Thoughts on Mark McGwire, PED's and the Hall of Fame

We had a request to discuss the recent admission by Mark McGwire that he had used PED's, and what impact that admission should have on his candidacy for the Hall of Fame. It's a subject I would prefer not to deal with, but an old hero of mine, Jack Clark just weighed in: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4828816 with a blistering critique. I mean, what else would you expect from Jack "The Ripper" who was a stand up guy if there ever was one! Andy Van Slyke was a bit less severe in his criticism, but quite critical nevertheless. Darryl Strawberry had a more blase attitude in this interview: http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=4822460&bn_r=ecc. I guess I'm a bit late to the party as Grant at mccoveychronicles.com also commented today, and I know he really hates this subject. It's a hard subject for a baseball fan. We fans are much more comfortable looking at statistics and using them to build mental shrines to our favorite players, whereas PED's involve disciplines like ethics, law and values. Or, maybe it's all just about the statistics as in PED's messing them up? The following are some thoughts, somewhat random, on the subject:

I remember the first time I became aware of the PED issue. Steve Prefontaine was a hero of mine as a teenager. I remember hoping he would do well in the long distance races in the Olympics, something that American runners didn't do very often. He was obliterated by Finnish runner Lasse Viren. Afterwards, there were allegations that Viren had "blood doped", undergoing phlebotomy, saving the blood and then re-transfusing it just before the race to increase his oxygen carrying capacity. I remember how frustrated I felt that maybe "Pre" might have won an Olympic Gold Medal had other competitors not had an unfair advantage. Of course, the thought never occurred to me that "Pre" himself might have done the same thing, with less success!

Personally, I abhor the whole notion of PED's. There is just something about the idea that competitors use the talent they are born with and through that gift, with or without hard work become winners. It's what draws me to sports as a spectator. The minute you stop believing that what you are seeing is real, like Professional Wrestling for instance, it becomes a lot less interesting, like a giant cartoon or something. I also abhor the idea that young athletes feel that the only way they can succeed is to use PED's themselves. While, if used carefully, these substances are probably not as harmful as some would make them out to be, they are certainly not benign. All drugs have side effects and a certain percentage of users are going to get bitten, bad.

I'm not convinced that PED's make as much difference in performance as it would seem on the surface. Yes, they produce muscle mass in prodigious amounts, but there are a lot of muscle bound people out there who couldn't hit a baseball to save their lives. Henry Aaron somehow managed to hit 755 HR's in his career and was not a big man. Ditto Willie Mays and his 660. If I am not mistaken, players back in the day did not even lift weights because it was believed that increased muscle mass would limit flexibility and quickness which were believed to be much more important tools for hitting a baseball. PED's don't enhance vision, eye-hand coordination, or timing. It's not like hitters were the only ones using either. The average pitcher in the '60's didn't throw 90 MPH, and I'm pretty sure Willie and Hank never had to face someone like Eric Gagne in the 9'th innings. So, while I have to acknowledge that there were some pretty unbelieveable records set in the "Steroids Era." I tend to lean towards Darryl Strawberry's take on this one.

PED's are nothing new either. Caffeine is a PED. Nicotine is a PED. "Greenies" are PED's. We laugh now at the thought of Doc Ellis throwing a no-no while high on LSD, but did the enhanced perception the drug caused created a "perfect storm" experience that enabled Doc to "see" the plate as 4 feet wide and 10 feet away? Who knows? I am quite sure that PED's in one form or another have been part of the game since it's inception. That doesn't make it alright. If society reaches a consensus that anabolic steroids are an unfair advantage while nicotine is not, then society has every right to expect that baseball will ban the unfair drug and enforce it. What's not clear is exactly when society reached that consensus in regards to baseball players like Mark McGwire.

Cheating is not new to the game either. Gaylord Perry has admitted that he built a Hall of Fame career on an illegal pitch. Numerous other pitchers who are either in the HOF or close to it were suspected of "doctoring" the ball during their careers. Hitters have been caught illegally altering their bats from time to time. So, why all the outrage about "cheating" with PED's? Somehow many of us have a twisted admiration for a scrappy kid who maybe wasn't all that talented, but found an ingenious way to conceal a slimy substance and beat the "big boys." Most of us have a natural resentment, and root against the big kid with bulging muscles at best, and if we found out he got them artificially, well then, it's downright hatred inducing!

Those of us who religiously follow baseball do so, in part, because of the highly statistical nature of the game. We want to believe that we can compare the statistics recorded by our childhood heroes with the baseball greats of the past. Hank Aaron's career HR record was really better than Babe Ruth's! Nolan Ryan's strikeout record was really better than Walter Johnson's. PED's completely destroy that illusion. Of course, statistics from year-to-year, career-to-career and era-to-era have never really been comparable. There have been dead-ball eras and rabbit-ball eras. Talent has been diluted by wars, careers interrupted. You can't compare records from the late 60's and the early 60's, or records from the "60's and the 1920's any more than you can compare the records of the "Steroid Era" with the "Amphetamine Era".

So, what is my position on PED's and the Hall of Fame?

1. PED's should be banned from the game, and the rules should be enforced with a rigorous testing program. I detest the invasion of privacy, but the players brought it on themselves by not holding each other accountable.

2. I agree with Grant at mccoveychronicles.com that all players should be considered for the HOF. We can't just wipe out a whole era of statistics from baseball history. The era should be taken into account. 500 HR's accumulated mostly during the late 1990's and early 2000's just doesn't mean as much as 500 HR's has in the past, and a guy like Rafael Palmeiro might not quite have what it takes to be a HOF'er.

3. There should be an exhibit in the HOF about the "Steroid Era" and the possible impact it had on the game.

4. Gaylord Perry should remain in the HOF, but his use of an illegal pitch to enhance his career should be acknowledged.

5. Pete Rose should be voted in and inducted into the Hall of Fame. He should not be allowed to seek employment in Major League Baseball.

It's all opinion, and you know what they say about opinions.......

What do you think?