Aaron gets wish: Steroid users kept out of Hall of Fame
Mark McGwire's admission didn't garner votes.
Rafael Palmeiro's emphatic denial didn't fly.
Last year I spoke to noted non-steroid user Henry Aaron about baseball players whose muscles and career statistics were obviously chemically enhanced, and his response was the verbal equivalent of taking a rip at a fastball.
Quoting: “My feeling has always been the same – the game of baseball has no place for cheaters. There’s no place in the Hall of Fame for people who cheat.” (For the rest of that column, click here.)
Well, Aaron is getting his wish. So is everybody who wants the baseball Hall of Fame free of cheaters.
Lower profile than the news that Bert Blyleven and Roberto Alomar were elected to the Hall of Fame was the word that Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Jeff Bagwell and Juan Gonzalez weren’t. They’re the first four players from the steroid era — and suspected steroid users — who’ve been on the HOF ballot.
The contempt most voters have for suspected cheaters is obvious. McGwire finally admitted steroid use last year, just as he was re-entering public life and being hired by the St. Louis Cardinals as their batting coach. But, almost amusingly, he received only 19.8 percent of the vote this year, which was down from 23.7 percent a year ago.
Bagwell received the highest percentage of votes among players from the steroid era at 41.7 percent, followed by Palmeiro (11 percent), Gonzalez (5.5). Enshrinement requires 75 percent.
It was McGwire who famously went mute at the Congressional hearings on steroid use, saying he didn’t want to discuss the past. Palmeiro told the committee he had never used drugs, and punctuated his remarks by pointing his finger. But he was identified by former Texas teammate Jose Canseco in the book, “Juiced,” as a steroid user in 2005, was subsequently suspended by Major League Baseball for 10 days for a positive test and in 2007 was named in the Mitchell report as a steroid user.
Palmeiro now claims a vitamin B-12 injection he received was tainted.
Whatever.
At one time, I believed players with perceived Hall of Fame numbers would get into the Hall of Fame anyway. Now, I don’t think so. That includes Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa. At the very least, players would have to publicly admit past transgressions and apologize to have even a chance of buying public support and swinging voters.
My view had been that if I thought a player would’ve had Hall of Fame credentials without performance-enhancing drugs, I was going to vote him in. But Aaron changed my mind. I figure his opinion carries more weight than mine.
– By Jeff Schultz
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Remembering Palmeiro’s testimony (with subtitles)
And here’s McGwire before his eventual admission
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Previous posts
– Richt’s plan for change is good, but why did it take so long?
– Playoff rankings and why Falcons can get to Super Bowl
– Fortunes of Georgia, Richt can turn on recruiting Crowell
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132 comments Add your comment
Jeff Schultz
January 5th, 2011
8:19 pm
Paddy — It’s worth noting that Aaron went a long time before going on the record about steroids. Actually, I believe the interview with me was the first time he came out as strong as he did.
Jeff Schultz
January 5th, 2011
8:20 pm
Larry — Thanks.
Jeff Schultz
January 5th, 2011
8:22 pm
Paul in RDU — That’s a really good question. In a sense I guess A-Rod (and others) have some time to redeem themselves but I can’t predict will all of the voters think. I’d say it carries some weight with me, though.
Jeff Schultz
January 5th, 2011
8:25 pm
Pete Rose @ Paul — Murphy hit 398 home runs. I hate to think 2 more home runs would make that big of a difference w/voters. Personally I think Dale belongs in the Hall of Fame. Not a lot of two-time MVPs outside the gates.
Jeff Schultz
January 5th, 2011
8:26 pm
Hit A Single — I’ve been on record as saying Pete Rose belongs in the Hall of Fame. He didn’t cheat and he didn’t throw a game. Just my opinion.
Gator Actual
January 5th, 2011
8:27 pm
How about nominating for the most tattoo’s or most jewelry worn when at bat? The most crotch grabs or most spikes to a 2nd baseman?
