So they put him in with a failed drug test but not other far superior players without a failed drug test. The shear hypocrisy of baseball hall of fame voters never ceases to amaze.
False.
I mean what is false there, Ortiz admitted he failed a test but then blamed supplements and vitamins. Pretty classic excuse for failed test takers. Then of course there is the less direct stuff like the DEA investigation into a Dominican drug lord connected to Ortiz, the failed assisnation attempt by a different Dominican drug lord, and a whole host of other seedy stuff.
I have no issue with Ortiz in the HOF, but onky after far superior players like Bonds, Clemens, Sosa, McGuire, etc. The hypocrisy of putting him in and not those others just taints the Hall. It is just nonsense and every single person that failed to vote for Bonds and Clemens should have their vote revoked, especially if they voted for an inferior failed drug test player like Ortiz. The hypocrisy is disgusting.
Wasn't the gist of the Ortiz issue was that he supposedly failed a test, but was never told why he failed it or if he failed it at all?
Edit:
Here's the MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred on the issue:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/mlb/2016/10/02/rob-manfred-david-ortiz-drug-test-hall-of-fame/91442256/
He very well might have taken nandroline which was legal and sold at places like GNC that Ortiz has acknowledged he frequented.
https://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/careless-david-ortiz-denies-steroid-apologizes-boston-red-sox-fans-teammates-article-1.395676
"I definitely was a little bit careless back in those days when I was buying legal supplements and legal vitamins over the counter - but I never buy steroids or use steroids," Ortiz said at Yankee Stadium before the Red Sox lost to the Bombers, 5-0. "I never thought buying supplements and vitamins was gonna hurt anybody's feelings. That happened. I'm sorry about that."
The supplement 19-norandrostenedione was legal in 2003 and contained the steroid nandrolone, a hard-core performance-enhancing drug used to build muscle. Nandrolone also appears in the steroid Deca-Durabolin. The positive levels caused by a dietary supplement would likely have been lower than for a straight steroid, allowing for the contested results.
And to be clear that test was in 2003 before there was testing and before steroids were banned by the sport. That is of course the same list that has Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Andy Pettite, Gary Sheffield, Pedro Martinez, Nomar Garciaparra, Alex Rodriguez, Ivan Rodriguez, and a few other potential HOFers. So now we Ortiz, along with Pudge and Pedro from the list, but we are still going to leave off the 3 best players in a very large part because they are 3 of the biggest ****s i.e. Bonds, Clemens, ARod. It fits with what baseball claims to be, but is not, i.e. we love rules, but it is ok to break them, just don't break certain rules or you are out forever, unless of course we like you, then you get in no problem. Nothing more than hypocrisy at its finest
I'm fine with calling it hypocrisy, but no need to bend yourself over backwards to dirty Ortiz's legacy when most of his career and best years were post Steroid Era.
Others you mention we actually have more solid proof of what they did wrong.
All that said, I don't care about them using steroids back in the day, don't think they should be banned from HOF over it, particularly considering how widespread it was as it were.
Get me Pete Rose in as well.
Bending over backwards? He was on the dame list used to keep Bonds and Clemens out. The same list that giysblike Pettite acknowledged were accurate. Either keep everyone from the list out or let those deserving in. Picking and choosing is nothing more than hypocrisy that has no business in a hall of fame vote.
Actually, Mo, neither Clemens nor Bonds ever tested positive for PEDs.
Clemens was implicated by his trainer, but that trainer was also a scumbag. Clemens was prosecuted for perjury to Congress about his PED use, and he was acquitted.
Barry Bonds was closely tied to BALCO, which produced PEDs. There were also charts, dosing schedules, etc.
But, neither man tested dirty in 2003, at least that has been released. Assuming folks believe that both Clemens and Bonds are in fact guilty, that just shows how easy the tests were to beat. It's highly, highly likely that guys already in the HOF used steroids. I'd put forth Piazza, Bagwell, and Ivan Rodriguez as primary candidates who made the Hall who may have used.
The hypocrisy is rampant. Sammy Sosa will never make the HOF, despite 600+ HRs. Yet, the only evidence that he used is the same 2003 test that Ortiz failed.
If voters want to keep players out of the Hall for cheating, use a black and white standard: you're not eligible if you tested dirty after 2005, when the rules about PEDs were implemented. That keeps A-Rod and Manny Ramirez out, but they knew what they were doing and what the risks were. I still would vote both in, I think, but at least it's a cleaner argument.