O/T 2026 HOF Contemporary Ballot

[Aquarian Sports Cards]

Originally Posted by G1911

I think it's pretty obvious that players with 500 Home Runs and his slash line are HOF tier. If you'd like to draw some moral line to exclude him, as I said, that is what it is really about.

PED players have already been elected, such as David Ortiz who failed a steroid test but is given a free pass because the media adores him.

The "failed" test is far from that cut and dry though. I used to feel the same way about Ortiz, but the more and more I read about the 2003 survey testing the more I dislike holding that against anyone.

"In the years after MLB began testing more rigorously and punishing PED users in 2004, Ortiz never tested positive for any kind of banned drug. In 2016, MLB commissioner Rob Manfred said it was possible that Ortiz never registered a positive test in 2003 because of the questionable accuracy of those tests. He also said the 2003 testing should not come into play when determining players’ legacies (or Hall of Fame candidacies)."

This on top of the fact that these were supposed to be anonymous and the results were leaked. Plus, unlike future testing, there was no confirmation testing done and the entire system was a little more haphazard because this was merely a survey to determine how widespread the issue was to help come up with an actual testing program, it was never intended to be a definitive diagnosis of cheating for any one result.