If Ivan Rodriguez made it, there's absolutely zero reason to keep Bonds and Clemens out. Those guys are "Pantheon" guys, even before steroids.
Please prove that Pudge used steroids or any PEDs and get back to me. Thanks
Please prove Clemens or any of the other guys who never failed a drug test did.
Canseco said he injected Pudge and was never sued for defamation.
Bonds literally admitted to using steroids, and just said that he didn’t know they were PEDs at the time when he took them.
Clemens was also accused by Canseco of using steroids, as well as his personal trainer under oath. Investigators also found cotton swabs and needles with steroid residue and Clemens DNA in his personal trainer’s office.
Pudge was only accused by Canseco in his book. That’s the only “evidence" against him. I could write a book saying you used steroids. Does that make it true? There is way more actual evidence against Clemens. And it is simply a fact that Bonds used steroids. He admitted to it.
Aaron and Mays used illegal amphetamines. Why is that ok and not a bar from the HOF?
Proof?
also, what is the impact of taking amphetamines in terms of improving baseball performance?
I'm genuinely asking because this is the first I've heard of it.
Aaron acknowledged in his autobiography he took a Greenie (i.e. speed/amphetamine). A number of former teammates have linked Mays to amphetamines, a pitcher even claimed Mays' locker was the place to go to get them.
Amphetamines were illegal and thus banned by baseball (that is the logic used for steroids which weren't officially on the banned substance list until 2002 when the MLBPA officially agreed to it). Speed increases your awareness, wakes you up, and generally makes it easier to get through the grind of the season. It makes it easier to do your job as a player because you are more alert and awake, thus it is a performance enhancer.
It is just a double standard that has no business in the game. I mean a guy like Gaylord Perry is praised for throwing vaseline balls and spit balls, but hey lets reward him by putting him in the HOF. Whitey Ford has acknowledged he did everything under the sun to doctor the ball illegally. Ok for him, HOF. Don Sutton, famous ball docterer as well. Also in the HOF. Joe Niekro, not in the HOF, but famously got caught on tv emptying sand paper and an emery board from his pocket. He is beloved for that, not vilified.
Maybe you remember just last year Joel Peralta was ejected for having pine tar in his glove, before he ever pitched in the game. What makes that one stand out is that the opposing manager, Davey Johnson, knew pine tar would be in the glove because Peralta used to pitch for him and always had pine tar in his glove. In other words, it was ok for Peralta to cheat when he was Johnson's player, but not ok for him to cheat when he was on the opposing team.
Then you have guys like George Brett. The most beloved Royal ever. An all time great. A player that was caught using pine tar and instead of a home run was ruled out. That form of cheating is ok though, no other repercussions and a HOF plaque for Brett. Then you have a real jerk like Ty Cobb, who would openly and illegally sharpen his spikes in front of the opposing team, so they wouldn't get in his way on a slide (and thus let him advance farther then he should have).
and let's save the best for last. Babe Ruth. He used a corked bat at least once and Bill James theorizes, he used it for most of his career. But hey using a corked bat is perfectly legal, right? so no harm no foul.
http://www.slate.com/articles/sports/sports_nut/2010/09/life_liberty_and_breaking_the_rules.htmlBaseball was born on cheating. It has always been a part of the game. It will always be a part of the game. It nothing but hypocrisy to treat one form of cheating different than any other form of cheating.