Can scandal help Bonds, Clemens?
There’s no need for Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens to sit at home all day Tuesday with TV cameras in their living rooms, waiting in suspense.
They are the two greatest players on this year’s Baseball Hall of Fame ballot. Really, two of the best in the history of the game.
But once again, ring.
They won’t be elected to the Hall of Fame alongside Derek Jeter and perhaps Larry Walker.
They are inching closer, and for the first time should gather more than 60% of the votes, including this ballot once again, but they also are running out of time.
Yet, 13 years after hitting their last home run and striking out their last batter, perhaps they finally caught the break they need to be elected into Cooperstown in two years before their eligibility expires.
It’s quite possible that baseball’s latest cheating scandal could resuscitate their hopes.
If Bonds and Clemens aren’t elected for the widespread belief they used performance-enhancing drugs, are we prepared to keep everyone involved in the Astros’ illegal sign-stealing scheme out of the Hall of Fame, too? Cheating is cheating, right?
“I would rather face a player that was taking steroids,– Dodgers pitcher Alex Wood tweeted, “than face a player that knew every pitch that was coming.–
So how will the Astros, Boston Red Sox, or anyone else involved in these cheating scandals be looked upon when their careers are over?
Just like Bonds and Clemens, no one was suspended, and everyone on their team benefited.
Jose Altuve still gets to keep his MVP trophy. Alex Bregman gets to keep his entire $100 million extension. And the 2017 World Series banner will hang forever in Houston.
But will voters punish Altuve and Bregman, and keep them out of the Hall of Fame one day for being linked to the scandal?
How about Carlos Beltran, a co-mastermind of the operation with Alex Cora? He’s eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2023. Does this ruin his chances?
What happens if the Astros’ suspicions are true, telling MLB investigators that eight other teams were also using illegal technology to steal signs? Does everyone get blacklisted from Cooperstown?
Or does it become a case of which form of cheating is morally acceptable?
Maybe it comes down to who we like and dislike personally when filling out those Hall of Fame ballots? You know, like we’re doing right now.
We’re convinced that Bonds and Clemens were cheating after testimony in the BALCO investigation implicated Bonds, and a perjury trial case involved Clemens’ former trainer, although neither were convicted in court.
They weren’t suspended a single day, let alone an entire season for using performance-enhancing drugs like Alex Rodriguez, who is now one of baseball’s greatest ambassadors.
They weren’t suspended for PED use with two different teams like Manny Ramirez, who was hired after retirement to their phones won’t be a hitting consultant two years with the Chicago Cubs.
They didn’t admit to steroid use like Mark McGwire, who later became a major-league coach for eight years.
Bonds and Clemens were just two of the thousands of players who likely used PEDs when there was no testing in the game until 2005, with players even today learning how to beat the system.
“Sixty-percent of the guys today,– former slugger David Segui told USA TODAY last July, “easily, are doing stuff.–
Yet, we choose to penalize Bonds and Clemens every single year.
So how far do we want to take this? Are we going to hold it against every player involved in the illegal sign stealing now, or do we say they simply took advantage of modern-day technology that supplanted the old-fashioned cheating with scoreboard flashing lights, binoculars and TV monitors in the bullpens?
Every player involved in the sign stealing helped the Astros win more games than any team in baseball the past three years, and even though they were caught, no player was penalized.
Bonds and Clemens were never even caught, but they still are being punished.
If you don’t vote for Bonds and Clemens as part of the Baseball Writers Association of America, can you really vote for Beltran, Altuve or anyone else in the future whose teams are implicated in the sign-stealing scandal?
Bonds is the greatest hitter anyone under the age of 90 has ever seen. Clemens is one of the greatest righthanded pitchers in the history of the game.
They played in an era when there were no rules against PED use, with everyone trying to drive their bodies 90mph instead of staying within the 55mph speed limit.
They belong in the Hall of Fame. Rodriguez, Ramirez and any player who were suspended by baseball for using PEDs, hurt their teams with their absence, violating the rules once put in place.
They won’t get my vote. That’s my line of demarcation. Better be careful.
That slope is starting to become awfully slippery.
My ballot this year: Bonds, Clemens, Derek Jeter, Larry Walker, Curt Schilling, Omar Vizquel, Jeff Kent, Gary Sheffield and Sammy Sosa.