Baseball, Drugs, and the Hall of Fame

Leaving performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) out of the equation for a moment, and looking at the raw numbers alone, here’s a list of eligible players sorted by career WAR (I also looked at the trendy JAWS but didn’t like it).

http://www.sports-reference.com/blog/2013-hall-of-fame-candidates-bbwaa-ballot/

Now let’s talk PEDs. I’ve thought long and hard about it, and here’s where I land: Players who may have used PEDs should be allowed into the Hall of Fame. MLB is the one that should be blamed.

Cheating Isn’t New, But MLB’s Response Was

Cheating has always been a part of baseball: spitballs, greenies, corked bats, sign stealing, pine tar, scuffed balls, you name it. PEDs were just the latest method.

It’s MLB’s responsibility to recognize, manage, and punish cheaters. It’s MLB’s responsibility to a) monitor players to ensure fair play, b) enforce clear rules and bans, and c) create consequences for violations. MLB busted Joe Jackson and Pete Rose for offenses so malicious that they were banned from the game and Hall of Fame forever. OK, that kind of cheating is bad. Got it.

But when it comes to PEDs? MLB never busted Bonds or Clemens or McGwire or Bagwell. And when a big name, Rafael Palmeiro, finally got busted, his wrist-slap included a 10-day suspension. That’s it. He finished the season with the Orioles like nothing happened. Easier for MLB to turn a blind eye to offensive explosions that were generating buzz, driving ratings, and bringing fans to the ballpark.

We are now post-career for most of these guys, and their windows for Hall of Fame eligibility are finally opening but quickly closing. It is now, during this critical time, that fans and writers are expected to urgently negotiate this moral dilemma. Should we let them in? Is PED use cheating? Is it worse than other forms of cheating? What proof is there? Can test results be trusted?

Clouding the issue are players who have admitted using PEDs during their player careers. Is that noble? Does an admission pave the way to the Hall of Fame? My take is that post-career admissions are cowardly. Not as cowardly as those who never admit it at all, but still cowardly. You’ve played your career, cashed your checks, cheated your fans. True integrity would have meant coming clean during your career, when there was something to lose.

Let’s say a criminal confesses his crimes after committing them but before he’s caught. Is that noble? No. He’s be taken into custody, tried in court, and punished to the fullest extent of the law.

What is MLB doing with admitted PED users? Giving them jobs as batting coaches, TV commentators, and respected ambassadors of the game. MLB is altogether staying out of the discussion of whether or not these players should be enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Easier to let fans and writers clean up the mess.

What Now?

My take is that the players cheated, but MLB cheated harder by refusing to take a moral stance on PED use and instead turn a blind eye for profit. So let them in. Bonds, Clemens, McGwire, A-Rod, even Palmeiro. Let them in, not because they were clean, but because they were historic. They shaped the game, drove ratings, filled stadiums, and defined an era, an era that MLB willfully allowed to happen.

The Hall of Fame is already filled with problematic figures. Let’s stop pretending it’s a cathedral of virtue. It’s a museum, one that has taken an odd stance on suspected PED users. At least one Barry Bonds home run ball lives there, but not the man himself. So what are we talking about, here? These players, and their PED use, is part of baseball’s story.

As fans, let’s sit back and enjoy watching the best players from our generation, PEDs and all, go into the Hall of Fame without being burdened by the responsibility of moral judgment and punishment. It’s not our job to protect the Hall. It’s MLB’s job to protect the game, and it didn’t. It’s MLB, not the players, that should be judged and punished for dropping the ball.

Let ’em in, and then let’s all agree that the Hall of Fame doesn’t mean anything anymore, thanks to MLB.

Thoughts on Specific Players

Jeff Bagwell
His stance was unusual, but there was nothing special about it that helped him hit home runs. Note how few he hit in the minors and early career with essentially the same stance. Given his minor league stats, the fact that he hit substantially more home runs AFTER the traditional power peak of age 27-28, and his notable change in body appearance, I’d bet that Bagwell did steroids. Regardless, for reasons stated above, I think he belongs in the HOF.

Barry Bonds
An obvious user. No player in history had as great a resurgence as he did after age 34. It was unprecedented and unnatural.

None of other players who have used steroids were as good as Bonds. Without steroids, McGwire may have been an above average hitter, Sosa likely would have been below average (at least their minor league numbers seem to suggest this).

And all those MVP awards? How can he be morally sound enough to be voted the league’s best player 7 times but be prohibited from being recognized as one of the best players in baseball history?

Jose Canseco
You may call him an opportunist, but I call him a breath of fresh air. He was the first guy to speak openly about it, and you can argue that his 2005 book blew the cover off the Steroid Era. I’m surprised no serious attempts on his life have been made.

Roger Clemens
With pitchers, things get a bit murky. There are lots of opinions about how PEDs help pitchers, but here’s mine: Steroids make pitchers stronger, but it also makes them more susceptible to injury. Muscles simply become too strong for the tendons that attach them to bones. Look at how many young, muscle-bound pitchers blow their arms out these days.

Perhaps the careful use of HGH prolongs a pitcher’s career by allowing him to recover/heal more quickly, and this may have been how Clemens and other pitchers have unnaturally extended their careers.

I’ve heard rumors that his 50 game hiatus in 2006 was actually time served for steroid conviction swept under the rug. I’m not saying that happened, but it seems to fit nicely.

Mark McGwire
Proof that MLB just doesn’t care. After admitting to steroid use throughout his career in 2010, he became hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals. Disgusting.

David Ortiz
OK, there’s no publicly failed drug test or confession. But look at his career progression. Decent player with the Twins (0.9 WAR/162 G), tenuously holding onto a job until age 27, and then he blew up with the Red Sox (4.4 WAR/162 G) to become one of the game’s greatest hitters from age 27 to 40, retiring when as still one of the best bats in baseball. Has anyone had a career shaped like that before?

Manny Ramirez
Got busted. Three times. Idiot.

Alex Rodriguez
Might have been one of the best players in history without steroids. Now he’s just another asterisk who, by the way, is now a respected commentator and frequent voice on how the game should be played.