Hall Shuts Out PED-Dominated Class

Sosa, Clemens and Bonds didn't get the call to the Hall 

It was perhaps the most highly decorated class in history of the Baseball Hall of Fame and, despite that, there will not be one new plaque hung up on the wall in Cooperstown this summer. It's almost unbelievable to think that the all-time home run leader, a 300-game winner and 4,000 strikeout pitcher and a 600 home run hitter weren't even close to getting the call to the Hall. Yet that's the reality for Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa today.

Looking at the statistics and awards it's impossible that those three players wouldn't be elected, but they made their decision years ago when they decided to take performance-enhancing drugs. The talk of steroids has swirled around the Hall of Fame talk for years and, for some, this is a sad day for Major League Baseball. There's no doubt it's a tough discussion and coming up with a solution has proven to be an even tougher ordeal.

Here's the way I believe the Hall should handle their dilemma and it's a good point ESPN's Buster Olney made earlier today: let them all in. If they are Hall of Fame worthy then let them in, but just say on their plaque that they admitted steroid use and give that information as well. No asterisks, no snubs, no separate wings. Hate on Bonds and Clemens, but they were Hall of Famers before the PED use. I would suggest putting them all in and just stating on their plaque that they were steroid users and if they were convicted of perjury or something of that sort then state that as well.

The Hall of Fame is in a pickle and it's created a challenge for itself because there will be no induction weekend. The numbers show that as many as 20,000 fans flock to Cooperstown on that weekend, but there will be no such weekend this summer. Cooperstown has seen less than 300,000 fans come through the museum the past five seasons after 12 straight years of eclipsing that number. The museum isn't much of a museum if the fans don't come to see it and what they have done is just left their biggest weekend off of the schedule.

The other side of the coin today is that players who have never been linked to steroids such as Craig Biggio, Jeff Bagwell, Mike Piazza and Curt Schilling were left out as well. While that has some fans in an uproar consider that Biggio's fellow second basemen Ryne Sandberg, Roberto Alomar and Barry Larkin weren't inducted on the first ballot either. Biggio's time will come as it will for the other three. It's rare that players are inducted on the first ballot, but their is reason to believe that they will soon get the call.

For as unfortunate as today was for the game of baseball, next year could be the exact opposite. Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, Frank Thomas, Mike Mussina and Jeff Kent will all be on the ballot for the first time and that could mean that there will be a large class next year.

Today is an unfortunate day for baseball, but the message has been sent that voters will not tolerate those who used performance-enhancing drugs. While those not linked to steroids will most likely get in eventually, it's not so clear for those that have been linked. As fans, we can also expect that next year should be a much more joyous day for baseball and that's a good thing because the Hall needs some good news after today.