Steroids and the Hall of Fame

However, perhaps they should do something to distinguish different eras of the game (color-coded markers on the plaques, perhaps?). The game was different in the dead-ball era than live-ball era. It was different before Jackie Robinshon. It was different in the Steroid Era™, it was different pre- and post-expansion, it is different now that they’ve changed the playoff structure. As such, players from one era can’t really be compared that well to players in another era (though I know someone will say something about WAR being the great equalizer since “all’s fair in love and WAR”). If they came up with a way to identify more easily the era in which each player played, perhaps more people would be willing to allow players from the Steroid Era™ in.

I have always tought that they shouldnt punish players that were doing it BEFORE they were prohibited, it was like any other suplement they take now, what if tomorrow they say that drinking gatorade is cheating? Are they going to punish players from this era because they were drinking it? Laws cant be retroactive in any free country of the world, you have the right to now what you can and cannot do before being acussed of something

That is the dumbest article on the subject ever written. Who would have taken roids before they were invented if they could have had them. You must be in the 5th grade and arguing with your sister. Do you or your advisers know, that arguably the best baseball player who ever played the game is not in the hall of fame, for cheating? If Shoeless Joe is out, so are the roid era cheaters. If baseball can keep its focus on right and wrong for 50 years and more, they can keep the cheaters out. The issue of before it was illegal is another argument for another day. For today, whoever took them when it was illegal is out; period. Nothing to argue about.

Sorry to tack on, but I just noticed the comment at the end about bigger bats. That is every bit as stupid as the comment that players would have used roids if they had them before they existed. Bigger bats hit fewer home runs. They do not help, unless you mean they are bigger and weigh less, and that might not work because of more surface to push more air out of the way. But the heavier the bat, the slower the club head speed, and the slower the speed, the shorter distance the ball flies. I thought everyone knew about clubhead speed. Heavier bats meant fewer home runs. If Ruth and others knew about clubhead speed, they would have hit even more home runs. But saying that there is no way to prove that older players would not have used steroids, is insane. It was not done so it does not have to be proven they would not do it.

The problem with gambling offenses is that if you’re being paid to throw a game, you’re not actually trying to win. Steroids are bad, but a player using them is trying to get stronger, recover from an injury earlier, etc.

Cheating to get ahead is a lot different than being paid to purposely lose.
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As Montgomery Burns said while comparing himself to Oskar Schindler, “We both sold munitions to the Nazis. The only difference is that mine actually worked.” This is the difference between steroids and the monkey testosterone that players tried in the ‘30s. Also, the hot dog and beer diet didn’t really work out, either.

Punishing Pettitte and Rodriguez for using steroids is not punishing them for their era, it’s punishing them for using steroids. As Derek Jeter (another cartoon character) angrily said, “Not everyone did it.”

There are rational

I’d vote ARod in, but I still have a problem with the guys who denied taking steroids even though they were caught (Ramirez,Ortiz, McGwire).