Sosa, Big Mac, Barry, 'Roids and the Hall

By Eric Y

A couple days ago, it was made known that former baseball player Sammy Sosa had tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003. He has long been suspected of taking steroids, but this is the first hard evidence. Sosa was one of the best home run hitters of all time, slugging 608 in his career, placing him sixth on the all-time list. But the positive tests raises suspicions: how many of those home runs were the product of steroids? How would he have performed without steroids? Its hard to decide whether or not Sosa should be enshrined in Cooperstown.

There are other cases like Sosa’s, notably Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds. McGwire famously chased the home run record in 1998 with Sosa, hitting 70 dingers, setting a new MLB record. But he has also faced a steroid controversy, ever since AP writer Steve Wilstein reported that McGwire had been using performance-enhancing drugs. Big Mac later admitted that he had used androstenedione, an over-the-counter muscle enhancer. However, he has never officially tested positive for steroids, nor was he named in the Mitchell Report. The same questions asked about Sosa must be asked about McGwire: how many of his 532 home runs, placing him eighth all-time, are a product of steroids?

The most difficult case is Barry Bonds. Bonds was an elite player in the MLB throughout the late 80’s and 90’s. Then, he reportedly started using steroids in 1999, and his home run totals skyrocketed, socking a record 72 in 2001. Bonds, the home-run king who hit 762 homers, had hall-of-fame stats before he started using steroids (445 homers, 460 stolen bases, 2010 hits); had he not used steroids, it is highly likely that Bonds would have still made it to Cooperstown. But steroids propelled him from a very good player to a monster. But because he took steroids, he still cheated. All his excellent play before he began allegedly using steroids in 1999 might go for naught.

My solution to this problem is simple: either they all get in to the hall of fame, or none of them get in. They all cheated. They all had excellent careers. We don’t know exactly how much of their stats should be attributed to illegal drugs. But with the way they look on paper now, they would all get in to Cooperstown if no one cared whether or not they used steroids.

In my opinion, you cant put Bonds and Sosa in and not McGwire, or McGwire and Bonds in and not Sosa, etc. Therefore, either you punish all of them by NOT allowing them into Cooperstown, or you forgive them and let ALL of them in. I think none of them should get in, but if Bonds gets voted in, then I think McGwire and Sosa must get in too. But the controversy will continue until next year, when McGwire has another shot to be enshrined in the hall of fame. We’ll just have to wait and see.

(image h/t: misunderestimation.com)