Baseball's Hall of Fame or Hall of Shame (48 page)

Halladay has won at least 16 games in each of his five years as a full-time starter, and has compiled an earned run average below 3.25 in four of those seasons. He has led the American League in wins once, in shutouts twice, in innings pitched three times, and in complete games four times. He has been selected to five All-Star teams, and, in addition to winning the Cy Young Award once, has finished in the top five in the voting three other times. Halladay will turn 32 early in the 2009 campaign, so, if he can remain healthy, he has plenty of time to compile the sort of numbers that will make him a viable Hall of Fame candidate.

Roy Oswalt

The National League’s finest pitcher since 2001 has been Houston Astros righthander Roy Oswalt. Over the past eight years, Oswalt has consistently finished among the league leaders in wins, winning percentage, earned run average, and innings pitched, while also faring extremely well in the Cy Young balloting.

Oswalt became a regular member of the Astros starting staff early in the 2001 campaign, finishing the regular season with an outstanding 14-3 record and 2.73 earned run average. The following year, Oswalt placed among the league leaders in wins (19), earned run average (3.01), innings pitched (233), and strikeouts (208), to earn a fourth-place finish in the league’s Cy Young voting. After another solid season in 2003, Oswalt had perhaps his two best years in 2004 and 2005. In the first of those campaigns, he finished 20-10 to lead all National League pitchers in victories. He also placed among the league leaders in innings pitched (237) and strikeouts (206). In 2005, Oswalt compiled a record of 20-12, with an outstanding 2.94 ERA in 242 innings of work. Although poor run-support limited him to 15 victories in 2006, Oswalt led all N.L. starters with a 2.98 earned run average. He won another 14 games in 2007, again placing among the league leaders in earned run average (3.18) and innings pitched (212). In 2008, Oswalt finished 17-10 and threw another 209 innings.

In his eight major league seasons, Oswalt has won at least 15 games five times, compiled an ERA below 3.00 four times, struck out more than 200 batters twice, and thrown more than 200 innings six times. He has led the National League in wins and earned run average once each, and has finished in the top five in a major statistical category a total of 15 times. Oswalt has placed in the top five in the Cy Young balloting five times and has been selected to three All-Star teams. His career won-lost record is 129-64, and he has posted an outstanding 3.13 ERA over his eight seasons.

Oswalt will not turn 32 until late in the 2009 campaign. He, therefore, appears to have an excellent chance of establishing himself as a legitimate Hall of Fame candidate before his playing days are over.

STEROIDS

The hypocrisy that major league baseball has come to represent was further manifested by the manner in which it chose to virtually ignore the growing problem of steroid abuse. One can only speculate as to when the use of performance-enhancing drugs began to become a serious problem in the sport. One retired player confessed that he began experimenting with them as early as the late-1970s. In all likelihood, though, they started to become far more prevalent about a decade later, during the latter portion of the 1980s.

In a television interview conducted shortly after the 2005 Congressional hearing on steroids was held, Fay Vincent, the commissioner of baseball from September 13, 1989 to September 7, 1992, said that, looking back, he probably could have put forth more of a concerted effort to wage a battle against the use of performance-enhancing drugs in the sport. But he added that, at that particular time, his administration was more concerned with fighting the more widespread problem of substance abuse. And his record in that area is something of which Mr. Vincent should certainly be extremely proud. It was during his administration that pitcher Steve Howe was suspended, and later reinstated, three different times for violating baseball’s anti-drug policy. Thus, the specter of Vincent as baseball commissioner clearly struck fear into the hearts of any potential violators.

However, the use of steroids became far more widespread during the administration of the equally inept Bud Selig. During Selig’s reign, offensive numbers increased dramatically, leaving fans of the sport to wonder if the vast majority of players used some form of performance-enhancing drug. The intent here is not to discredit the hitters of the “steroid era.” There were several other factors that contributed to the increase in offensive production during this period. Hitters began gravitating towards lighter bats to increase their bat speed, thereby creating greater hitting power. They also adopted a different approach to hitting, one that sacrificed contact for power. Continuous expansion in the majors resulted in the gradual dilution of pitching talent. Pitchers grew increasingly fearful of pitching inside to opposing batters. And hitters simply became bigger and stronger than those from prior generations.

But, consider the following:

 • From 1966 to 1994, only two men—George Foster (1977) and Cecil Fielder (1990) hit as many as 50 home runs in a season.

 • Between 1995 and 2002, the 50-homer plateau was reached 18 times, with at least one player hitting 50 home runs in every one of those seasons. Four players reached the 50-homer mark in both 1998 and 2001.

 • Four players reached the 50-homer plateau multiple times during this period: Sammy Sosa—four times; Mark McGwire— four times; Ken Griffey Jr.—two times; and Alex Rodriguez— two times). Six players reached the 50-homer mark once: Albert Belle, Brady Anderson, Greg Vaughn, Barry Bonds, Luis Gonzalez, Jim Thome.

Only an extremely naïve person would believe that none of these ten players were aided by steroids when they accomplished what so few players before them were able to do. Of course, it would be equally foolish to presume that hitters were the only ones using performance-enhancing drugs. There is little doubt that a certain percentage of pitchers experimented with them as well. But, the fact is that, with offensive productivity increasing so dramatically, it became increasingly difficult to determine if the offensive numbers a player compiled corresponded more to his natural ability, dedication, and hard work, or, rather, to his willingness to aid his performance by some artificial means.

That is something that troubled true fans of the sport everywhere. Meanwhile, the baseball hierarchy did nothing to alleviate their concerns. While every other major sport previously adopted an anti-steroid policy, major league baseball failed to even address the issue. Concerned only with keeping the turnstiles in motion, the Commissioner’s office yielded more to the wishes of the “casual” fan, who, it assumed, preferred to see balls constantly flying out of ballparks. Thus, it completely ignored a problem it knew existed in its sport for a long time.

