As suspected PED users continue to increase their vote totals on the Hall of Fame ballot, there have been questions as to whether or not rule changes will be made in regards to the election process. Expect the status quo to remain.
Confirmed and suspected PED users are beginning to see an uptick in their support on the Hall of Fame ballot. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens both inched past the 50% threshold during the most recent balloting, and Manny Ramirez had a relatively strong debut. PED suspicions dogged two of the newest inductees, with Ivan Rodriguez and Jeff Bagwell both having their accomplishments questioned, despite no evidence of usage.
Naturally, there has been debate as to how these players should be handled in regards to the Hall. We saw a rule put into place after Pete Rose was banned for life that excluded him enshrinement. Of course, the question of whether or not a specific rule or set of guidelines would be put in place for these players has begun to crop up.
For their part, the Hall of Fame has stated that there will not be any changes to their current rules. Players like Bonds, Clemens, Ramirez, and others that have been touched by PED allegations, will continue to have their candidacy judged the same as everyone else. It is up to the individual voters to determine how they want to consider the candidates.
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This is exactly how these candidates should be handled. If the voters could laugh at the antics of players like Gaylord Perry and Don Sutton, who cheated on the way to their Hall of Fame careers, then why the double standard? Besides, how many other pitchers were throwing the spitter or the scuff ball? At least these players were juicing as part of the Steroid Era.
That does not mean that the Hall should not give their careers context. In 2015, as part of the “Whole New Ballgame” part of the museum. There, an honest reaction to the rampant PED usage, and the accomplishments of that time, was added. This way, visitors could make their own judgments as to how much the game was impacted.
Regardless of how one views PED users, the Hall of Fame is a place where those players who performed above and beyond their peers are immortalized. It is a place for the greatest players to be celebrated, especially if they played within the rules at the time. And that is exactly what players like Bonds and Clemens did.
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The Hall of Fame will likely induct a PED user in the near future. And that is perfectly fine.