           America’s Pastime Sport saw one of the most tainted and controversial periods in its history during the late 1980s to the early 2000s with the abundant use of steroids. Players across the league were using Performance Enhancing Drugs that produced statistics that had never been seen before. Various records including the single season home run record of 61 home runs from Roger Maris in 1961, was surpassed by three separate players in seemingly effortless fashion. Offensive power numbers were off the charts during this period and player’s arms and bodies were doubling in size within a year. Despite this obvious usage and the ban on these substances, the MLB still refused to test any players until 2003. Now that these players have been retired for several years, the Baseball Writers Association must decide whether these steroid users are worthy of an induction to the Hall of Fame. This presents a highly debated and important subject because the Baseball Hall of Fame is the most coveted and historic Hall of Fame in all of sports. People across the sport offer different opinions on the subject and currently many steroid users remain on the ballot. The best of that era should be inducted into the Hall of Fame because the Hall of Fame displays the best players to ever play the game, and various steroid users align as some of the greatest to ever play.

           During the steroid era, “juicing”, as many call it, occurred across the MLB and shaped the league for 20 years. Jose Canseco, the man who started the spread of steroids and injected well over 100 athletes, stated “almost 80 percent of the league at some point used steroids” (Canseco). Although this number is higher than many alternative theories, a consensus in the MLB is that at least 20 percent, probably more, used steroids during this polluted period. These players cheated and the substances they were using were indeed banned by the MLB. They knowingly gave themselves an advantage over their competition and punishment is deserved for their wrongdoings. Some of these players paid for this later in their career with suspensions, others endured public disgust, and anyone who did not receive justice, must deal with the guilt that they cheated the game of baseball. Some baseball critics believe their punishment should extend to past their playing career, suggesting a ban from the most elite club the game has to offer, the Baseball Hall of Fame.

           The Baseball Hall of Fame is home to the greatest players, coaches, and management that displayed an essential role in the history of baseball. In the HOF there are a set of 9 rules for election, one of which is designated for voting. It states ““Voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character and contribution to the team(s) on which the player played,” (BBWA Election Rules). Many critics, including Wallace Matthews, have used this clause to debunk steroid user’s entry into the Hall of Fame, arguing that if a player cheated, he is “in clear violation of the integrity, sportsmanship, and character portion of that sentence” (Matthews). Steroid users did show a lack of integrity and sportsmanship by taking an illegal substance to help their performance; however, in this certain situation, throw that part of the clause out the window. 

The Hall of Fame is run by the MLB and during the steroid period the MLB showed zilch effort in punishing the users for their actions. The MLB understood what was happening, but they turned a blind eye, mainly due to the profitability the steroid era brought the MLB in the later half of the 1990s. The MLB issued a strike in 1994, which remained midway into the 1995 season. The game’s popularity for the next few years was in major question, as many other leagues including the NFL and NBA were under rise. However due to steroids and the ridiculous power numbers that resulted, the “League’s revenue grew from $1.4 billion in 1995 to $3.7 billion in 2001, attendance went up 44%, and the average value of an MLB franchise grew at an annual rate of 15.3%” (Koslosky). The MLB grew at an uncanny rate after one of the low points of its historic career, but steroids saved it from plummeting any further. Although steroid users exhibited a bad decision, the MLB showed equivalent wrongdoing in that they turned a blind eye to a league-wide crime, to benefit the league. Considering the MLB controls the Hall of Fame, it would be hypocritical at the least for them to be too harsh on a player that performed these violations, understanding that the MLB gave miniscule affliction to testing for PEDs.

           Another reason this clause should be negated in these circumstances is that some of the current players in the Baseball Hall of Fame do not exhibit character, integrity, and sportsmanship. Matt McHugh, a member of the Baseball Writers of America and former voter for the HOF, agrees that the 5th rule shows irrelevancy when voting, “[This clause] has been seemingly ignored by previous generations of voters… Ty Cobb was the best player in the game during the early 20th century, but he was notorious for cheating in any way possible” (McHugh). There are plenty of other examples of players that showed a lack of integrity, character, or sportsmanship. Gaylord Perry amongst many others in his generation used a highly illegal spitball when pitching, in order to create more movement on the ball. Tris Speaker along with plenty of other Hall of Famers took part in a game-fixing system where they lost games on purpose. Some of these players were inducted as recently as the 1990’s as well. The Baseball Hall of Fame is known to have dirty players, cheaters, and appalling people both new and old that are parallel with steroid users, if not beneath them in character, integrity, and sportsmanship.

           The HOF has shown it inducts the best players into its’ shrine and does not evaluate the character of that player when voting. The HOF is supposed to be a place that displays the history of baseball and the greatest players to have played it, not the greatest men. If people visit Cooperstown (HOF’s location) and they don’t see some of the best players to have ever played, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, then the museum doesn’t truly exhibit the best players of each generation. Angel Diaz, a sports writer, listed the top 25 players of the 1990s and early 2000s and 15 of them were alleged to have used steroids. This shows that some of the best players of the steroid era were steroid users, yet the big question is if steroids affected their game to a Hall of Fame level. 

