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The 1990s and the 2000s have been dominated by players who have used performance enhancing chemicals. This will forever be known as the steroid era. Just like the spit ball in the early 1900s and amphetamines in the 1970s and 1980s.  The Hall of Fame has a few choices to make and only two are rational. They can ignore the steroid use and just judge the statistics for what they are. Or, they can refuse to let any player from this era into the Hall of Fame.

The Hall of Fame currently has a number of players who have cheated in order to make their statistics better. Ed Walsh was a spitball pitcher who is currently in the Hall of Fame; he has a career ERA of 1.82, the lowest career ERA in the history of the MLB.

Paul Molitor who admitted to drug use, specifically amphetamine use, has 3319 career hits and 234 homeruns, and he was elected to the Hall of Fame. The argument for allowing these players into the Hall is because there was no formal policy against the spit ball, amphetamine use or steroid use during their playing careers.

Molitor and Ed Walsh are two examples of hundreds of players who have had success because they cheated. But yet there are no asterisks or refusals to induct these players into the Hall. This is a double standard.

There is not one knowledgeable person out there who could say Barry Bonds’ statistics would not get him into the Hall. Here is a summary.

In 22 seasons Bonds comprised 2227 runs, 2935 hits, 601 doubles, 77 triples, 762 homeruns, 1,996 RBIs, 514 stolen bases, 2558 walks and 688 intentional walks. These numbers showcase one of the most dominant careers in the history of all sports. Bonds also has a plethora of awards including many gold gloves, silver sluggers and MVP awards. All in all, he was the best player to play the game during his career.  Go here for all of his career stats. http://bit.ly/3ggB3K

Baseball had no policy on steroid use until 2002, a year after Barry Bonds set the major league record at 73 homeruns in one season. It has been widely reported by a number of anonymous sources that Bonds had used steroids. Some people have said the clear and the cream were what he used while others have argued he used Stanozolol, amphetamines or other steroids. The fact is that none of this has been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. All of this is hearsay and from leaked sources.

Leaks from anonymous sources that cite confidential information are neither trustworthy nor relevant.  We have many reasons to be suspicious of the way Bonds bolstered his numbers and his helmet size, but these suspicions have yet to be backed up by irrefutable evidence.

So, these are the reasons why Bonds should get into the Hall, he has the numbers and it is too difficult to single out the players who may have cheated. But what about someone like Alex Rodriquez? A player who admitted to using steroids in their career and who also has great numbers. The fact is that he should be inducted into the Hall of Fame too!

I don’t like it anymore then you do. But baseball went though an era of rampant cheating and steroid use under the auspices of Bud Selig. Because we can’t define the start and end to this era along with every player involved beyond a reasonable doubt we must ignore the cheating.

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