Is clemens still a Hall of Famer?
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by Mike Ketchen
From www.thebaseballfix.blogspot.com
Is Clemens still a Hall of Famer?
I heard this question posed immediately after the Mitchell report was released , containing what would be pretty damning evidence in regard to Clemens supposed performance enhancing drugs. It is a topic that is sure to gain a lot of steam from here on out, all the way up into his first year of eligibility for Cooperstown.
Honestly, not only should Clemens (along with Bonds) still be elected. He should be elected unanimously. I have spent the last few days thinking about this. Contemplating how fair it is to the players who have never been publicly accused (Griffey, Ripken) but at the same time wondering about the rest of the unknowns who have been using.
After digesting all this info I think you can not simply band all of these players from the HOF. Not even the one’s we known have more information on. The reason behind this being, we will never know as a fan base, as baseball writers just how ramped drug use was. Think about this, what if 75% of Baseball was using performance enhancing drugs and Bonds and Clemens were just that much better. In the same scenario what if only 10% of Baseball was on steroids?
Simply put I just do not think we can pretend the last 15-20yrs never happened. Rather, I think all players should be voted on given what they did in this generation. This will always be remembered as the “steroid era” so these players were simply the best of there respective era. This is not the first controversial era in Baseball and it will not be the last. It is simply put in with other arguments. It is the same reason you can not simply look at numbers when comparing generations. You simply have to evaluate based on era. Perfect example is Jim Rice. When you look at Rice numbers he doesn’t immediately impress. However when you go back an evaluate his 10yr stretch. You realize he was the most dominant and feared hitter of his era for good reason.
I hope all who read this take a second and process where I’m coming from. This is not simply an impulse post. I did not shoot from the hip as so many of the “supposed experts” have done over the past few days. This was a tough piece to write as I am probably one of the biggest Ken Griffey Jr fans of all time. I do truly believe however, that until we have absolutely evidence of the exact number of users in Baseball we can not just dismiss those who excelled in the “steroid era”.
