I was going to give you even more statistical stuff, but the hot weather precludes it.
Rafael Palmeiro was suspended for 10 days for failing Major League Baseball's steroid use policy. Allegations about use by Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds have also been made.
Palmero is only the fourth player, after Hank Arron, Willie Mays and Eddie Murray, to hit 500 home runs (he has 569, in 9th place all-time, passing Reggie Jackson and closing in on Harmon Killebrew) and get 3000 hits.
McGwire had 583 career home runs, and practically saved baseball in 1998 with his exciting home run race with Sammy Sosa in 1998, after the disasterous strike of 1994.
Bonds not only has 703 homers, but the 7-time MVP was intentionally walked more last year than some teams; he's been out with injuries all of this season.
Every eligible person (retired five years) who has hit 500 or more home runs has made it to the HoF.
So, I'd like to know:
1. Will Barry Bonds make it to the Baseball Hall of Fame, and should he?
2. Will Mark McGwire make it, and should he?
3. Will Raphael Palmiero make it, and should he
Bonus question:
And what about the chances for Sammy Sosa, who is now #5 on the HR list, behind only Aaron, Ruth, Bonds, and Mays, passing McGwire and Frank Robinson this year?
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5 comments:
I think they all will, and I don't want any of them too. I'm just cranky that way. I've been annoyed with baseball since 1993, when they expanded and started shrinking the ballparks. Everything offensive since then needs to be scrutinized much more closely, because it's crap. There are lots of players from the late '20s and early '30s who don't belong to be in either, so I'm not just an old-schooler.
Agreed completely, I think all of these newer guys should have a star by their names
*may have been using steroids and once went on strike like a little baby because a million a year is not enough
Or some such thing. I quit baseball after the strike and other than the occasional (read: when I'm bored) look I just don't care to ever see it again.
Bonds will get in. Even in his early days, before he bulked up, was very fast (he has over 500 stolen bases for his career. And his high batting average (as opposed to just power numbers) will mitigate in his favor.
McGwire I don't know. At the beginning of the year, he was a lock. Canseco's allegations (repeated on 60 Minutes tonight, not so incidentally), made McGwire look bad, but not as bad as he made himself look berfore Congress.
Raffy- probably not. The writers will want to make an example, and his finger-waving denial before Congress will come back to haunt him.
A common defense of juiced hitters is that steroids don't improve eye-hand coordination. Even so, steroids don't just affect home run power; how many of Raffy's 3000 hits (or Barry's) would have plopped softly into fielders' gloves, or dribbled into double plays, without a turbo-boost behind them, pushing them over the heads and past the gloves of the opposing team? How long was he on performance enhancers, and how many of his hits are potentially tainted? (It's a safe bet his finger-jabbing estimation of "Never!" is inoperative.) As Rumsfeld might say, these are known unknowns. But without answers--even though definitive answers may be impossible--there should be no admittance into the Hall. The Hall of Fame criteria include character: cheating, then lying about it to Congress and the whole country clearly matter.
1. Barry Bonds HoF? I hate him, but yes he will, and yes I think he should go.
2. Mark McGwire HoF? Yes I think he will, and yes I think he should.
3. Will Raphael Palmiero HoF? Based on number, yes he should. His character is in jeopardy, but it is not like others in the HoF are/were saints.
Bonus question:
Sammy Sosa? Yes I think he will, if there is a ballot year that isn't strong.
Mind you, I am also a supporter of sending Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson to the HoF. Especially if Bonds makes it to there.
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