MLB: Hypocrisy in the Hall

Last week, Major League Baseball announced its Hall of Fame class for 2011. After all the votes were tabulated, only two players, Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven, emerged as having enough votes for enshrinement in Cooperstown. Both men deserved the honor, and they are to be congratulated on such a wondrous achievement. I really don't understand why it took 14 years for Blyleven to finally get in, but in the end the Baseball Writers' Association of America got it right. Better late than never, I suppose.

But this election stood out for another reason. On the ballot were several sluggers from what has come to be known as baseball's "Steroid Era." This is a period of time in Major League Baseball, from approximately the mid-to-late 80's up through the early part of this past decade, when it is believed that steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) were widely-used by major league ballplayers. The result was inflated offensive statistics that included whopping homerun totals, the likes of which had never been seen before. Granted, steroids were not a banned substance in MLB at the time these players were taking them. But they were illegal, and I would argue that using them was also immoral.

There are several players whose reputations have been sullied by being associated with the Steroid Era. Some are known steroid users, while others are merely suspected. But when you look at the voting results, it is clear that their status as drug users (or even suspected drug users) has had an enormous impact on their potential election to the Hall of Fame. Players who have career numbers worthy of being elected on the first or second ballot are not even coming close to the required seventy-five percent of the vote. Among these players are Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmiero, both of whom are confirmed steroid users. This doesn't bode well for other stars who used PEDs and will soon be appearing on the ballot, e.g. Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, and Roger Clemens.

One other thing jumped out at me in this past election. Receiving a write-in vote was none other than MLB pariah, Pete Rose, aka "Charlie Hustle." Mr. Rose was banned for life from MLB and barred from the Hall of Fame for gambling on Cincinnati Reds games when he managed them during the 1987 season. There is no question that this was illegal, and that it undermined the integrity of major league baseball. Moreover, baseball's all-time hits leader also lied about the accusations over a substantial period of time before finally owning up to what he did. Between the gambling and his blatant dishonesty, then commissioner Bart Giamatti felt it was appropriate to give Rose a lifetime ban.

I personally believe that Pete Rose belongs in the Hall of Fame. There is no question that his career statistics back that up, as anyone who surpasses Ty Cobb on the all-time hits list should automatically be elected on the first ballot. Despite his despicable behavior, what he did was not comparable to the actions of Shoeless Joe Jackson and the rest of the players involved in the "Black Sox Scandal" of 1919. In that case, the players purposely threw the World Series for the sake of financial gain. In Rose's case, he was betting on his own team and doing everything he could to win the games on which he bet. To me, this is like comparing apples to oranges. What Rose did may have undermined the integrity of baseball, but nowhere near to the degree that the Black Sox Scandal did.

Still, to this day Rose is banned from appearing on the Hall of Fame ballot. Fine. It is what it is. Commissioner Bud Selig has made it clear that he has no intention of ever re-instating Rose. But then answer me this one question. If what Rose did was so terrible, and it undermined the game so much that he has been banned for life, why then are the players who used PEDs during the steroid era allowed to appear on the ballot? Why are they not banned for life? Did their actions not undermine the integrity of the game every bit as much as Rose's actions did?

I would actually argue that the players who used PEDs did more to hurt the sport of baseball than anyone else ever could have. They made a mockery of the game, causing us to question which statistics should be considered legitimate and which ones should not. They have caused us to take a long look at the players who are a bit more muscular than the others, players like Albert Pujols, and question whether they are on "the juice" and thus cheating as well. They have let down a generation of kids who idolized them, failing miserably in their status as role models for the game's youngest fans. It is both a travesty and a tragedy.

Yet, these same players who used PEDs and lied about ever doing it are allowed to appear on the ballot and are eligible for the Hall of Fame. How can that be? How are their actions any better than those of Pete Rose? I have wracked my brain trying to figure this out, and the only thing I can come up with is that it would make Major League Baseball look hypocritical. You see, they looked the other way the entire time that this was going on. They were aware of the prevalent use of PEDs among the players, yet said nothing, and did nothing. But they sure were quick to jump all over Pete Rose when they found out about what he did. Why? To me, it has to do with the fact that they were profiting from the Steroid Era. Everyone was benefitting from the inflated stats and mammoth homeruns: the fans, the players, the organizations, and MLB itself. Why kill the goose that laid the golden egg?

This is where Major League Baseball is as hypocritical as can be. Ban a guy for life because he gambled on a few games during one season, but don't ban the guys who used drugs over several seasons and ruined the reputation of the sport for years to come.When NFL stars Paul Hornung and Alex Karras were found to have gambled on NFL games almost 50 years ago, they were suspended for the entire 1963 season. Yet each one was re-instated in 1964, and did not receive a lifetime ban. Hornung actually went on to be elected to the NFL Hall of Fame, an honor he richly deserved. If the NFL can enshrine Hornung in Canton, why can't Rose be elected to Cooperstown?

I hope the players who destroyed the integrity of baseball during the Steroid Era are proud of what they did. I hope they're proud of their illegitimate stats, the huge salaries they received from attaining those stats, and the notoriety of passing up so many of the game's greats while accumulating their career numbers. I hope that MLB is proud for having turned a blind eye to what was going on. I hope they're happy about the popularity the sport enjoyed when Big Mac and Sammy Sosa were racing to see who was going to set the season record for homeruns. I hope they're ecstatic that they were able to put fannies in the seats when steroid pumped sluggers stepped into the batter's box, with fans anticipating another mammoth moonshot off the facade of the upper deck. And I hope they enjoyed the higher television ratings and advertising revenues it brought them when these shenanigans were taking place. Because in the end, they lost more than they could have ever hoped to gain.

You can't go back and erase the mistakes of the past, but you can certainly do the right thing today and make a new ending. Those who did steroids or used other PEDs should receive the same lifetime ban that Pete Rose did, and immediately be removed from the Hall of Fame ballot. It's never too late to acknowledge your mistakes and do what you can to set things right. If they don't, then baseball will never regain its status as the national pasttime. Instead, it will just become a thing of the past.