In today’s day and age of baseball, we are all living in the so called, Steroid Era. It is named the Steroid Era because players over the last two decades have been caught using performance enhancers, which has become the latest major problem in the MLB. Performance enhancing drugs, which are commonly known as PED’s, means basically what it states; it enhances a player’s performance on the field. Over the last few years, members of the BBWAA have not voted in players that have been caught using steroids into the Hall of Fame. However, there are many different positive reasons as to why PED users that have had Hall of Fame careers should be in the Hall of Fame. It allows all the players deserving, based on stats, to have a greater chance of
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For this reason, players like Bonds have not been voted into the Hall of Fame. Some voters do not want the Hall of Fame to be the home to cheaters, which in turn makes sense, but, how can a person not believe that the home run king should not be in the Hall of Fame? Voters believe the MLB takes it light and easy on players that take steroids, by making more benefits than consequences for players that have not used PEDs. Some players that have used PEDs have broken records held by legends of the game that were pure to it. “Steroids are ruining the origins of the game by having steroids take over the modern era, making no clear comparison from past to present” (Pollack 1). Brian Pollack argues that the Hall of Fame should only be home to players that are pure to the game, like Roberto Clemente and Hank Aaron. Roberto Clemente was a Hall of Fame player that was pure and respected the game. He was a career .317 hitter, making him among the elite of the century (Gilbert 104). Roberto Clemente’s legacy changed the way Baseball has been played by contributing on the field and in fans’ hearts (Gilbert 100). Hank Aaron was another player that was pure and clean to the game. He hit a career .311 and was second on the all time home run list with 755 (Gutman 88). Players like Bonds and Clemens would break the purity the Hall of Fame already has. However, only having players that are pure to the game in the Hall of Fame is not healthy for the industry because it does not show the full history of the game. It needs to show the good, the bad, and the ugly in order to capture all the history of the game, which is what the purpose of the Hall of Fame is
For this reason, players like Bonds have not been voted into the Hall of Fame. Some voters do not want the Hall of Fame to be the home to cheaters, which in turn makes sense, but, how can a person not believe that the home run king should not be in the Hall of Fame? Voters believe the MLB takes it light and easy on players that take steroids, by making more benefits than consequences for players that have not used PEDs. Some players that have used PEDs have broken records held by legends of the game that were pure to it. “Steroids are ruining the origins of the game by having steroids take over the modern era, making no clear comparison from past to present” (Pollack 1). Brian Pollack argues that the Hall of Fame should only be home to players that are pure to the game, like Roberto Clemente and Hank Aaron. Roberto Clemente was a Hall of Fame player that was pure and respected the game. He was a career .317 hitter, making him among the elite of the century (Gilbert 104). Roberto Clemente’s legacy changed the way Baseball has been played by contributing on the field and in fans’ hearts (Gilbert 100). Hank Aaron was another player that was pure and clean to the game. He hit a career .311 and was second on the all time home run list with 755 (Gutman 88). Players like Bonds and Clemens would break the purity the Hall of Fame already has. However, only having players that are pure to the game in the Hall of Fame is not healthy for the industry because it does not show the full history of the game. It needs to show the good, the bad, and the ugly in order to capture all the history of the game, which is what the purpose of the Hall of Fame is