hall of shame

"Hall of Shame?"

A huge dilemma is brewing in Major League Baseball. And in the coming

months, analysts, past players, and fans will try to make it more

complicated than it is. They'll say this about one player and this

about another.

When in reality all they should say about all of the players is either

"yes" or "no."

Yes, beginning in 2007, members of the Steroids Generation in baseball

are eligible for induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame. It was

announced Monday that Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco - Canseco admitted

to steroid use then wrote a book accusing others; McGwire repeatedly

refuses to discuss the past despite rather clear evidence of steroid

use, although what he took was legal at the time - are on the Hall of

Fame ballot for the first time.

And I'm sure others who have played under the dark cloud of the

Steroid Era will make the ballot in the years to come. Barry Bonds,

Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro, to name a few.

We will likely never know for sure if these players took 'roids

(although we can be damn close to positive about Palmeiro after his

failed drug test and Bonds, the way he has gotten better and bigger

with age). The chance of any of these very proud ex-sluggers admitting

to using an illegal substance is close to none.

The best thing voters can do is to either say, "I'm going to consider

all of them," or, "I'm going to dismiss all of them." There shouldn't

be any reading between the lines here. Either vote for the Steroid

Generation as you would for another group of players - based on what

they did on the baseball field - or don't vote for any of them because

they may have cheated to achieve what they did.

Saying things like: "What about what Bonds did before he was on

steroids?" just muddies this debate and makes voters stay up way too

late at night - it just ain't healthy. Because, for one, you can't

really be sure exactly when Bonds started taking steroids. Yes, it is

stated in "Game of Shadows," and I certainly would take the word of

those two courageous "San Francisco Chronicle" journalists over Bonds'

testimony, but again, nothing is ever exact.

And what about the other players? Not every steroid user got a book

written about him (in fact, one player had to write his own).

Of course, the difficult part will be weeding out the players who we

know positively didn't take steroids during the past 10 or so years.

To do this, consider who was in their prime during the Steroid Era -

the later 1990s and early part of this century. McGwire, Sosa, Bonds,

Palmeiro, Jason Giambi. Not Ken Griffey Jr., not Tony Gwynn and Cal

Ripken Jr. - both of whom are on the 2007 ballot and will almost

certainly deservedly get in.

Any player who was at his peak during the steroid era and has been

suspected of steroid use should not be elected. I know this system is

flawed, but there really is no easy way to resolve this issue.

At least this way voters don't need to dissect how "suspected users"

performed "before use," "during use" and "after use."

Because that's just way too confusing. I get a migraine simply reading

that sentence.