Snyderman
January 5th, 2011
8:27 pm
Since 1972 I believe any drugs taken either illegal or legal drugs without proper prescription were banned from baseball. Since Steroids were made illegal in 1984 without proper medical reason & prescription means that Steroids have been illegal in baseball since 1984 there was just no drug testing for them but they were illegal!
KB
January 5th, 2011
8:31 pm
Hey Jeff – I’ve got an idea. If you believe McGriff should be in, maybe you should write an article defending his case next time the ballots are sent out. That would certainly help the cause. You have an enormous platform that would be extremely helpful in making a case for McGriff. I’m sure he, and all of the Braves fans who support his candidacy, would appreciate it.
Innocent Bystander
January 5th, 2011
8:42 pm
McGriff and Murphy are two that really should be in. Them and Lee Smith. I believe guys like Larkin and Bags will eventually get voted in, but I’m afraid McGriff, Murphy and Smith will be on the outside looking in after their 15 years.
Gatorman
January 5th, 2011
9:06 pm
I wonder now why no one ever mentions Dale Murphy. He hit for average, power (398 home runs) during the modern dead ball era. Most important, he was a two time National League MVP. He career was shorter than some due a lot of injuries (Kofax had a short career to). I know it’s taboo to say this, but was his career poo poo’d due to his race? I wonder how many other players with his credentials are also not in Cooperstown.
Best way to handle Steroid ERA HOF
January 5th, 2011
9:22 pm
just omit every player that would be on future Hall of Fame ballots that played between the 90s and early 2000s because it’s easy to speculate against someone who has done something they haven’t done before … best way to avoid that is to omit that entire era’s players.
Jeff Schultz
January 5th, 2011
9:56 pm
KB — Well, I don’t know if I’m THAT passionate about McGriff. I’m more passionate about Pete Rose, Shoeless Joe Jackson and some more current candidates who aren’t in yet.
gcs
January 5th, 2011
10:46 pm
I am glad the steroid fiends are kept out but I wish the players who spit in umpires’ faces would have to wait a few years. You voters are jerks.
.
PMC
January 5th, 2011
10:56 pm
The voting process for the hall is ridiculous.
I don’t get the “first ballot” so I can’t vote for him yet nonsense.
PMC
January 5th, 2011
10:59 pm
Barry Bonds and Clemens were HOFers without steroids.
With steroids, they gave us a good indication of just what a difference steroids made for a truly great player. They got what 10 more years at greater than peak in their 30’s?
Naf Sevarb
January 5th, 2011
11:10 pm
I take the juice just to blog on here with Jeff. His opinions are so strong I need an edge.
KB
January 5th, 2011
11:16 pm
Well, Jeff, that’s a shame. Especially since McGriff played a major role in the Braves dynasty of the 1990’s. It’s sad that the sportswriters of the AJC don’t feel passionate about former Braves greats who are overlooked because of the steroid scandal. I agree with your passion for Rose and Jackson, but Rose played for Cincinatti and has plenty of support. Same holds true with Jackson and the White Sox, although that was so long ago, I’m not sure if there is much support there. McGriff’s candidacy is a clear reflection on an event that has had an enormous effect on baseball. He is caught in the middle. Thankfully, there are some writers who are passionate about Fred’s case, and most of them write for the Tampa Tribune. Here’s a wonderful example:
http://www.tampabay.com/sports/baseball/rays/fred-mcgriff-at-a-disadvantage-with-hall-of-fame-voters-because-numbers/1143742
If only our writers in Atlanta could muster up the passion to do a little campaigning and research on his behalf. I guess that’s asking too much.
Whitey
January 5th, 2011
11:29 pm
Hank Aaron just doesn’t want anyone that is better than him in the Hall of Fame. Especially if they are white! I know he was done wrong being a black man back in the day, but there is no need for his racism now. Turn the other cheek Hank. Be a better man! These white men didn’t do the bad things to you!
Sugg Id
January 6th, 2011
12:08 am
Drugs or no, they still hit the homers. Legalize PEDs and let the glory as well as the ramifications of abuse fall on the abuser. This is America.
