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Posted By: Mark Burke

were used as early as the 30s. They were rampant in baseball, but available over the counter until 1956, i.e. legal. some people say that this drug enhanced performance, albeit indirectly, by making players more alert during a long season. Many players have admitted using amphetamines. To say that somebody's record should be "grandfathered" because something was not "illegal" at the time is arguable but understandable. However, you can't argue that the player's performance was not enhanced artifically. My humble and probably controversial opinion is that you draw the line in the sand and say that from this point forward, anyone caught (i.e. tests positively through some 3rd party lab, not tested positively in someone's book or considered guilty in the court of popular and oft times mistaken opinion, is banned from the hall and possibly the sport altogether. But, you can't ban players you "think" used steroids because they got bigger over time or someone wrote a book about it and made allegations. Even testing will be problematic - just look at cycling. But, there has to be some objective and scientific way to look at this and not just a bunch of opinions based on whether based on someone's size, you think they must have taken steroids.