selso wrote:cameronkl7 wrote:I don't think any of the players that have been proven to have taken steroids should ever even be allowed to visit the hall of fame, it's time to clean house in sports, just my opinion.
Cam
I second that
I don't know if I agree. I think you can call records from other eras into question as well. Was Babe Ruth really playing against the best of the best as he didn't play in a fully integrated league? Many of the pitching records were set when the mound was 6 inches higher (Bob Gibson's dominance forced MLB to lower it). Baseball has evolved over the years so it's not fair to compare stats and players across eras, and therefore, not fair to single out something different about the era and declare that they can't be in the HOF as a result.
I honestly feel hypocritical (and MLB should too) screaming about steroids in baseball because steroids put baseball back on the map. I turned my back on baseball after 94 like a number of other fans did. What brought me back? McGwire and Sosa...everyone knew they were juicin'...and no one cared because we all wanted a reason to watch baseball again. The casual fan loves the long ball (I dig the fundamentals and "small ball" because I grew up watching the Twins...and that's all they've ever played), so MLB, owners, and players looked the other way when it came to steroid use because: more HRs=more fans=more ticket/merchandise sales=more profit to team owners and higher salaries for the players. Basically, MLB and players put a product out there that we wanted...how can we be so irrate about steroid use now?
Don't get me wrong, I wish roids had never become a part of the game so players like Griffey, who most people believe did it the "right" way, could have been highlighted even more. We will never be able to separate users from non-users so I don't think steroids should be a factor in HOF voting. Now, with better testing procedures etc, we can be more confident that users will be caught (except HGH users) and then we could start keeping roid users out.
"Do or do not, there is no try." Yoda