O/T If McGwire Doesn't Go Into Hall then Clemens ...

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Posted By: peter chao

David,

Your right each of the HOFs are different. Each sport is also different. In baseball there has always been tolerance for legal cheating.

Like if you scuff the ball so that your pitcher can throw a better sinker. Or if your taking a lead off 2nd base and you pick-off the sign then you can relay the info to a coach who will relay the infor to the batter. This is what you would call legal cheating.

Illegal cheating is if you clearly break the rules in order to win. Steroids are clearly illegal cheating because almost every baseball contract says specifically that you are not allowed to take drugs (alcohol, amphetamines, steroids) in order to improve performance. So it is very clear that ballplayers that do so are violating the terms of their contract.

Even if you call the cheating improper there is the issue of catching the cheater and the proper punishment. If you are going to exclude somebody from the HOF for steroids you should say so. Look at Pete Rose, he was given many opportunities to reform but he was too hardheaded so he deserved to be banned.

But the question is what is the proper punishment. Suppose your caught corking the bat like Sammy Sosa was, does that mean he should be excluded from the HOF. Then there is the even more difficult question of whether a HOF can be kicked out if people find out that they are are cheating later on.

There is absolutely no precedent for kicking somebody out of the HOF. Look at the Gaylord Perry situation. After he got into the HOF, he admits that he was loading up the ball. As far as I know, there wasn't a single sportswriter that was outraged. Even the HOF didn't bat an eye. I don't remember anybody saying that Gaylord should be kicked out of the Hall. As a matter of fact most people were thinking that Gaylord was pretty clever for managing to get away with cheating for such a long time. Clearly there was no penalty.

Peter