Do these players deserve to be enshrined in the Hall? You bet. And so does Bonds

A big thanks goes out to the Baseball Writers Association of America for keeping that cheating punk Mark McGwire out of Cooperstown.

The slugger with Hall of Fame numbers and a hall of shame cloud over his career doesnt deserve to be enshrined along such great players as Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Henry Aaron and Tris Speaker.

After he basically shafted himself by ducking questions from the U.S. Senate about his alleged steroid use during his career, McGwire burned his ticket to the Hall of Fame.

Of course McGwire used steroids. Were 99.9 percent positive that he used! Who cares if it was legal to use at the time, he cheated to make himself better. He desecrated one of the most storied records in baseball. There is no way we could put him in the Hall. The same goes for Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro.

The Hall of Fame is seen as hallowed. Only the best players in baseball make it to the Hall. Every player in Cooperstown is a boy scout. No one allowed Pete Rose in the Hall.

Not so fast.

With Barry Bonds closing in on Henry Aarons home run record, arguably the most coveted record in all of sports, the public outcry is that he should be thrown to the wayside, his numbers tossed out the window. The problem with that is a big, fat case of hypocrisy.

Barry Bonds was never caught taking steroids. He has never been suspended for taking performance-enhancing drugs. When he has been retired for five years and he is eligible to get in the Hall of Fame, many voters will try to shut him out.

And you know what? Theyll be wrong. Odds are Bonds cheated, yes, but you cannot ignore the fact that he wouldnt be the only tainted resident of Cooperstown. Ty Cobb was a sexist, racist bigot who played in a time when blacks werent allowed in the league. Gaylord Perry won 314 games in his storied career, but he pitched with junk on his ball for years.

Do these players deserve to be enshrined in the Hall? You bet. And so does Bonds.

Experts say Bonds began using steroids in the late 1990s. Makes sense, since he has had five of his top six home run seasons since the year 2000. However, it wouldnt be a good argument to say without steroids, he wouldnt have hit 500, the number seen as an automatic Hall statistic. Bonds was well on his way to 500 at the end of the nineties, and his RBI numbers eight times in the nineties.

Heck, he won three MVPs before 1994! Bonds finished in the top ten in MVP voting eight times before Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa lit up NL pitchers in 1998. Brewers fans got a front row seat to that debacle.

You cant just throw that season out the window. The national media was completely enamored with Sosa and McGwire, turning a blind eye to the steroids. How can we ostracize these sluggers when we rode their coat tails for several years?

So please, Cooperstown voters, dont be selective with McGwire, Bonds and Sosa. Their numbers are all worthy of the Hall of Fame.

If Perry, Cobb, and other question marks are allowed residency in Cooperstown, the Baseball Writers Association of America should not pick and choose who gets in the Hall based on their morals. Their job is to vote for players whose numbers are worthy of the Hall of Fame. Big thanks.

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