P. Bull Terrier
January 6th, 2011
12:15 am
If character counts, and voters/MLB are going to punish players who broke the rules by keeping them out of the HOF, then a guy like Dale Murphy should get a few bonus points for his positive character attributes.
You can tell a difference between Fred McGriff and likely steroids users like Bonds, Palmeiro, Bagwell, etc. by looking at each player’s yearly home run totals. McGriff hit between 27 – 37 home runs in 15 of the 17 seasons that he was a full time player, and never hit more than 37 in a single season. Bagwell and Palmeiro went from hitting 15 – 25 home runs most seasons early in their careers to hitting 40+ multiple times beginning in the mid-90’s. Bonds was starting to show McGriff like power in the early 90’s before he broke out and became a home run hitting monster between ‘96 & ‘04.
It’s not exactly scientific evidence, but McGriff’s power statistics look the same from 1988 all the way through 2002. Either he discovered performance enhancers long before everyone else, or he was playing on nothing more than natural ability. I tend to believe the latter and think McGriff deserves a place (along with Murphy) in the HOF.
Babe Maris
January 6th, 2011
12:19 am
“But Aaron changed my mind. I figure his opinion carries more weight than mine.”
Schultz…Either you’re getting weak or you’re recognizing that you’re not the smartest man on earth. Man Up you wimp.
MitchC
January 6th, 2011
12:37 am
Jeff, I absolutely agree with what Hank said. I have the utmost respect for the man, even though I’m only 40, and never really saw him play, and i’ve only been a Braves fan since 1983.
If baseball keeps steroids users out of the Hall, the list of players who will be entering in the next several years will be very, very short. Maddux will be eligible in 2014, Glavine in 2014, and Smoltz in 2015, I believe. All those guys will get in, first ballot.
The real problem becomes, what hitters who had.. 500 plus homers in the past decade or so.. would stand a chance to get in. Under this rule.. Mark Mac is out.. so is Sosa, so is Bonds. The all time homer leader, in the Hall’s mind, remains Hank Aaron.
Arod: The guy has 613 homers, and is the one other player with a real chance to pass Hank and Bonds. When his time comes for election.. you know there will be questions.
Looks like the Hall will be electing an awful lot of pitchers over the next.. several years. They will have to.. to avoid the whole “Who used Steroids and belongs” thing from being a factor.
Angela
January 6th, 2011
12:39 am
Larry, you are right on with your post about Honoring Excellence. I think though, that so many other people may feel that doing what one can to get an edge is par for the course.
I really wish they would do something about the statistical display of those athletes who admitted to steroid use or found guilty. That would make me very happy.
GTBob
January 6th, 2011
12:39 am
Seems like a slippery slope to keep guys out of the hall of fame who they think might have taken steroids. If a player never failed a test or admitted to steroid use then all accusations are just accusations. Keeping a player out when he really didn’t do steroids in my opinion is a lot worse then letting someone in who did. Especially when the hall of fame already has its fair share of cheaters.
Babe Maris
January 6th, 2011
1:01 am
Whitey…I appauld your choice of names. I’m also White. But I think we have different opinions. I’ve been a Hank fan since the Fifties when he helped lead the Milwaukee Braves over the NY Yankees in the World Series.
You said that “Hank Aaron just doesn’t want anyone that is better than him in the Hall of Fame. Especially if they are white!”
I think Hank would love a new Hall of Famer who hit more than 755 HRs, more than 98 triples, more than 624 doubles, more than 2297 RBIs, stole more than 240 bases and had Career Batting Avg over 300. Not to mention his career OBP, SLG and OPS numbers.
You’d have to check with Hank, but I think he’d be very impressed if anyone….of any color could top those career numbers. Nobody is close.
Najeh Davenpoop
January 6th, 2011
5:57 am
The more we learn about the Steroid Era, the more pervasive we learn that steroid use was, both among batters and pitchers. At this point I have a hard time really caring about it much. Considering that stats are generally the primary criteria for Hall of Fame induction, it doesn’t really make sense to put an asterisk by steroid users when players who played with a raised mound, players who played when amphetamines were legal, players who played in a non-integrated league etc. don’t get asterisks. I can understand the sentiment that cheaters shouldn’t be rewarded, but I have a hard time seeing how steroid users’ stats are any more tainted than stats of players who used amphetamines, played before integration, etc.
