Name: Which MLB Steroid Users* Deserve to Be in the Baseball Hall of Fame?
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Which MLB Steroid Users* Deserve to Be in the Baseball Hall of Fame?

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0 of 13As we wrap up Steroid Week at B/R, the only question left is the biggest of them all.Whether they're currently on the ballot or not, which, if any, "tainted" superstars from Major League Baseball's Steroid Era deserve to be in the Hall of Fame?Those quotation marks are necessary because there are variations in players' links to performance-enhancing drugs. Whereas some have tested positive or admitted using, others have been tied to PEDs only through the testimony of others. There's also a question of whether some even knew what they were using.Regardless, we recognize that many hold the position that zero players with ties to PEDs should be allowed into Cooperstown. As Joe Morgan relayed in an in 2017, this is the official position of players who are already in the Hall of Fame:&nbsp;"We hope the day never comes when known steroid users are voted into the Hall of Fame. They cheated. Steroid users don't belong here."However, allow us to begin with a two-part explanation for why we favor a case-by-case approach.1 of 13There's no doubting the sincerity of those who believe Cooperstown is no place for juicers.&nbsp;Rather, the issue with that notion is one of naivete.Per George Mitchell'son PEDs in baseball, steroids had infiltrated at least a decade before Mark McGwire and Sammy SosaRoger Maris' single-season home run record in 1998. Heck, one former major leaguer &nbsp;steroids were in the game as far back as the 1960s.If true, baseball's Steroid Era wasn't limited to the late 1990s and early 2000s. That, in turn, lends credence to whispers (see , and ) that there are already users in the Hall's halls.Granted, MLB &nbsp;steroids in 1991. But sans testing procedures, baseball was basically invoking the honor system. Moreover, the original policy reserved lifetime bans only for repeat offenders who failed to respond to treatment and rehabilitation. So for players,&nbsp;&nbsp;if the Steroid Era would be so reviled in retrospect if no home run records had fallen during it. As for why those records did fall, it likely has as much to do with as juiced players.Lastly, there's the Bud Selig conundrum. If the commissioner can be &nbsp;despite his failings during the Steroid Era, the same standard should be applied to players who defined the era.2 of 13Before then, there was was no system to cheat. After, anyone who dared to use knew full well what they were risking. The damage would be not only to their own reputation and finances, but also to their teams and, by extension, their teammates.the Hall of Fame also urges voters to consider players'&nbsp;"record, playing ability...and contributions to the team(s)&nbsp;on which the player played." Because there's no explicit stipulation stating otherwise, there's room for interpretation that credits in these categories can make up for debits in the other categories.Hence our preference for going on a case-by-case basis. So without further ado, let's begin with the least deserving candidates and make our way to the most deserving candidates.3 of 13Before we get on with more complicated cases, let's begin with three simple ones.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Jose CansecoHe literally on juicing in baseball, and in retrospect, his whistle-blowing helped change baseball for the better.Even still, Canseco's own steroid usage isn't even the best reason why he doesn't belong in Cooperstown. Though he achieved some impressive things—including 40-40 season—between 1985 and 2001, neither his offensive production (i.e. his 132 OPS+ and 462 HR) nor his overall performance (i.e. his ) screams "Hall of Famer."&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Jason GiambiIn 2004, he &nbsp;using human growth hormone and other steroids in the early 2000s, which he more or less&nbsp; later.At his best, Giambi won an MVP and averaged a 176 OPS+ and 41 home runs per year between 2000 and 2003. But like with Canseco, his final 139 OPS+, 440 homers and would fall short of Cooperstown standards even if he weren't tied to PEDs.&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;Eric GagneAlbeit at the end of his career, he to using HGH during a three-year portion of his decade in the major leagues.Gagne's biggest claims to fame are his National League Cy Young Award from 2003 and his 84 straight saves from 2003 to 2004. But the standards for Cooperstown-caliber relievers are pretty high, and his &nbsp;isn't even half of what Bruce Sutter has .4 of 13If 's&nbsp; for PEDs had occurred during an&nbsp;&nbsp;survey by MLB in 2003, he'd be a candidate for leniency with regard to the Hall of Fame.Trouble is, it didn't stop there. Ramirez also tested positive and was banned for in 2009. Two years later, he abruptly retired when he was facing a 100-game suspension after a .Otherwise, Ramirez is&nbsp;one of only to rack up a .300/.400/.500 batting line over at least 9,000 plate appearances in the majors. He clubbed 555 home runs in the regular season, plus a&nbsp; 29 in the postseason. He was also a 12-time All-Star and two-time World Series champion.But no thanks to his , Ramirez fellow left fielder Tim Raines with his 69.3 career WAR. And in addition to his multiple failed PED tests, some of the of Ramirez's "Manny Being Manny" persona form another strike against his character.Frankly, it's surprising that Ramirez has even of the voters' support after four years on the ballot. It's not as if his connections to PEDs are disputable. And because of what happened in 2011, nobody can even argue that he's already served his time.Our Verdict:&nbsp;Hard no5 of 13Based on his numbers and accolades, is an all-time great and a no-brainer for Cooperstown.In a 22-year career that spanned 1994 and 2016, A-Rod compiled a 140 OPS+, 696 home runs () and 117.5 WAR (). He was a 14-time All-Star, a 10-time Silver Slugger, a two-time Gold Glover and a three-time MVP.