Finally, the Commissioner’s office was forced to address the issue on March 17, 2005. Following the release of Jose Canseco’s controversial
Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ‘Roids, Smash Hits, and
How Baseball Got Big
, Bud Selig, several members of his office, and a select group of major league players were subpoenaed to appear before a Congressional hearing on steroids. Among the active and retired major league players in attendance were Canseco, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, and Rafael Palmeiro. The members of Congress in attendance actually accomplished very little that day. For the most part, they fawned all over the sluggers, who they identified as “personal heroes” of theirs, thanking them for appearing at the hearings, and failing to mention that the players really had no choice in the matter. And the questions they asked could hardly be described as penetrating.

But one thing that clearly came across was the arrogance and duplicity of the players in attendance, something that will be discussed in detail later in this section. They clearly had something to hide, and, at the same time, felt that they were beyond reproach. Indeed, while his testimony appeared to be somewhat inconsistent at times, Canseco was the only individual who gave direct answers to the questions that were posed to him.

In the end, nothing was said at the hearings that restored anyone’s faith in the players in question. Sosa and, in particular, McGwire, came out looking very bad. Thus, an even darker cloud was cast upon the career accomplishments of those players whose names had been previously mentioned in connection with the use of performance-enhancing drugs. In his book, Canseco identified McGwire, Palmeiro, and Ivan Rodriguez as players he injected with steroids while they were teammates in Oakland and Texas. Since then, Barry Bonds and Gary Sheffield were both identified as steroid-users in the book
Game of Shadows
. Roger Clemens was accused of using performance-enhancing drugs by his former close friend and personal trainer, Brian McNamee, in the
Mitchell Report
. Alex Rodriguez was identified as being one of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs during Major League Baseball’s testing conducted in 2003. And most people believe Sammy Sosa to be a user as well.

These eight men comprise our final group of Potential Hall of Famers—those whose names have been linked to the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

The cases of these eight players must be handled most delicately because, with the exception of Palmeiro and Alex Rodriguez, none of them have ever been
proven
guilty of using steroids. And, even in the cases of Palmeiro and A-Rod, there is no way of knowing with any degree of certainty the degree to which they used them during their careers. The feeling here is that all eight men likely used some form of performance-enhancing drug at some time. I will attempt to add credibility to my argument by examining the career of each man at various stages. This should enable me to properly identify a specific point in each player’s career at which his performance improved dramatically.

However, the identification of a player as a steroid-user should not, at least in my opinion, eliminate him from Hall of Fame consideration when his playing days are over. While I find such actions to be most unsavory and completely reprehensible, it must be remembered that baseball did not place any sort of official restraints upon the use of performance-enhancing drugs until 2004. Therefore, any player that used steroids prior to the start of that season did not break any specific rules of the game; at least none that the Commissioner’s office found punishable. Any such player may have been dishonest with himself, his teammates, and his opponents. And he certainly cheated the fans of the sport. But he did nothing to contradict baseball law from a practical perspective, and the Commissioner’s office was equally culpable.

Thus, the feeling here is that, when reviewing the Hall of Fame credentials of these eight men, the determining factor should ultimately be the degree to which their performances may have been aided by the use of steroids. If any of these players previously carved out Hall of Fame careers for themselves prior to using performance-enhancing drugs, they should be considered viable candidates when their names are added to the eligible list. If not, they should not be admitted to Cooperstown, no matter how impressive their statistics were.

Potential Hall of Famers Linked to
Performance-Enhancing Drugs:

Mark McGwire

Rafael Palmeiro

Ivan Rodriguez

Roger Clemens

Sammy Sosa

Gary Sheffield

Barry Bonds

Alex Rodriguez

Mark McGwire

When Mark McGwire retired in 2001, most people tended to think of him as a certain first-ballot Hall of Fame inductee. As one of the greatest sluggers in baseball history, he finished his career fifth on the all-time home run list (he has since slipped to seventh), with 583, and with the highest home run-to-at-bat ratio in the history of the game. Along with Sammy Sosa, he is one of only two players to top the 50-homer mark in four straight seasons, accomplishing the feat each year from 1996 to 1999. McGwire also hit at least 30 home runs in a season seven other times, knocked in more than 100 runs seven times, scored more than 100 runs three times, and batted over .300 twice. He led his league in home runs four times, in runs batted in once, in bases on balls and on-base percentage twice each, and in slugging percentage four times. McGwire was a 12-time All-Star, and he finished in the top ten in the league MVP voting a total of five times, placing in the top five on three separate occasions.

Yet, in spite of all his accomplishments and the tremendous popularity he always enjoyed with fans and the media, the feeling here is that Mark McGwire was, and always will be, one of the most overrated, over-hyped players in the history of baseball. His selection to the All-Century Team, along with Lou Gehrig at first base, was a complete travesty (Jimmie Foxx should have been the other first baseman selected). McGwire was, for much of his career, a totally one-dimensional player who never would have been able to achieve the things he did without the aid of artificial stimulants. Let’s take a closer look.

McGwire had outstanding home run power from the time he first entered the major leagues in 1987. As a rookie with the Oakland Athletics that year, the lanky but powerful McGwire established a new rookie record by hitting 49 home runs. He also drove in 118 runs and batted .289 for the A’s. However, while he remained a productive hitter the next few seasons, the 1987 campaign was easily the best of his early years in Oakland.

Over the next four years, these are the figures McGwire posted:

   
1988:
32 HR, 99 RBIs, .260 AVG, 87 RUNS