Earlier today, the 2013 MLB Hall of Fame ballot was released. At first, the ballot doesn't seem too out of the ordinary -- guys like Jack Morris and Don Mattingly are making their 14th and 13th appearances, respectively -- but there are three names on the ballot that, if inducted, could alter the course of the Baseball Hall of Fame: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Sammy Sosa.
Dubbed the Baseball Hall of Fame's "Doping Class," the 2013 class could potential include some of the most controversial names of all time. Now, none of the three aforementioned men (Bonds, Clemens, and Sosa) have ever technically been outed as steroid users, but it's hard to overlook the indictments and ballooning numbers, coming in an era where many of the top players (guys like Mark McGuire, Jason Giambi, and Rafael Palmeiro) were admitted steroid users. These three men were key cogs in an era where records were effortlessly toppled and baseball players began to look like caricatures of what a baseball player had looked like. This era -- the steroid era -- forever tainted the game of baseball and has created a black cloud over what could have been one of the game's most cherished eras, with all the excellent talents that had been around.
Now, knowing how difficult it has been for Mark McGuire to get votes, this should be, at best, an uphill battle for Bonds, Clemens, and Sosa -- at least for the next few years. Regardless, these men -- Bonds and Clemens, in particular -- are some of the greatest players of all time and will likely make it into the hall some day. That being said, the Baseball Hall of Fame could cause a domino effect by inducting these men and would alienate certain members of the hall and a large group of fans, who would like nothing more than to erase these men and their era from the annals of history.
So, should Bonds, Clemens, and Sosa be considered as viable choices for the Hall of Fame and would your perception of the hall change if these three men were inducted?
Personally, while I despise PEDs and the fact that they made the game of baseball look so dirty, I can't imagine that Bonds and Clemens (if not Sosa, too) won't make it into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Bonds and Clemens were too dominant and hold too big of a part in history to overlook, even if they were aided by steroids. I would most certainly look at them -- and the hall -- a little differently than I did before, though. The hall of fame, in any sport, is reserved for those who made a considerable impact on the game and were some of the best to ever play. While Bonds, Clemens, and Sosa fit the bill, they don't really fit it in the same sense that Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Cal Ripken, or Jackie Robinson do.
Something about seeing Bonds, Clemens, and Sosa rub elbows with all the other members of the hall would just off-putting. In a sense, it would almost undermine the achievements of those before them and, in effect, embrace the steroid era. I'm not sure I want that example to placed forth for future generations of fans and players alike, especially because those men (Bonds, Clemens, and Sosa) knowingly broke the rules to get ahead, while all the others in the hall got there naturally.
Dubbed the Baseball Hall of Fame's "Doping Class," the 2013 class could potential include some of the most controversial names of all time. Now, none of the three aforementioned men (Bonds, Clemens, and Sosa) have ever technically been outed as steroid users, but it's hard to overlook the indictments and ballooning numbers, coming in an era where many of the top players (guys like Mark McGuire, Jason Giambi, and Rafael Palmeiro) were admitted steroid users. These three men were key cogs in an era where records were effortlessly toppled and baseball players began to look like caricatures of what a baseball player had looked like. This era -- the steroid era -- forever tainted the game of baseball and has created a black cloud over what could have been one of the game's most cherished eras, with all the excellent talents that had been around.
Now, knowing how difficult it has been for Mark McGuire to get votes, this should be, at best, an uphill battle for Bonds, Clemens, and Sosa -- at least for the next few years. Regardless, these men -- Bonds and Clemens, in particular -- are some of the greatest players of all time and will likely make it into the hall some day. That being said, the Baseball Hall of Fame could cause a domino effect by inducting these men and would alienate certain members of the hall and a large group of fans, who would like nothing more than to erase these men and their era from the annals of history.
So, should Bonds, Clemens, and Sosa be considered as viable choices for the Hall of Fame and would your perception of the hall change if these three men were inducted?
Personally, while I despise PEDs and the fact that they made the game of baseball look so dirty, I can't imagine that Bonds and Clemens (if not Sosa, too) won't make it into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Bonds and Clemens were too dominant and hold too big of a part in history to overlook, even if they were aided by steroids. I would most certainly look at them -- and the hall -- a little differently than I did before, though. The hall of fame, in any sport, is reserved for those who made a considerable impact on the game and were some of the best to ever play. While Bonds, Clemens, and Sosa fit the bill, they don't really fit it in the same sense that Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, Lou Gehrig, Babe Ruth, Cal Ripken, or Jackie Robinson do.
Something about seeing Bonds, Clemens, and Sosa rub elbows with all the other members of the hall would just off-putting. In a sense, it would almost undermine the achievements of those before them and, in effect, embrace the steroid era. I'm not sure I want that example to placed forth for future generations of fans and players alike, especially because those men (Bonds, Clemens, and Sosa) knowingly broke the rules to get ahead, while all the others in the hall got there naturally.
