January 6th, 2016 at 6:00 am 
by Ron Cervenka It’s going to happen eventually. A known or highly suspected PED user is going to make into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. And once that first guy gets in – most likely Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens – the flood gates will open and the Hall will soon be filled with PED users and will, in turn, lose its integrity – whether perceived or actual – forever.
It is entirely possible that the first known PED user(s) could be voted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame later today. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)
Sadly, when that day comes – and it might even be later today – what will be lost by the governing body entrusted with making these enormous annual selections, the Baseball Writers Association of America (BBWAA), will perhaps be the single-most important element on which the selection process is based; that one major factor that is (or at least was) the cornerstone of a selection process that began with the Hall of Fame’s inaugural class of 1936 – character.
Character was once the key element that determined who got in and who did not regardless of how well they played the game. And when the BBWAA does eventually allow cheaters into baseball’s most sacred shrine and awards them baseball immortality – albeit tainted – the BBWAA will have diluted this very foundation on which the Hall of Fame was built 80 years ago.
It is impossible to argue how great guys like Bonds and Clemens were and the incredible career numbers that they put up. But what many writers, bloggers and fans of the game struggle with is how much of their careers (and numbers) were achieved while juiced – something that we will never know for sure without their own full disclosure which, of course, will never happen.
Although the BBWAA attempted to make a statement about the use of PEDs when they failed to elect even one player into the Hall of Fame in 2013, they did little more than embarrass themselves and tarnish their credibility from which they may never fully recover. And while there are undoubtedly still several BBWAA writers who feel that they did the right thing back then, what they actually did was allow a handful of known or highly suspected cheaters prevent players who played the game right from receiving their just reward. Granted, a couple of these deserving players were subsequently voted in, but several others were not and now may never be voted in unless it’s by the Veterans Committee.
To be fair, I have come to know several beat reporters and national writers (and even a blogger) who are card-carrying members of the BBWAA and I can honestly say that every one of them are worthy of their membership. They undoubtedly represent to majority of responsible BBWAA members who get it right year after year. But unfortunately, with an extremely high threshold of 75 percent to receive baseball immortality, it only takes a handful of less-than-credible BBWAA members to keep deserving candidates out of the Hall of Fame. And while it is admirable that many BBWAA Hall of Fame voting members disclose their selections (which should be required), it has no bearing whatsoever on who actually gets in and who does not.
This past week Fox Sports writer John Paul Morosi has been a guest on MLB Network Radio’s Inside Pitch. And while I have long respected Morosi, a longtime BBWAA Hall of Fame voting member, I took issue with his logic when he disclosed who he had voted for. Morosi readily admitted that he voted for Bonds and Clemens in spite of their PED history but in the same breath went on (ad nauseam) that he did not vote for Mike Piazza because of his suspected (but never confirmed) PED usage. If ever there were a double standard, this was clearly it. How, in good conscience, can Morosi not include Piazza for Hall of Fame consideration – PED suspicions notwithstanding – yet select two of baseball’s best-known PED users? Sorry, J.P. but your credibility just took an irreparable hit in my eyes. By every indication, Morosi allowed his own perceived personal dislike for Mike Piazza to override Piazza’s overwhelming Hall of Fame worthiness.
Although many have long suspected that former Dodgers and Mets great Mike Piazza used PEDs, it has never been confirmed. (Photo credit – Al Bello)
There are several other national writers who, like Jon Paul Morosi, have softened their stance to keep PED users out of the Hall of Fame. And while fans can only hope and pray that the remainder of those entrusted with deciding who gets into Cooperstown and who does not will remain vigil, it’s only a matter of time before they, too, find themselves on baseball’s slippery slope and succumb to the pressures of their peers.
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I listen to MLB on my long drive to/from work and there is another thing I take exception to. Some of the voters are not picking their true top 10 but rather their top “few” and selecting players whose eligibility is expiring this year or next – even if they are not as “good” (for lack of a better word) as other players on the list. Also agree with you about PED users – not those we may have heard a rumor or two but those we “know” cheated for years – like Bonds and Clemens. I can understand they both had HOF careers before their heads grew out of their caps but when you know in your heart of hearts that they were users, they do not belong. Yes, Cobb was an a–hole but at least his baseball talent was all his.