&nbsp;Though Rodriguez collected only one World Series ring, he truly earned it. Without his 1.308 OPS and six home runs throughout the playoffs, the New York Yankees might not have won it all in 2009.Rodriguez's ties to PEDs, however, are as troubling as they are indisputable. In response to a report of a from 2003, he in 2009 to using steroids between 2001 and 2003. Years later, he was caught up in the and eventually for the entire 2014 season.One can argue that Rodriguez's achievements outweigh his misdeeds with PEDs, for which he's already&nbsp;&nbsp;and which have clearly changed him . But at the least, said misdeeds are enough to keep him from being an immediate addition to Cooperstown when he gets on the ballot in 2022.Our Verdict:&nbsp;Hard no6 of 13Even though nobody took it seriously at the time, there was an that Mark McGwire was using PEDs amid his trek to a then-record 70 home runs in 1998.Cut to 12 years later in 2010 and McGwire confessed to the&nbsp; that he used steroids not just in '98, but on and off throughout nearly a decade of his 16-year career between 1986 and 2001.Sans all of this, McGwire would look like a shoo-in for Cooperstown.&nbsp;His 163 OPS+ and 583 home runs put him in a of elite sluggers. By WAR, he's also one of the first basemen in history. Next come his accolades, which include a Rookie of the Year, 12 All-Star nods and a World Series ring.There is, however, no separating any of this from McGwire's confession that PEDs were not a bug during his career, but a feature. That leaves very little (if any) room to wonder if he would have achieved his obviously Cooperstown-worthy numbers if he'd juiced only occasionally or not at all.McGwire is already off the Hall of Fame ballot, having bowed out with of the vote in 2016. Even four years later, it's hard to fault the voters for that one.Our Verdict:&nbsp;Hard no7 of 13In getting just&nbsp; of the vote in 2020, Sammy Sosa is still receiving McGwire-level support after eight years on the ballot. That makes some sense as his legacy is inextricably tied to McGwire's.For what it's worth, Sosa having ever used PEDs. And setting aside Jose Canseco's and a vaguely incriminating encounter with&nbsp;Sports Illustrated scribe &nbsp;in 2002, the strongest evidence that Sosa used is a &nbsp;from the survey testing in 2003 that was, once again, .As far as what Sosa&nbsp;does have going for him, his 609 home runs make him one of only of the 600 Home Run Club. He hit 292 of those in a five-year span between 1998 and 2002 when he became the ever to rack up three seasons of at least 60 home runs.On either side of those five seasons, however, Sosa was a good but not great player. That's ultimately felt in his overall career numbers, which include a modest 128 OPS+ and 58.6 career WAR. The latter barely ranks in among right fielders.So though Sosa has more plausible deniability than McGwire with regard to PEDs, it's not enough to overcome the disparity between his suspiciously extraordinary prime and his oddly ordinary career.Our Verdict:&nbsp;Soft no8 of 13Rafael Palmeiro first appeared on the ballot in 2011 and was quickly ousted in 2014 when his of the vote failed to meet the minimum threshold of 5 percent.Clearly, memories of 2005 were still fresh. Palmeiro was as a juicer by Jose Canseco in February of that year. He&nbsp;&nbsp;ever using before congress a few weeks later, but whatever benefit of the doubt he had vanished when he&nbsp; and was suspended in August.In 2017, Palmeiro about how he was blindsided by his positive test—and also about how he produced three negative tests during an arbitration hearing over his positive test. Though he was suspended anyway, such things do give him a degree of plausible deniability in retrospect.Performance-wise, Palmeiro was rarely great but consistently very good in a 20-year career that spanned 1986 to 2005. He's notably one of with at least 3,000 hits and 500 home runs, and his 71.9 career WAR among first basemen.Compared to when Palmeiro was on the ballot, tensions about the Steroid Era have eased a bit in recent years. He would almost certainly have more support in this environment, and it would be well deserved.Our Verdict:&nbsp;Soft yes9 of 13Mere days after he was in the Mitchell Report in 2007, Andy Pettitte human growth hormone in 2002.But as he explained, he used HGH for just two days and only because he was trying to heal an elbow injury. Though he admitted it was an "error in judgment," his case points to a as to whether there's a line between performance-enhancing and performance-allowing.If there's a knock against Pettitte that has nothing to do with PEDs, it's that he was never the best pitcher in baseball during his 18-year career.