Oh yeah, and Fred McGriff is the man.
georgytech
January 6th, 2011
6:47 am
Funny, but I think I remember it being mentioned back in the day that Aaron took bennies to help him remain alert on all those West Coast trips.
legionaire
January 6th, 2011
7:43 am
Back in Aaron’s day club houses kept speed openly for players. Shots were given as needed. Every pro sport had ways to get players thru the grind of the season. Keeping these guys out of the HOF for using stuff that was not banned at the time is just bs. Can Aaron say that he never once took a pill or a shot to help him through an injury? Give me a break.
ga gator
January 6th, 2011
7:58 am
Maybe a different angle on Aarons ideas. I agree that cheaters should not get in, but on the other hand, those “cheating” hitters were hitting against “cheating” pitchers…..just sayin.
rfgh
January 6th, 2011
8:06 am
Maybe Aaron shudnt have gotten in after the fences were moved closer in order for him to break the home run record. Funny how that is never mentioned. His rascist comments wouldnt be tolerated if say, for example, Niekro had said them.
Burdell
January 6th, 2011
8:19 am
The big problem is that the steroid era cheapens the accomplishments of the generations that came before. I think everybody was pretty much on a level playing field so to speak until PED’s came along. Did “greenies” really make that much of a difference in Aaron’s era? I also think there are way too many modern era players in the hall of fame. It’s the hall of fame, not the hall of pretty good. I’d like to see no more than a 25 man roster per rolling decade inducted.
Dawglasville
January 6th, 2011
8:39 am
If and when Bonds and Clemens are left out theirs will be the most tragic story of them all. Both were good enough to be Hall of Famers without roids. That said, I hope that none of them get in. Aaron maybe the only athlete, maybe the only person I would stand in line to get an autograph for. His opinion on this subject only makes me appreciate him more.
If this pattern sticks for all of the players then there can’t be a whole lot of crying about, “The only reason Bonds is being kept out is because he beat Ruth’s homerun record.” The poor Barry logic is twisted too. We will see if that comes up again next year.
DoninAcworth
January 6th, 2011
8:44 am
Whew, just when I thought Baseball HOF voters were gonna hold their noses and put the cheaters in along comes Hank telling it like it is and should be so maybe deserving players like Murph and McGriff will some day make it now. Certainly the “bulky users” will be on the outside and learning
there is much more about baseball stats than cheating to hit a home run or 200 – 300 more than they would have during a career smelling like a rotten pile of something!
Larry
January 6th, 2011
8:53 am
Nobody knows who took what and anyone, such as the author of this article who purports to know that anyone was “clean” compromises his credibility and judgment when he makes such completely unprovable declarations.
layers of Aaron’s era and eras before made a habit of taking illegal amphetamines to get them through a day game after a night game or the first game after a long flight/train trip. They were “cheating” every bit as much as anyone who used Andro or Primobolin or any other substance.
All of baseball including long term media members were complicit in the steroid era and the notion that a handful of players will be the only ones to “pay” for it by being denied enshrinement in Cooperstown is simply unfair by any measure. Palmeiro and Manny Ramirez are different in my mind, because they tested positive after PED rules were in place but no other Hall of Fame caliber players have.
It’s time to end the witch hunts and treating certain players like Hester Prynne. Steroid use was rampant from 1994-03, but using illegal substances to get an edge has been commonplace since the end of WW I.
Hankie Aron
January 6th, 2011
8:57 am
Schultz- Mcgriff is my favorite player and with these voter’s tendencies it looks like he might get in after all. 7 homeruns short of 500 and he didn’t take steroids is HOF to me. Who could forget the way he came in with fire in the press box caused by the Sterno can and the Braves winning the World Series? I can never forget it.
bravesfan1000
January 6th, 2011
8:59 am
I love Hank but now he changed my opinion!
