[itjclarke]

Cal was as much a guess as Rickey.. If for nothing else, because no one had mentioned him. I do think any number (well more than 1!!) of current HOFers could have used, and used well prior to the steroid era. Again, someone else said 20% of NFL lineman admitted to using in the 70's, so there's no reason it hadn't at least trickled into MLB by then. I always hear the argument that players in that era didn't work out like they do now, and didn't believe strength and muscles contributed to success on the diamond, as they do now. I've always thought that was a little BS though. Even if 90% of players really believed that, it just takes one, two guys to try roids and then notice they're crushing the ball harder in BP, or throwing harder for longer for it to take hold and influence the game.. And eventually other players. I highly doubt it all just started with Jose Canseco.

Steroids and what they've done to the game really does bother me, and even though I think they're legitimate HOFers, I'm in no way Bonds/Clemens apologists. It does bother me that so many people make so many assumptions about the the cleanliness of the past (that they didn't juice and that greenies aren't really cheating), and assumptions about guys past or present they think are clean (or really want to be clean), and so many opposite assumptions about the easy villains.

It is interesting that this vote is pretty close to the writers'.. I guess that just means it is a pretty fair representation of how writers/fans feel overall. Will be very interesting to see how these views evolve over time. I'm sure very few people in 1939 wanted Joe Jackson in the hall, but over the decades after several books and couple movies that view has changed.