Raise a Glass or Syringe to the Class of 2013?

The sports media and fans alike have labeled this era in baseball as the “steroid era” and rightfully so. When many of your biggest stars over the last five or ten years admit or are caught with using performance enhancing drugs, what could be a better name for them.

This dark cloud that follows these steroid linked players will follow them beyond their days in the ballpark and will make for an appealing storyline come 2013.

You see come 2013, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa all who have been linked to steroids will become eligible for the Hall of Fame. Not to mention that players such as Jose Canseco, Rafael Palmeiro and Mark McGwire will most likely still be on the ballot as writers such as John Rolfe of Sports Illustrated have assumed.

Palmeiro, Canseco and McGwire will all be eligible for the HOF prior to 2013 (McGwire and Canseco were both eligible in 07) but most say that they will be snubbed by Baseball Writers because of their steroid link, making for in interesting ’13 ballot.

Begging the question, should these cheaters be left out of Cooperstown or will 2013 be the year of forgiveness?

John Rolfe, a writer for Sports Illustrated wrote a piece earlier in the year that took the mainstream approach when he basically said that anyone who put up big numbers in baseball in the last 20 years cannot be trusted. A valid point considering six of the top twenty home run hitters of all time are linked to steroids.

Rolfe went on to say that the writers are going to have to look to guys like Mike Piazza when voting in 2013 and just hope that they don’t get caught for anything illegal in the near future.

Another writer for the Oakland Tribune argued the exact opposite. He basically stated that excluding the big three—Sosa, Bonds, and Clemens—in 2013 is not the answer and Cooperstown is a museum for baseball history, not baseball heaven.

A part of me agrees with Carl Steward, the writer for the Oakland Tribune. He raises a great point that in the end, yes these guys cheated, and yes they should be penalized but they can’t be forgotten completely and held out of the HOF forever considering they are some of the biggest names of our time.

However, the more and more I think about it I have to agree with Rolfe. These guys are cheaters and inducting them, even 20 years down the road sends a bad message to fans as well as players. What, you can cheat and if you were good at it and put up good numbers, a few years down the road we’ll forgive you and put you into the Hall of Fame?

I’m sorry but as much as these guys are some of the best players in baseball and I’ve watched them all put up some impressive numbers, I can’t agree with putting cheaters into the Hall of Fame no matter how far down the road it would be.

In particular as a Blue Jays fan, Roger Clemens was one of the best players I’ve ever been able to witness play on a daily basis.

I look back then to that moment when he was on the Yankees and tossed the broken bat at Mike Piazza in the 2000 World Series.

Roid Rage? Probably.