Steroids allegations follow star players
By Daniel Lemmerman and Laurie Lemmerman-Castaneda
Special to the Pinnacle
Daniel: I am going to come right out and say it. I am a fan of
the San Francisco Giants, but I am also a huge fan of baseball as a
whole.
This week the voting for the 2007 Baseball Hall of Fame
inductees took place and two very deserving players, Cal Ripken Jr.
and Tony Gwynn, were inducted. One of the former players that did
not receive enough votes was Mark McGwire. An ongoing argument this
past year has been that if Mark McGwire does not get into the hall
due to the so-called steroid era, neither should San Francisco
Giants outfielder Barry Bonds. I completely disagree with this
statement and it is not just because I am a Giants fan.
Steroids allegations follow star players
By Daniel Lemmerman and Laurie Lemmerman-Castaneda
Special to the Pinnacle
Daniel: I am going to come right out and say it. I am a fan of the San Francisco Giants, but I am also a huge fan of baseball as a whole.
This week the voting for the 2007 Baseball Hall of Fame inductees took place and two very deserving players, Cal Ripken Jr. and Tony Gwynn, were inducted. One of the former players that did not receive enough votes was Mark McGwire. An ongoing argument this past year has been that if Mark McGwire does not get into the hall due to the so-called steroid era, neither should San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds. I completely disagree with this statement and it is not just because I am a Giants fan.
Everyone has their opinions about who took steroids and who didn’t, but the fact is no one really knows the truth. Suspicions are that many of that era’s baseball players were taking steroids, hitters and pitchers alike. Still there is no plausible way to determine who was and who was not on the “juice” during this time and it should be left at that.
McGwire admitted to taking supplements, such as Creatine, which were not, at the time, a violation of any baseball drug policy. At present, Bonds has not admitted to taking anything, illegal or otherwise, and continues to deny knowingly using steroids. I admire McGwire for admitting he used supplements. Personally, I think he is also a much better human being than Barry Bonds might be, but you cannot base a hall of fame vote on how nice a player is to reporters or to his fans, his team or how good he was for baseball. The overall career of a player and what that player accomplished should determine his right to be recognized as a Hall of Famer.
Barry Bonds is known to have the best eyes, along with the fastest bat, in baseball. You are either born with these traits or not – no steroid can give those to you. Those two traits have helped Bonds to stack up the following Hall of Fame numbers: a lifetime .299 batting average; 587 doubles, 734 home runs, 1,930 runs batted in, 509 stolen bases, six National League MVP awards, 12 Silver Slugger awards and eight Gold Gloves. Mark McGwire finished his career with a lifetime .263 batting average, 252 doubles, 583 home runs, 1,414 runs batted in and 12 stolen bases. He was named the 1987 Rookie of the Year award but never won an MVP award and earned just three Silver Slugger awards and only one Gold Glove.
I am not saying that McGwire does not deserve to be in the hall, because he does. What McGwire and Sammy Sosa did for baseball in 1998 was amazing and McGwire’s career numbers warrant a Hall of Fame induction without a doubt. What I am saying is that whether or not “Big Mac” gets into the hall, Barry Bonds should and will get in. If people vote the way they should, Barry Bonds’ career numbers will get him a Hall of Fame induction, steroids or not.
Laurie: Baseball is a game of inches.
A hit can be inches outside the foul pole, a pitcher can step an inch or two off the rubber, hitters inch closer to the plate.
Baseball is also a game of numbers, more so than any other sport. We who follow baseball keep track of hits, runs scored, runs batted in, batting averages, strike outs, walks (given and taken), foul balls, stolen bases, home runs, the number of times our favorite left-handed batter has struck out against a right-handed pitcher in evening games on Tuesday nights on the road during the month of April … you get the idea.
At no other time are numbers as important as when two fans are discussing their favorite players. They throw out statistics the way umpires threw out Hall of Fame Baltimore Oriole manager Earl Weaver.
This week, former Oakland A/St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Mark McGwire was one of three well-known and well-loved former players up for induction to baseball’s Hall of Fame – the other two being Tony Gwynn of the San Diego Padres and the Baltimore Orioles’ Cal Ripken, Jr. Gwynn and Ripken made it; McGwire, sullied by baseball’s ongoing steroid scandal, did not.
In light of his failure to win more than 23.5 percent of the votes (far less than the 75 percent needed), a debate has started over McGwire’s chances of making it into the Hall. This in turn has sparked a second debate, one in which the numbers of San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds and McGwire have been compared and dissected in an attempt to persuade those on the fence of baseball’s steroid scandal that one or both deserve to be inducted into the Hall. What I’ve heard from quite a few camps, my son included, is that based on their career numbers, Bonds should be allowed into the Hall of Fame despite steroid allegations, while McGwire should not.
I’ve taken a good look at their stats this week, and what I’ve decided is this – the numbers aren’t that far apart. Yes, McGwire’s numbers tend to be lower in most categories, but McGwire has also played in nearly 1,000 fewer games than Bonds, 1,874 to be exact, compared to 2,860 and counting for Bonds.
The only category where Bonds completely outplays McGwire is stolen bases – 509 to 12. (Big Mac was not known for his speed.)
If induction to the Hall were based strictly on numbers, I’d say both should go. If induction was based on who was the nicer person, then McGwire gets in and Bonds doesn’t – Bonds has never done anything for anyone unless he benefits from it. In light of the steroid allegations attached to both players, I say we don’t allow entrance to either.
Cincinnati Reds all-star Pete Rose cheated by betting on games in which he played and/or coached; he has been banned for life from baseball and refused entrance into the Hall of Fame. McGwire and Bonds may have cheated by taking illegal performance enhancing drugs. Why should they get off any easier than Rose?
We will never know exactly who used what, or who was juiced or who wasn’t. You can’t really asterisk an entire decade, as some have suggested.
On the other hand, we can’t find someone guilty without evidence. And without evidence of guilt, we let them play and let the records stand, even though in the hearts of many, Roger Maris is still the single season home run record holder and Hank Aaron’s 755 home runs will stay the career mark long after Bonds passes it.
What we can do, however, is refuse to glorify players we suspect of cheating and who are unwilling to help clear up allegations against them. This week, the member’s of Baseball Writer’s Association of America who voted for the Hall of Fame candidates sent that message to any player who doesn’t honor the game of baseball. And I agree with that message.
