11-22-2019, 01:31 PM
https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/...-fame2.htm
As long as candidates are supposed to be judged on criteria that include integrity, character, and sportsmanship, I don't see how you can include someone who is believed to have taken steroids, no matter how good they had been before they started taking steroids. While the statistical "credentials" carry a lot of weight, because this is, after all, baseball, I don't think that those should be the be all and end all of admission to the hall of fame.
I don't have any illusions that everyone in the Hall of Fame is an angel, or that they have to have an impeccable record to gain entrance, but I think the steroid era was a brobdingnagian stain on major league baseball (as doping was to cycling), and in my personal opinion, taking steroids is an important enough breach of integrity and character as to overcome any credentials. We are not talking about depriving them of their livelihood. The Hall of Fame museum is in some ways, a reflection of the best of baseball across the eras. Admitting steroid abusers is messaging that "our very best" can scoff at the rules of baseball and we don't care.
BC
Quote:Voting baseball writers are instructed to judge each candidate on ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contribution to the team or teams on which he played -- as well as to baseball in general.
As long as candidates are supposed to be judged on criteria that include integrity, character, and sportsmanship, I don't see how you can include someone who is believed to have taken steroids, no matter how good they had been before they started taking steroids. While the statistical "credentials" carry a lot of weight, because this is, after all, baseball, I don't think that those should be the be all and end all of admission to the hall of fame.
I don't have any illusions that everyone in the Hall of Fame is an angel, or that they have to have an impeccable record to gain entrance, but I think the steroid era was a brobdingnagian stain on major league baseball (as doping was to cycling), and in my personal opinion, taking steroids is an important enough breach of integrity and character as to overcome any credentials. We are not talking about depriving them of their livelihood. The Hall of Fame museum is in some ways, a reflection of the best of baseball across the eras. Admitting steroid abusers is messaging that "our very best" can scoff at the rules of baseball and we don't care.
BC