Bad Behavior Could Result in Hall Snubs for Former Atlanta Braves

The Rant Ensues

Here’s where my personal opinion now jumps up and complains.

One can argue that neither Bonds nor Clemens have ever been known to fail a test for a banned substance.  For Bonds, that argument would actually be incorrect – based on tests and testimony.  For Clemens, he did everything legally possible to try and discredit testimony and other evidence against him on the subject… including suggestions that nothing he did was banned at the time.

To date, this pair still represent the featured poster figures for Baseball’s Steroid Era.

Opinion:  to put either into the Hall of Fame would be an overt message that this brand of cheating is not only okay, but – given enough passage of time – will probably result in the ultimate honor for participants in your sport.

In other words:  the cheating worked.

Meanwhile… with those names still on the ballot and voters paying them homage, others are left out.

Are there other ill-doers on that ballot?  Maybe.  It is indeed hard to say in so many cases.  But if you look at this pair – Bonds and Clemens – and believe they are clean because they weren’t caught on video with a syringe sticking out of their hips, then I really can’t help you.

Meanwhile:  Would McGriff, Sheffield, Wags, and Walker be shoo-ins in the absence of those others?  No – probably not.  They are borderline cases.  But they aren’t 20%-ers either. I’d at least like to see them have a fair chance.

The same thing applies to Alan Trammell, who fell off the ballot after 15 years of trying (one of the last ‘grandfathered’ in with 15-year eligibility).  His production, durability, and defense certainly could have been rewarded.

But Trammell had the 11th highest vote total in 2016.  Clemens and Bonds were 7th and 8th respectively.