Eventually, even if after everyone in this forum currently is dead - I think all will get in.
Bonds and Clemens are clearly less than innocent the way things stand today, but eventually with the lens of history, I think that people will view the game at the time as a whole and the fact of other highly suspected cheaters already being in as reason to give them the nudge over 75%. As others have pointed out, Selig is in - and it's kind of ironically humorous to me that he apparently literally doesn't understand why people think he is also culpable in the whole mess that is steroid era. Whatever. Note it on their plaques, and let them in. I have no issues whatsoever if this doesn't actually occur until long after I'm dead.
Rose? I mean clearly at the time, he broke the cardinal rule. He stepped on the third rail. Whether you believe the penalty for gambling in baseball is just or totally ridiculous, there was an understanding rooted in history and what came out of the Black Sox that gambling in the game is automatically simply the worst thing you can do if you are employed by baseball in any way, shape, or form. It was posted in every clubhouse. Today however, I think the lines are more than a bit blurry, especially now with Manfred's MLB and even individual teams getting cozy with sports books, and other online outfits that outright offer the opportunity to gamble. Pete personally has paid the price now I believe, nearly 35 years on - yes. But he's his own worst enemy. When you look at all the opportunities that man has had, all the ways over the decades to come clean and play nice with baseball - and he simply hasn't done it. Pete's gonna Pete at all costs, and in that regard - he has no one to blame but himself for his continual banishment.
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Prewar Cubs. Postwar stars & HOF'ers. Currently working on 1956, '63 and '72 Topps complete sets.
Last edited by jchcollins; 06-22-2023 at 01:39 PM.
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