Of the major names in the ‘steroid era’, who has the best chance of making the hall of fame?
The Ex:
Despite what has gone on in Capitol Hill, ESPN, and some other legal arenas, and that this man’s image is now severely tarnished by allegations from steroids, I think that you cannot leave Roger Clemens out of the Hall of Fame. There is no way that you can leave a 7-time Cy Young Award Winner, an 11-time All-Star Selection, 2-time World Series Champion, and 1986 MVP( an award usually given to hitters) out of Cooperstown. As evidenced by that, the steroid allegations did not occur until his season in 1998, and Clemens was a great pitcher before steroids. He is third in the history of major league baseball in strikeouts, a heralded-member of the 300-win club, which he is ninth all-time in. And with everyone else he was throwing against popping ‘roids, he still was a dominant pitcher. And with steroids, I don’t think they give pitchers the advantage the hitters do. You can get as big as you want, but if you don’t know how to pitch and you can’t put the ball over the plate where the hitter can’t hit it, you’re not going to last in this league, and Clemens knew how to pitch. While I don’t respect Clemens as much as I used to (better yet did I ever?), he is too good a pitcher-steroids or not-to be out of the Hall of Fame.
The Guru:
Out of the big names that you have to consider for a future Hall of Fame induction, Alex Rodriguez is the name that has the most chances of the possible candidates. Think about this, he is the only two players who can make the claim that steroids and performance-enhancement have helped for only a couple years. Bonds? Breaks Hank Aaron’s record recently, and the main reason for doing this is thanks to the juice. He would have had to enhance himself over a large amount of time. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa? The race between the two in one season which some claim saved baseball, is just one of a long string of years of high performance. Clemens? Has been dominant for many years, but like the previously noted names, has not come clean (pun intended) on his involvement, drawing it out. A-Rod has admitted wrongdoing in 2003, a year that he performed the best, but if you notice, his numbers aren’t as great. It is obvious those who use for one year- Brady Anderson, etc. A-Rod has the best shot, in my mind going off 2-1 to make the Hall of Fame.