspect of taking PEDs. I have heard some voters say they will not vote for anyone whom they suspect of taking PEDs this year, but might change their mind in the future. (Not sure I get that approach). The most extreme view I have heard is that a voter will not support the candidacy of anyone who played during what he considers to be the steroid era, whether there was even a hint of the player being tainted. That sounds completely unfair. (more…)

Let the man take the podium, voters! Mandatory Credit: Ford McClave-US PRESSWIRE

I know not everyone agrees with me on this, but there is absolutely no guarantee that taking steroids will do much of anything in terms of on-the-field ability. Plenty of players have been found out as steroid users, and the majority have been far from elite performers. We have no scientific evidence suggesting that steroids even do anything for a baseball player; maybe the added strength means the ball will travel a bit farther, but it isn’t like the hitter doesn’t still have to get the head of the bat on the ball and judge the strike zone. The only point I’m truly willing to concede is that steroids can help with healing from injuries and perhaps avoiding them in the first place. Big deal.

Even if you’re into the whole steroid crusade thing, hear me out on Bonds. You’ve surely read all the arguments before, but with the man’s Hall of Fame induction hinging on the bloodthirsty baseball writers of yore, it seems prudent to discuss Bonds’ resume once again. First off, we have the cold hard facts. Bonds may have played in an era rampant with steroid use and/or a juiced ball. I don’t care. Eras throughout history have included plenty of advantageous moves by players, and some of the heralded superstars of our past had the advantage of only playing against other white players in a segregated game.

Bonds excelled in the era he played; that’s all he could do. But he didn’t just merely excel, he broke Hank Aaron‘s all-time home run record with 762 long balls and put together a string of seasons that simply defy reason. Bonds broke the single season home run record in 2001 with a robust 73; in that season he hit .328/.515/.863. Little did we know at the time, he had two better seasons still waiting in the wings, at least when it comes to OPS. Bonds posted a 1.381 OPS the following season and then a 1.422 OPS two years after that when he just so happened to get on base at a .609 clip. I can’t imagine seeing that again. No matter what you think of him, that run can’t at all be entirely attributed to steroids, and the deity-like approach at the plate he showed is just about unprecedented.

But I have to convince the steroid preachers, so let’s look back a bit. Wouldn’t everyone in their right mind have given Bonds their approval for the Hall back before his insane run and physical bulk up? Before the 2001 season ever got underway, Bonds was a career .289/.412/.567 hitter with 494 career home runs under his belt. He also happened to have stolen 471 career bases and have a career OPS+ of 165 despite what the rest of the league was doing. All inner-circle years aside, Barry Bonds was already a no doubt Hall of Fame player before there was anything to argue about.

I know the argument has been made before, but hear me out one last time. If you want to remain rigid about steroids and condemn every player caught using them or even rumored to have used them, then I know your mind can’t be changed about the last few magnificent seasons of Bonds’ career. But look at those first 15 seasons, remember what a dynamic and incredible Barry Bonds was, and then realize he was one of the very best players you have ever seen even before there was cause to doubt him. Barry Bonds was that good whether or not he gets the enshrinement he deserves.

If Brian’s writing strikes your fancy, read his work at StanGraphs and follow him on Twitter at @vaughanbasepct.

Bonds, Clemens and Sosa clearly have the statistical qualifications to be first-ballot Hall of Famers. But we are about to find out if reputation counts more than numbers in the minds of voters, if enough voters think they got away with cheating even if the cases made against each man have only grown murkier in the light of courtrooms and testimony. Does suspicion trump proof? Is truth somewhere in-between fact and hunch? (more…)