MyTenSense.com

Manny Ramirez’s 50-game suspension for steroid use is understandable, but it would be wrong to keep Alex Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire out of the National Baseball Hall of Fame because of steroid use.

Sure, it’s a Major League Baseball violation to use steroids, which is why Commissioner Bud Selig was right to suspend Ramirez.

But if A-Rod, Roger, Sammy, Barry and Mark are held out of the Hall, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and Hank Aaron should be kicked out of Cooperstown because who knows if those slugging legends used steroids back then. Plus, Babe and Joe sure did not play against the best because during those segregated days blacks were forced to play in Negro Leagues. One of my readers said it best:
“Everybody knows that all pre-1947 (MLB) players competed against less-than-the-best opposition, because Blacks were prohibited from playing in the major leagues. It is generally thought that the Negro Leagues fielded as good, if not better players than the MLB teams of that era. Is that not a competitive advantage right there, to refuse to play against the best?”
Good point. If more blacks were able to play with Babe and Joe, blacks would have matched or exceeded the two legends before Hank Aaron came around in the mid-1950s.


And as far as Aaron, baseball just started testing players for steroids in 2003, more than three decades after Hammerin’ Hank became baseball’s home run king in the 1970s and more than a half century after Babe Ruth and DiMaggio retired and passed away after putting up eye-stretching numbers that Barry has blasted into oblivion and A-Rod is threatening to crush.
Since steroid-testing has only been in place for six years, it’s only fair to throw out or place an asterisk by players’ accomplishments for the years they tested positive during that time frame. It’s sort of like when a college football team violates NCAA rules and has to forfeit wins and championships, like Florida State’s Bobby Bowden, who has been voted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
Even if Rodriguez, Clemens and the rest are only judged by their pre-2003 performances, they still have accomplished enough and contributed so much entertainment for baseball fans that their busts should be displayed in Cooperstown.

By Teneshia LaFaye
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