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Originally Posted by blueash
Your criteria for inclusion may need some reconsideration. Big Papi was a confirmed steroid user as he tested positive in 2003. He of course said it must have been some OTC product he didn't know had steroid. Exactly the same claim that Bonds made that the cream he used must have had steroids.
Why did Ortiz get in? Because people liked him. All those voters who refuse to let the greatest home run hitter in because of steroids are hypocrites. Smiling pleasant steroid user.. ok. Unpleasant, not okay.
The HOF is full of great baseball players some of whom were horrible people. Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle were alcoholics. Landis as commissioner made sure that no Black players were signed by MLB. It is not a coincidence that Jackie Robinson was able to break the color barrier shortly after Landis died.
Clemens may be the greatest pitcher ever. Multiple Cy Youngs before he ever took a steroid. Again his personality leaves a lot of people cold.
Pete Rose, another unlikable player. There is no accusation that he ever bet on baseball as a player. He is still the all time hit leader.
Not having the all time hit leader, the all time HR hitter, the single season highest HR hitter and one of if not the greatest pitcher ever in the HOF is a sad outcome. Unless they are going to go back and review the character of every person in the HOF with our retrospectoscope and kick out those who don't measure up to 2022 standards, they should vote in Bonds, Clemens, and Rose.
You have absolutely no idea how many players used steroids and other PEDs in the years up to and after they were banned. Included in the list of those who admitted drug use are Goose Gossage, Mike Schmidt, Hank Aaron, all in the HOF.
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You're wrong on everything! The reason Ortiz was questionable was because it was his accomplishments as a DH, not as a first baseman, that gave him consideration. I don't know how he went in (which position) but if it's as a DH, he may be the first.
Bonds' use of PEDs is well-documented even though he wasn't caught when he was playing. Read the excellent, non-fiction book "Game of Shadows" by the investigative journalists who prove he was using them and did it deliberately, not by "mistake" as other players claim. He did it out of ego, vanity and to break McGuire's single season HR record and then Hank Aaron's all-time record. He's a disgusting human being and a narcissistic sociopath whose never shown any regret of remorse for what he did.
However, like Clemens, an argument can be made for his career being HOF worthy before his PEDs use but we can only speculate when he began doing it since he's never admitted it and apologized. I think if he had he'd be in no matter how odious of a person he is.
Please don't compare things like alcoholism with PEDs use. If they judged baseball players' worthiness for the HOF on excessive drinking there'd be nobody in there! Hank Aaron and some others admitted to taking "greenies" which are amphetamines and helped them cope with the long season, road trips, etc. Plus, there wasn't a coherent formal policy in MLB on drug use until the early 1990's.