MLB Hall of Fame 2012: Jeff Bagwell's Resume Doesn't Come with an Asterisk

Last year, when the Baseball Hall of Fame class was announced, one of the biggest surprises was Jeff Bagwell's vote total. Not so much that he didn't get in on the first ballot, because baseball writers created some magic rule about what it means to be a "first-ballot Hall of Famer," but that he was only named on 41.7 percent of the ballots. 

On the surface, Bagwell was a no-doubt Hall of Fame player. He was a dominant hitter for most of his career, played first base at a Gold Glove level from 1992-2000 and represented himself and the game of baseball in the best possible way. 

But because a vast majority of people who vote for the Hall of Fame have some misplaced sense of self-righteousness, if I can borrow a quote from The Dark Knight, they decided that they would concoct some story that Bagwell was using steroids or performance-enhancing drugs during his playing days. 

In fact, Platoon Advantage made a point of asking its readers to find voters who said they weren't going to vote for Bagwell because of some suspicion that is completely without merit. 

Ignoring the whole steroid and PED argument—because I know that will not do me any good, since people have already made up their minds about it without actually checking to see if they do actually mean anything—these writers should be embarrassed about what they are doing. 

In an interview with ESPN's Jerry Crasnick last year, Bagwell vehemently denied ever using any kind of drugs during his playing days.

"

I never used [steroids], and I'll tell you exactly why: If I could hit between 30 and 40 home runs every year and drive in 120 runs, why did I need to do anything else? I was pretty happy with what I was doing, and that's the God's honest truth. All of a sudden guys were starting to hit 60 or 70 home runs and people were like, 'Dude, if you took [PEDs], you could do it too.' And I was like, 'I'm good where I'm at. I just want to do what I can do.'

"

He has never been implicated in any kind of drug scandal, nor have there been rumors about him using anything, aside from the ones that the writers are creating in their heads, so what is the argument against putting him in the Hall of Fame?

When the vote totals are released on Monday afternoon, Bagwell's name should be called. He was one of the greatest players of his era, put up Hall of Fame numbers and is the epitome of everything that this group of voters should look for in someone to represent the game in the future. 

But, as we know all too well with baseball voters, when you try to apply logic and reasoning to everything, you just end up frustrated because these people only think with their narrow minds. 

Follow @adamwells1985