He blatently used greenies and he has the nerve to say the roiders don’t belong?
Double Zero Eight
January 6th, 2011
9:00 am
Bonds should not have the home run record.
It is a travesty the commissioner of baseball
allowed this to occur. He should have an
asterisk inserted by Bonds’ name.
Give me the Ball
January 6th, 2011
9:01 am
I hate how people think the 70-80s were clean.
There are reports the 70s Steelers teams used steroids. I sure baseball players in the 70s/80s used steroids too.
Have you looked at mike Schimidt? That guy was small and how did he hit 550+ HRs? That is like Chase Utley hitting 550+ HR
Hankie Aron
January 6th, 2011
9:05 am
And I agree with Hank Aaron. The way I see it, the steroid players will never have stats taken way from them but we don’t have to enshrine them in the HOF as if they played with their God given talent alone
68 Atlanta Facon
January 6th, 2011
9:20 am
True Hankie so very true…………
cracked bats
January 6th, 2011
9:31 am
I guess Robby Alomar spitting in an umpires face is considered HOF material? Maybe Murphy and McGriff should have used steroids, spit on umpires and scratched in places that they shouldn’t.
Murphy and McGriff were GREAT players! Robby Alomar — not so much! Check out the stats
T-Bone
January 6th, 2011
9:51 am
MB, do you have a vote? Just curious. Do you know who in the Atlanta market has a vote? Are these votes made public?
T-Bone
January 6th, 2011
9:52 am
Oooops! Sorry, Schultz. Thought I was reading Bark Madley.
Enemas for Christmas
January 6th, 2011
9:57 am
It’s football season ladies.
BnB
January 6th, 2011
10:01 am
It’s a prickly issue. Ballplayers have used amphetamines for decades including many in the HOF. Where does the line get drawn? It is also fair to chastise the press and MLB brass for knowing it was going on and ignoring it as, for example, they joyously reported the Sosa/McGwire HR record chase and how it had “saved” baseball from the strike fiasco. The physical transformation some of these guys made in one off season was cartoonish. Pudge Rodriguez? He went up and then back down like someone blowing air in a baloon and then letting it out. Is there any proof? Nope. Will we just punish the ones who were involved in the investigations or will we go McCarthy on the whole lot. Also, baseball expert that he is, why didn’t Aaron come out about this sort of thing when it was going on? He had to know.
Douglas
January 6th, 2011
10:34 am
Roid users destroyed the records as far as comparing player accomplishments from different time periods. For example Ruth hit 60 homers once in 1927 (I think that was the year) and no one else did until Maris in 1961. Then Sosa does it 3 or 4 times within a 5 year span?????? McGwire and Bonds one or more times around the same time Sosa was doing it???? It had to be because of the roids. Look at Palmeiro. He was a doubles hitter like Grace for years. Then suddenly the doubles are going over the fence for homers once he started the roids. It’s a shame.
WHAT THE HE....
January 6th, 2011
11:19 am
This is CRAZY!
Who says Aaron didn’t use steroids? Aaron?
So if palyers say they didn’t use then I guess they are ALL telling the truth.
Now we can let the baseball writters be judge and jury on every player that retires from baseball.
I love it Guilty because I said SO!!!!!!!!
David Granger
January 6th, 2011
11:34 am
Just one fan’s opinion here, so caveat emptor: But I’d rather see the steroid cheaters in before that Roberto Alomar scum.
Billy Peeler
January 6th, 2011
11:36 am
I’m not a fan of Alomar, either…but at least he played clean drug-wise, I think. Glad to see Blyleven in, and I do hope that both Ron Santo and Jim Kaat go in one day.
Press Coverage – Over/Under: Media Reaction To Baseball’s Newest Hall of Famers
January 6th, 2011
11:50 am
[...] That news undoubtedly makes the non-asterisk bearing Home Run King Hank Aaron pleased, according to Jeff Schultz of the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. [AJC] [...]