The Sultan of Swat & The Slugger of Certainty!
When Babe Ruth hit them, they were “no doubters,” home runs that left the yard with great certainty, big blasts that left no doubt they were departing the field from the very first crack of the bat. And when the Babe hit them, there was also no doubt that he took them out in spite of his poor physical appearance and apparent lack of conditioning, and in over-riding reaction to any most recent intake of alcohol, nicotine, or high fat food.
No one paid as much attention to Hank Aaron while he was doing it too, but Henry’s quiet home run march to the head of the pack in the early 1970s was also regarded with nothing less than respect from all his non-racist fans. It only drew a crowd once people, and especially the KKK-minded folks, realized that Aaron was on his way to passing Ruth, but it was no less an honorable journey as an individual accomplishment all the way.
Then everything changed in the early 21st century when Barry Bonds passed both Hank Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714) to register his record-breaking 762 long balls. By the Bonds era, all eyes were steadfast and fixed upon the steroid question and players with enormous muscles and large bulging heads. And when the formerly young and slim man named Barry Bonds hit number 762, it was like watching a ripped Giant Godzilla bobble head trotting around the bases in strutting celebration.
Bonds and the other list of suspect sluggers from the “Roids to Ruin” era in baseball history have already been convicted of steroids abuse in the public mind, even if none have yet to be found guilty in a court of law. Where this all leads eventually, I’m really not sure. I just don’t think it leads to enshrinement in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
I think the public mind convictions have already been sealed against home run sluggers Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmiero, and Sammy Sosa. I’m not as certain about Alex Rodriguez, even though he actually has admitted to brief past steroid use while the others mentioned previously have either denied it, cried innocence, blamed it on trainers, or simply refused to talk about it.
Roger Clemens is the biggest non-slugger name on the public-mind-conviction list in this issue and most probably also will suffer the same fate as the others: denial from the Hall of Fame because of suspected, but not necessarily proven steroid abuse.
I don’t see any other way this is turning out. Do you? And I think MLB still holds on to the denial-driven fantasy that it will just go away over time. Meanwhile, one of the avoidance paths baseball may take is to simply avoid the larger question: Should conviction of steroid abuse keep an otherwise qualified player out of the Hall of Fame? Instead of taking an active position, they will allow their voting minions to simply settle the matter by not voting for Barry Bonds or the others on that list.
Not voting for Bonds may look like an active MLB position, but it isn’t. It’s the weasel route.
The problem with the “weasel route” is that we don’t know for sure how low and for long it will float down the list of future candidates. How many future eligible players will be denied a vote because a few voting weasel writers have a flickering thought that the guy looked too muscular to have come by his skills and accomplishments honestly?
Check out the list of Baseball’s top 100 career home run leaders and, without regard for who’s already in and who’s not, ask yourself: Is there anyone else on the list who might have trouble getting HOF votes because of his appearance during his prime playing days?
I see a few, but I don’t want to spoil your own impressions by offering mine here. The question here is for you: Are there other top sluggers from this list who may be kept from the HOF because they register in the public memory as suspected steroids users?
Please record any comments you may have below as comments on this article. Here’s the list:
Top 100 Career Home Run Hitters through 2010:
2010 HR totals are shown on above list in parentheses after active player names.
The Pecan Park Eagle 
November 7, 2010 at 8:57 pm |
Your article raises the question of how people are voted into the Hall of Fame. Under HOF rules, only members of the Baseball Writers Association of America are eligible to vote. Rule 3E clearly states: “Any player on (Major League) Baseball’s ineligible list will not be an eligible candidate.” Of course, good luck finding that list. We know Shoeless Joe and Pete Rose are on it, but I don’t know who else is. I do know who is not on the list — McGwire, Sosa, Clemens, Bonds, Palmeiro etc. As long as Major League Baseball doesn’t put any of those players on the “ineligible” list, then MLB has no direct control over whether any of them will go into the HOF. It’s won’t be up the Hall of Fame either. It entirely will be up to the baseball writers. (Voting on veterans from more than 20 years ago is a whole other matter.) And the HOF rules do instruct the voters to consider “integrity, sportsmanship (and) character” in making their votes. I know it seems as if MLB is taking the “weasel route,” but what else can MLB do as long as they don’t put Bonds, Clemens etc on the ineligible list? And what else should the HOF do? Should they remove integrity, sportsmanship and character from the voting criteria? Should they appoint someone other than the baseball writers to vote? I agree there is controversy on how the HOF members are chosen. I’m just not sure what a better system would look like.