Morgan asks Hall of Fame voters to stop PED players from entering Cooperstown
Joe Morgan wants Hall of Fame voters to just say no to performance-enhancing drugs.
The Hall of Fame second baseman, who serves as the Cooperstown shrine’s vice chairman, wrote a letter that was distributed Tuesday to the Baseball Writers’ Association of America’s voting members asking them to prevent “steroid users” from entering the Hall.
Morgan’s plea came a day after the annual Hall of Fame ballot was released.
“The more we Hall of Famers talk about this — and we talk about it a lot — we realize we can no longer sit silent,” said Morgan, who was inducted into the Hall in 1990.
“Many of us have come to think that silence will be considered complicity. Or that fans might think we are ok if the standards of election to the Hall of Fame are relaxed, at least relaxed enough for steroid users to enter and become members of the most sacred place in Baseball. We don’t want fans ever to think that.
“We hope the day never comes when known steroid users are voted into the Hall of Fame. They cheated. Steroid users don’t belong here.”
Morgan said players who failed drug tests, admitted to using steroids or were identified in the Mitchell Report should be disqualified from Hall of Fame consideration. Last year, Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds, both of whom have been linked to PED usage, each received greater than 50 percent of the vote. Players need 75 percent of the vote for induction.
Mike Piazza and Jeff Bagwell are among the players in recent years whose Hall of Fame induction might have been delayed by whispers of PED usage. Mark McGwire admitted to using steroids and eventually was dropped from the ballot after failing to get elected in his 10th attempt. Sammy Sosa, who was called to testify before Congress about PED usage, received only 8.6 percent of the vote last year, but remains on the ballot. Players are removed from the ballot if they don’t receive 5 percent of the vote.
“It’s gotten to the point where Hall of Famers are saying that if steroid users get in, they’ll no longer come to Cooperstown for induction ceremonies or other events,” Morgan wrote. “Some feel they can’t share a stage with players who did steroids. The cheating that tainted an era now risks tainting the Hall of Fame too. The Hall of Fame means too much to us to ever see that happen. If steroid users get in, it will divide and diminish the Hall, something we couldn’t bear.”
But Jon Shestakofsky, the vice president of communication and education for the Hall of Fame, said there are no plans to change the voting process or guidelines.
“Joe’s comments, we take that sentiment seriously,” Shestakofsky told The Post. “But there hasn’t been any thought to change the process because of it.
“The system has been in place for decades and worked well. I don’t see the system changing.”
Shestakofsky said the Hall of Fame helped in distributing Morgan’s letter to voters, but that should not be taken as an endorsement of the message.
“We were here to help one Hall of Famer who feels so strongly about this issue,” Shestakofsky said.
Morgan said his concern is for the future of the institution.
“I and other Hall of Famers played hard all our lives to achieve what we did,” he said. “I love this game and am proud of it. I hope the Hall of Fame’s standards won’t be lowered with the passage of time.
“For over eighty years, the Hall of Fame has been a place to look up to, where the hallowed halls honor those who played the game hard and right. I hope it will always remain that way.”