Uff, Ron. The concept of character keeping someone out of the hall of fame is the definition of a slippery slope. Gaylord Perry is in the hall of fame. Most people consider him to be one of the “craftiest” pitchers of the game and applaud him for it but “craftiness” is really a code word for cheating. He mastered his spitball (which was illegal) for his entire career. Whitey Ford did it as well and admitted it in the clearest terms. But spitballs were a part of the game and baseball lore (maybe ask Orel if that is the case). Ty Cobb was by all accounts was a despicable human being, let alone a mean and racist cuss, yet he has his plaque in the Hall as well. Should we whitewash baseball history and expunge a player like Ty Cobb because he was lacking on the “character WAR?”
When I go to the hall of fame, I want to see the best players of the game, warts and all. I will say to my children, “Yes, Barry Bonds has the total home run record but he probably used a drug to help him hit those home runs. Let me tell you about Hank Aaron and a guy named Babe Ruth.” Let the best players of their era in and preserve the history of baseball with jerks and all! To somehow use the character clause to wipe out parts of baseball history because certain players were cheats, racists, or just plain mean would be to cleanse and change baseball history. It should be preserved, analyzed, and understood for generations to come.
I can’t imagine a hall of fame without Pete Rose. Do I like Pete Rose? Absolutely not. With his statements and actions this year, he could be one of the biggest idiots in baseball history. I hated him when he played, but over time I grew to appreciate his style of play and the simple fact that he put wood to the ball more successfully than anyone else. He is a big part of baseball history and I could care less whether he bet on baseball as a manager, but that is a part of baseball history too. Let each person who visits the hall of fame make their own decision but keep the history complete and unsanitized. Vote on their numbers in relation to the era, remember what type of person they were, and leave the moral debate for higher powers.
Barry Bonds and Pete Rose are well acknowledged and represented at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, Robb – in the museum portion, where they belong. Where they do not belong is among those who played the game right – in the actual Hall itself.
Yes, Gaylord Perry was noted for his spitball, but it was up to the commissioner at the time to handle that, just as it was up to Bart Giamatti to handle the Pete Rose situation and Bud Selig (through the Mitchell investigation) to handle the PED situation.
“Character” is in the selection process criteria. I didn’t just through it out there.
I appreciate and respect your argument and opinion on this but I respectfully and wholeheartedly disagree.
Yes, but there is a distinction to be made. The Hall of Fame and the Commissioners office are separate. The Commissioner as he has said many times does not control the selection criteria for the HOF. They are separate. My point is that Perry’s actions still go to his character which is supposedly part of the criteria. Writers just chose to look the other way or applaud him for it. If character is the controlling factor — and by the way character is a word that encompasses much more than cheating — then it is no longer a hall of fame but a hall of character. There is good fame and bad fame. Baseball has had its share of both. People are smart enough to figure it out for themselves. If these PED guys somehow disappear from the annals of baseball history we will never learn. Let them live with the knowledge that they cheated and the fact that everyone will remember them as such, but lets not use the hall as a moral filter because that filter is already filled with holes!
I know that people are emotionally attached to this issue. They feel that they were cheated, but we should look beyond that immediate response and think about one of the best things about baseball which is preserving history whether good or bad and passing that history down to the next generation so that they understand as well.
Have you been the the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum Robb? If you have, did you see the placard that they have in the museum section? I think it adequately says all that needs to be said about PEDs and lets visitors draw their own conclusions.
Let’s just agree to disagree on this one – just as most of the baseball world does.
It did look for a while there that we’d never see Bonds or Clemons ever make it into the Hall of Fame, now it looks like anything else in baseball, we just have to wait and see.
S/B Clemens
“…now it looks like anything else in baseball, we just have to wait and see.”
Your intuitiveness is overwhelming, Joe.
I respect your opinion Ron, and I repect those that have taken a hard lined stance against steroid users, but if you do, you must exclude Piazza who admitted to taking androstenedione, just as McGwire had.
I’m tired of the topic frankly. I see guys like Kent, Mussina, and Trammell that won’t ever get in the HOF because so many writers clog up their ballots with steroid guys who won’t get in because of the 75%/10 per ballot rule. as a result, nobody gets in and the truly worthy clean guys are Blocked. Dale Murphy was a victim of being clean and having lessor numbers. It’s not right, but there’s no real solution unless the ballot is unclogged and the steroid players with astronomical numbers get in.
Well said, Evan. Dale Murphy not getting is was a crime – especially with the BS the BBWAA pulled in 2013.
Regardless of my hard line stance, eventually these guys will get in.