           Certainly, when using steroids, a player’s performance is enhanced, but to what degree? The answer for voters should be left blank. The HOF should not guesstimate the extent of quality the drug had on a player’s game without any evidence. In further declaration, voters should not guess who used steroids and who didn’t. If they never tested positive or admitted to using them or had firm evidence they took steroids, they should be addressed as a clean player. With such a prestigious club on the line, a player deserves the right of innocence until proven guilty.

           217 players comprise the Hall of Fame currently, which illustrates that roughly 20 players are selected each decade. That isn’t a number that needs to be reached, as each generation differs in quantity of talent; however, it does show a good estimate at the number of players that should roughly be inducted during the steroid era. Due to the uneven playing field distributed in that period, the judgment for who gets in, is made even tougher. The clean players, who played against opposing players that had the edge of juicing, should be given more of a benefit of the doubt, in that their statistics were affected in a negative way. Steroid users should also be judged at a different level in that their statistics were positively affected. It is impossible to truly estimate what each steroid user’s statistics would have looked like without the usage of steroids, yet the very best of those steroid users don’t need estimating to realize they were the best players of that generation with or without steroids. Brandon McCarthy, a clean pitcher who pitched in the later years of the steroid era, advocated “any truthful telling of [baseball’s] history would recognize Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens as two of the best to ever play” (McCarthy). These two players in particular are definite Hall of Famers. Bonds hit the most home runs in the history of the game, and Clemens has 7 CY Young titles, the most of any player ever. Not only did they put up absurd stat lines, but they produced these numbers for a total of 2 decades. Bonds was in the league for 13 years before he took steroids, batting around .290, producing 30 plus home runs a season, and averaging 34 steals (Baseball Reference). These numbers are Hall of Fame equivalent totals and without any character affiliated judgment, should warrant Barry Bonds an induction to Cooperstown. In Roger Clemens’ case of the Mitchell Report, it was shown he started juicing in 1999. By this age, Clemens was well past the prime of his career and had produced a sub 3.00 ERA with over 200 wins. By 1999, Clemens decided to rejuvenate his career by juicing to add 5 or so years on to his playing time. Clemens was known to be “the best at injecting himself with steroids” over that period of 1999 till his retirement in 2007, described by Canseco in his book about the steroid era (Canseco). Displaying all the steroid users in baseball, Clemens had one of the most intensive juicing routines out of any of them, but he didn’t juice until three quarters of his career had already passed.

Players that started taking steroids past the midway point of their career need to be judged on a different basis than those who were proved to have juiced all the way through. Those players’ statistics are obviously skewed in a completely different fashion, and there isn’t a feasible way to understand what their career would have been like without the usage of steroids. These athletes are not steroid users that I advocate inducting, but if a player showed he was a qualified player to be in the Hall of Fame, cleanly, then they should be a part of Cooperstown.

As I mentioned previously, steroid users are cheaters and need to be punished for their actions, I just don’t believe shaming them from the Hall of Fame is a fit punishment. However, one way they should be punished is to eliminate any record they achieved in their career. Barry Bonds should have an asterisk next to his career home run record, and Hank Aaron deserves the title of the all-time home run leader. Barry Bonds’ single season home run record must be removed as well, along with any other player who captured a record that stripped a clean player of his glory.

The question of steroid users in the Hall of Fame has been an argument with viewpoints on all sides of the spectrum. Up until 2009, the result has only been predicted for future elections, but during the 2009 election the first wave of steroid users entered. Jim Bunning, a Baseball Hall of Famer, argued that the “2009 and 2010 election results would declare whether or not steroid users would ever make the Hall of Fame” (Bunning). In these elections, every steroid user received less than 35 percent of the vote and it looked as if steroid users would not ever be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Bill Zimmerman, in as late as 2015, predicted that “no steroid user that tested positive for PEDs would be enshrined in the Hall of Fame,” but it looks as though both perspectives were wrong (Zimmerman). Jeff Bagwell, Ivan Rodriguez, and Mike Piazza who were all highly accused of steroids were inducted into the Hall of Fame in the 2016 and 2017 elections. Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens have grown in percentage each year and both look to eventually hit the 75 percent mark as they sit at 53.8 and 54.1, respectively. The progressive change of heart amongst the Baseball Writers towards steroid users, proves that the 5th Clause isn’t a part of the voter’s criteria and their definition of the Hall of Fame and who should take part in it, is non-existent. Steroid users’ once dark future has now progressed into a feasible, fair case for the Hall of Fame.

Steroids caused one of the most controversial yet popular periods in baseball’s history. That era created a new way to how we view players, records, and vote in the HOF elections. They brought the game up from a historic low point of the 1994 strike, to a power heavy, home run stacked decade where the elite 500 club became a decent obstacle. Steroids changed the game and history books forever, and the Hall of Fame elections are now more heated than ever. The entire steroid era is up for debate on finding the correct process on how to analyze steroid users and the clean players in that period. The best of that era should be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame and certain steroid users surely fit that category. With the recent elections, the Baseball Writers of America have shown a steady movement of allowing steroid users in, but each player differs in how they are voted for. Although some of the big-name steroid users have already been on the ballot, other greats from that era appear on upcoming ballots, including Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez. The Baseball Hall of Fame is the most established, well-respected clubs in all of sports, and it is essential that the right people be inducted into this elite club.
