Yay or nay?
The Post asked 10 of our baseball Hall of Fame voters for their thoughts on Joe Morgan’s letter released Tuesday that strongly opposes the induction of PEDlinked ballplayers into Cooperstown:
LARRY BROOKS
As it is impossible to identify which players used steroids and which did not, the issue is one of the factors I consider but it is not necessarily an overriding one. I also believe it’s the height of hypocrisy to induct Bud Selig, Tony La Russa and Joe Torre — all of whose careers benefited from the employment of suspected/admitted steroid users — into the Hall of Fame but bar those athletes.
DON BURKE
Always enjoy getting mail from a Hall of Famer, but it doesn’t change anything for me. Have never voted for users or suspected users. Don’t need a reminder from Joe Morgan.
BRIAN COSTELLO
I vote for players regardless of whether they were suspected of steroid use. It was part of the game the same way players before 1947 played on an uneven playing field because of minorities being kept out of baseball. I have no issue if the Hall wanted to designate on a player’s plaque that they were suspected of steroid use or designate the era in some way.
KEN DAVIDOFF
I believe it would be intellectually dishonest and historically inconsistent to not elect steroid-suspected or -confirmed players into the Hall of Fame. The Hall already include electees such as Cap Anson (institutional racism), Ty Cobb (gambling) and Bud Selig (owner collusion) whose offenses were much worse, and Gaylord Perry is a beloved Hall of Famer whose crime is identical to that of the steroid guys.
MARK HALE
I do not let a player’s usage or suspected usage influence me. There is no way of truly determining impact, nothing else from that era is “penalized” (are we eliminating the Yankees’ World Series championships, won with players like Clemens and Pettitte?) and the penalties FOR usage do not include a HOF ban unless you test positive three times. If they are eligible and on the ballot, PED usage should not be a factor in voting.
KEVIN KERNAN
Nothing has changed from the last vote when I voted for Bonds and Clemens. Baseball couldn’t police itself. I’m not going to police them now.
GEORGE A. KING III
My stance is simple. Case by case. Every situation is different and is looked at that way.
MIKE PUMA
I have voted for suspected PED users (Bonds and Clemens among them), but it’s a case-by-case consideration. Players who were probably created by PEDs do not receive my vote.
JOEL SHERMAN
Stay open-minded, absorb all information (stats/drugs/scouts) and use common sense.
MIKE VACCARO
I am unchanged by Morgan’s grandstanding. Once the Hall allowed Bud Selig (right), chief enabler of the steroid era, into its membership I lost whatever lingering reservations I had about considering those with alleged steroid taint.