I just can't stand how people have become so self-righteous about steroids, relying on the verdict in the court of public opinion to declare players guilty or innocent. Look, we ALL bear the cross of the steroid era. Nobody here can honestly say that in 1998 they thought Big Mac's popeye arms were real (and if you can, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn I'm looking to unload for a few t205s). Every one of us was glued to the TV that season, watching every on of his 70 and Sosa's 66. We knew or should have known that they were juicing. We ignored it, just as we had ignored it through the late 80s and the entire 90s, because the baseball highs were worth it- titanic home runs, larger-than-life players, skyrocketing attendance, etc... WE need to own up to the steroid era ourselves. WE need to own up to it because it was US, not Roger Clemens or Barry Bonds who sullied the game. They were just entertainers who gave us what we wanted to see. If WE as a fan base have decided steroids are bad (and I believe they are) then WE have a responsibility to make it right; not by lynching the players who did what we wanted them to do, but by acknowledging what we've done wrong: letting the end product justify everything. An exhibit in the Hall of Fame fully treating the steroid era would be a good start: talk not only about Bonds Clemens Conte and McNamee, but on how we were all involved; the intense media coverage that steroids generated, the home run race, etc.; and on the aftermath as well: Ken Caminiti's untimely death and dangerous abuse of steroids by teenage athletes. Just as gambling once plagued the game, steroids plagued the game, and we need to acknowledge that this problem extended far beyond just the few players who happened to be randomly tested in 2003 before anybody gave a hoot who was juicing.
How does this shake out for Clemens and Bonds? I think they should be in the Hall of Fame. There's no shot that people will forget the allegations that swirl around, especially if the Hall of Fame does the right thing and addresses the steroid era. But to pretend that the all time home run leader didn't exist just because he's been found guilty in a post-hoc trial at the court of public opinion is to do a great disservice to the Hall and to baseball. There is nothing to be gained from guessing which great players are or were on steroids. The evidence record is woefully spotty and almost all concentrated in 2003, as though steroids hadn't been in use for decades prior. Steroid era players should be in the Hall, ceteris paribus, and I think there's a good chance that they will be.
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