&nbsp;But in his postseason resume alone, Pettitte has a compelling case for entry into Cooperstown. He's the for playoff wins and innings, and he won five of the eight World Series in which he played.And while certainly unspectacular, Pettitte's regular-season body of work isn't entirely free of merit. He racked up a safely above-average 117 ERA+ over 3,316 innings, and&nbsp;Our Verdict:&nbsp;Soft yes10 of 13In 2004, Gary Sheffield a steroid known as "the cream" while training with Barry Bonds during the 2001-02 offseason.But as of&nbsp;Sports Illustrated recounted in 2014, Sheffield was proactive in being honest about his usage. He claimed that he didn't know what he was using and that he wasn't happy when he found out: "I was mad. I want everybody to be on an even playing field." of the vote he got in his sixth year on the ballot.Our Verdict:&nbsp;Soft yes11 of 13David Ortiz's one and only connection to steroids is a&nbsp; from the 2003 survey that even Commissioner Rob Manfred warned everyone not to take at face value.Ultimately, "Big Papi" played about 70 percent of his games in the post-2005 era of testing and punishments for PEDs. And he surely wasn't spared, as he told &nbsp;in 2019: "Let me tell you, there's not one player in baseball, not one player, that has been drug-tested more than David Ortiz. I guarantee you that."Altogether, Ortiz racked up a 141 OPS+ and 541 home runs throughout his 20-year career. Those are absolutely Hall of Fame-caliber numbers, and they don't even count his .947 OPS and 17 homers in the postseason. He notably hit .455/.576/.795 in three World Series, all of which he won.Mind you, Ortiz did all this almost entirely as a designated hitter. The recent inductions of Frank Thomas and Edgar Martinez have somewhat eased the Hall's bias against the position, but&nbsp;neither they nor anyone else has ever been as much of a DH as Ortiz. His 2,027 games at the position are by far .But even if he didn't have any other jobs, Ortiz is nonetheless one of the best regular-season and postseason hitters in history. His appearance on the 2022 ballot should be both his first and his last.Our Verdict:&nbsp;Hard yes12 of 13If judged solely by what he did on the mound, Roger Clemens is perhaps the greatest pitcher in history.In 24 seasons between 1984 and 2007, "The Rocket" put himself in exceedingly by racking up a 143 ERA+ over 4,916.2 innings. He also ranks third all-time in strikeouts () and WAR ().Among Clemens' individual prizes are 11 All-Star nods, seven Cy Young Awards, an MVP and two World Series rings. He's also known for pitching some of the most dominant games in history, including&nbsp; and arguably of all postseason starts.Clemens' connection to PEDs, meanwhile, is entirely circumstantial.He was a key figure&nbsp;in the , yet&nbsp;he never tested positive and he was ultimately of perjury in 2012 after &nbsp;using PEDs to a congressional panel in 2008. By 2012, even Jose Canseco that Clemens had ever used.Despite the lack of actual fire, that Clemens has garnered only &nbsp;support after eight years on the ballot shows that many voters believe there's enough smoke to keep him out of Cooperstown. It's not an altogether unfair position, but we ultimately lean the other way.Our Verdict:&nbsp;Hard yes13 of 13Devoid of context, Barry Bonds is the greatest player in baseball history.He was a seven-time MVP and 14-time All-Star who holds the single-season () and career () home run records as well as the all-time marks for walks () and intentional walks (). His 182 OPS+ is by Babe Ruth and Ted Williams, and neither they nor anyone else can touch his .However, Bonds in 2004 to using steroids provided by his personal trainer, Greg Anderson. Like Sheffield, Bonds' concession was that he didn't&nbsp;know&nbsp;what he was using. But given that he was surely closer to Anderson than Sheffield, his claim of ignorance doesn't work quite as well.Character-wise, there's also the reality that Bonds was notoriously unpleasant. Though he neither has nor necessarily must apologize for that, he did tell of Sports on Earth in 2016 that his reputation was his fault. "At , Bonds is getting about as much support as Clemens after eight years on the ballot. It's no sure thing that he'll get to 75 percent in the next two years, but our belief is that he should.Our Verdict:&nbsp;Hard yes&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;Catch Up on B/R's Steroid Week:Mon:&nbsp;Tues:Wed:Thurs:Fri:Which Steroid Users* Should Be in HOF?&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;Stats courtesy of.🚨 SPORTS NEWS ➡️ YOUR INBOXThe latest in the sports world, emailed daily.Maybe laterX

0 of 13As we wrap up Steroid Week at B/R, the only question left is the biggest of them all.Whether they're currently on the ballot or not, which, if any, "tainted" superstars from Major League Baseball's Steroid Era deserve to be in the Hall of Fame?Those quotation marks are necessary because there are variations in players' links to performance-enhancing drugs. Whereas some have tested positive or admitted using, others have been tied to PEDs only through the testimony of others. There's also a question of whether some even knew what they were using.Regardless, we recognize that many hold...

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Zachary D. Rymer

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Which MLB Steroid Users* Deserve to Be in the Baseball Hall of Fame?

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