2013 MLB Hall of Fame ballot

[icehog3]

Originally Posted by shilala

Personally, I think the Writer's couldn't possibly care about the "steroid era".
Reason being, they're educated. Ball players have always juiced and always will. Anything to give them an edge. They know how many Hall of Famers there are that used substances to help their game. That's how I think on where the bulk of the writer's personal mindset lies.

I am not sure, Scott....how do you explain 6 years of Mark McGwire? He wasn't even accused of using true anabolics, just prohormoes. Maybe the writers just don't like the guy?

[mahtofire14]

I think it's a huge deal to the writers. They are all purists. They hold these players to such a standard that when a known steroid user makes it on the ballot they are pretty much offended by them, and rarely vote for them.

I say Lee Smith and Larry Walker get in.

[shilala]

Originally Posted by icehog3

I am not sure, Scott....how do you explain 6 years of Mark McGwire? He wasn't even accused of using true anabolics, just prohormoes. Maybe the writers just don't like the guy?

I sure don't have the answer, Tom. I have a number of guesses, is all. Even those are conflicting.
McGwire is a good dude and I'd vote for him in a heartbeat. His play alone might not get it, but what he's done in the community and the way he handled the steroid allegations are a positive to me.
I think he's fallen in the "nobody is going to stick their neck out" category because his play makes it easy and he's stood alone. With Bonds and Clemens (and other great steroid players coming up for election) that's going to be tougher because their play has always been excellent. Add to that the swaying of public sentiment as I see it, and a juicer might get inducted.

I don't think people make a distinction between anabolics and prohormones, specifically. Probably because they don't know the difference. At least I don't. I'm not sure if the distinction helps McGwire at all.
That makes me think to this point...
Players have used everything from amphetamines to cocaine to painkillers to booze to steroids to the drug du jour, Adderall, to get an edge. It's all the same to me and I can see why they'd do it. For some it's ego, some are trying to keep their job, some want to heal, some want to manage pain to play.

I'm as interested as anyone to see this play out. I'm hoping that the media has overdone the whole thing to death and it's made people not really care, or at least made them see that steroids do not make for a superman baseball player. Talent and practice does. Steroids just make a guy a bit more powerful, but so do a couple Vicodin when a guy has a sprained ankle.