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Williamson D. TurnerEnglish 1302-1st

February 2, 2014Spring Exploratory Research Paper

Only their teammates used drugs, so why are they being punished?

The National Baseball Hall of Fame is an independent organization that seeks to both recognize

and immortalize the greatest baseball players in the history of Major League Baseball. Once a year, both

active and honorary members of the Baseball Writers Association of America come together to vote

on who will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. Members may vote if and only if they have

been active members of the BBWAA and baseball writers for at least 10 years (Goldstein). Each elector

is allowed to vote for anywhere from zero to ten players from a list of eligible retirees onto their hall of

fame ballot (Baseballhall.org) Each year a screening committee of six elected members constructs a list

of eligible candidates consisting of retirees who received a vote from five percent of the electorate in

the previous election year and retirees in their first year of eligibility who have been nominated by at

least two of the six committee members (Baseballhall.org). To determine eligibility, an elector is

expected to consider the following: the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship,

character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played. In addition to this, prospective

candidates must also have been retired from baseball (though not baseball activities) for at least five

years. Single outstanding achievements such as astronomical batting averages or throwing a perfect

game do not result in automatic elections. Once a player has become eligible they have fifteen years of

eligibility with which to be elected to the Hall of Fame by receiving a vote seventy-five percent of the

Hall of Fame electorate (Baseballreference.com). Currently there is a fairly large amount of controversy

surrounding the Hall of Fame voting process. There seems to be a bit of confusion about the eligibility

areas of sportsmanship and integrity. Many Hall of Fame voters have effectively written off certain

eligible players not because of personal performance enhancing drug use, but because of their

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association with teammates who did use PEDs. Baseball Hall of Fame electors should not allow

association with the steroid era to influence their voting.

Performance enhancing drugs are substances that positively affect a player’s physical

capability and or durability. The most prevalent of these PEDs are anabolic steroids. They increase an

athlete’s capability by allowing an athlete’s muscles to recover more quickly and therefore get a larger

workload out of them (Performance Enhancing Drugs). Anabolic steroids along with other drugs like

human growth hormone are banned within the MLB and the Hall of Fame organization has expressed it

does not want players who used performance enhancing drugs to get an edge to be admitted into a

community of men who are supposed to be recognized for integrity (Madden).

Some players however, are being wrongly persecuted for being associated with other players

who used steroids. For example Craig Biggio and Roger Clemens, current Hall of Fame candidates have

failed to reach the required seventy –five percent vote on the ballot. Many people believe that this is

due to the fact that he was in his prime during the steroid era. Because mandatory testing wasn’t

instated until 2003 (ESPN.com), the general mentality is that, if these guys did it, who’s to say that guys

like Biggio weren’t using. While neither of these men have failed drug tests, the accusations have been

enough to keep them out of the Hall of Fame. Another example is Greg Maddux. Although Maddux did

make it into the Hall of Fame, Ken Gurnick tells us that he didn’t vote for Maddux Specifically because he

played in the steroids era (Passan).

There are a host of players on the Hall of Fame Ballot right now who are being unfairly denied

votes. Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, and Mike Piazza have all been wrongly accused. But even without

proof, many Hall of Fame electors firmly believe that they were using in spite of the lack of evidence.

Unfortunately for Biggio, a few sources such as Murray Chass from the New York Times believes him to

be a user and the rumors have spread far and wide. Bagwell however is suspected of PED use on a much

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larger scale even though he’s never been listed as one from a credible source. Mike Piazza has

repeatedly denied PED use but is still being accused and this unfairly hurts his standing with the voters.

Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens both have much more evidence against them than the players

previously listed; but they still have not been formally proven to have used performance enhancing

drugs. All of these players have made strong cases for making it into the hall of fame; but for many of

them, false accusations are keeping them out.

Tom Haudricourt shows us how Hall of Fame voting should be conducted. In his article in the

Journal Sentinel, Haudricourt breaks down who he voted for, and why he voted this way. Tom Glavine,

Greg Maddux, and Frank Thomas (all three were inducted this year) were all on Haudricourt’s ballot. All

three of them were first timers on the ballot but were included because they were clearly anti steroid

examples and or advocates during the steroid era. Tim Raines, Jack Morris, and Craig Biggio were also on

his ballot. Though they were also part of the steroid era, they were never the center of investigation and

the votes they received from Haudricourt were based on achievement alone. Roger Clemens and Barry

Bonds are both part of the pool of players who have been meticulously investigated regarding PEDs. But

they were included on Haudricourt’s ballot because there is still not enough proof that they used PEDs

and it isn’t fair to withhold a vote because of something that hasn’t been proven to be true

(Haudricourt). Haudricort's choices on his ballot demonstrate the idea that voting in the Hall of Fame

should be just as fair as the game of baseball itself.

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Works Cited

Calcaterra, Craig, The PED Eight: players who continue to take hits from Hall of Fame voters whether they deserve it or not, hardballtalk.nbcsports.com, http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2014/01/08/the-ped-eight-players-who-continue-to-take-hits-from-hall-of-fame-voters-whether-they-deserve-it-or-not/, Web, 2 Feb. 2014.

Goldstein, Craig, Baseball Hall of Fame: The BBWA Ballot Rules, and Regulations, SB Nation http://www.sbnation.com/mlb/2014/1/6/5271950/mlb-hall-of-fame-2014-ballot-bbwaa-rules. Tuesday, 1/21 2014 Web.

Hall of Fame Voting Procedures, Baseballreference.com, 2000, http://www.baseball-reference.com/about/hof_voting.shtml, Tuesday, 1/21 2014 Web.

Haudricourt, Tom, Baseball Hall of Fame voting process clouded by PED era, jsonline.com, http://www.jsonline.com/sports/baseball-hall-of-fame-voting-process-clouded-by-ped-era-b99179353z1-239201371.html, Web, 2 Feb. 2014

National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum, BBWAA Election Rules, Baseballhall.org, http://baseballhall.org/hall-famers/rules-election/bbwaa, Monday, 1/27 2014 Web.

Page, Sam, Hall of Fame Voters Take Notice: Steroid Baseball Rocked to the Xtreme, Extramustard.si.com, http://extramustard.si.com/2014/01/08/baseball-hall-of-fame-steroids-cool/, Monday 1/27 2014 Web.

Passan, Jeff, MLB's PED era remains a complicated issue for Hall of Fame voters, sprts.yahoo.com, http://sports.yahoo.com/news/mlb-s-ped-era-remains-a-complicated-issue-for-hall-of-fame-voters-054734206.html, Web, 2 Feb. 2014.

"Performance-Enhancing Drugs." Sports in America: Recreation, Business, Education, and Controversy. Stephen Meyer. 2012 ed. Detroit: Gale, 2012. Information Plus Reference Series. Opposing Viewpoints in Context. Web. 2 Feb. 2014.

The Steroids Era, ESPN.com, http://espn.go.com/mlb/topics/_/page/the-steroids-era, Monday 1/27 2014 Web.

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