Ah, baseball – it is said it’s America’s favorite past time. However, this year, there will be no joy in Mudville because for only the second time since 1971, no former Major League Baseball players were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
It’s not because the ballot wasn’t full of talent. No, quite the contrary. Among this year’s nominees were Barry Bonds, the all-time leader in career home runs (with 762). Roger Clemens, an 11-time All-Star, two-time World Series winner, and 7-time Cy Young Award winner, was also on the ballot.
Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were there too. These two captivated the nation in 1998 as they raced to break Roger Maris’ single season home run record of 61. Both ended up breaking it before the season was over, but McGwire came out on top with 70 homers for the year. Together, McGwire and Sosa hit 1,192 career home runs. Mike Piazza hit 396 home runs – more than any catcher in history did. He was a 12-time All-Star and is 1996 All-Star MVP.
So, how could the Baseball Writers’ Association of America (BBWAA) fail to induct any of these baseball gods? One reason – suspected steroid use.
Yes, Bonds, Clemens, McGwire, and Sosa all saw their stellar baseball careers tainted by talk of juicing up. Bonds and Clemens were both named in the Mitchell Report, the investigation into steroid allegations. Nothing was ever proven I don’t think, but the BBWAA didn’t ignore the amount of players suspected of steroid use on this ballot.
Piazza seems to be more or less guilty by association. His name never really registered very high on the steroid charts, but the writers must have been thinking that with his 396 home runs, something fishy was up. However, he did receive 57.8% of the votes, short of the 75% needed. Both Bonds and Clemens were in the 30th percentile.
Was everyone on the list suspected of taking performance-enhancing drugs? No, Craig Biggio, Jack Morris, and Jeff Bagwell were also on the list, but failed to make it in. Biggio, a former catcher and second baseman who played his entire career for the Houston Astros, did receive the most votes (68.2%) and with 3,000 hits, he seems to be heading to Cooperstown in the not-so-distance future. Morris, who won 254 games and pitched a no-hitter in 1984, only has one more shot left to make the Hall of Fame.