Mark McGwire

So the big news today all over the sports world is that Mark McGwire has finally admitted to using PED's. And the questions that have been tossed around are what does this mean for baseball? For McGwire? And what impact (if any) should this have on McGwire's potential entry into the hall of fame? The last question is what intrigues me the most. The media has labeled the era in which McGwire, Bonds, and Sosa played in as the steroids era and honestly I am ok with this, despite the fact that it is an obvious insult to those who did not take PED's. So does this mean that players who made their stamp on the game, who shattered records, should not be properly acknowledged? I understand the whole argument that they cheated, I really do, but I also feel that it is extremely naive for anybody to believe that those caught were the only ones. And that superstars would not have been superstars if they had not taken the drugs that they took. When watching McGwire's interview with Bob Costas last night, Mark brought up a good point. He said that he had been hitting home runs his entire life, and that those home runs were because of his talent, not his PED's. Now I agree with this to a certain extent and Tim Kurkjian touched on this morning that no one is saying that if a non baseball player took PED's it is not going to turn that person into a ball player. PED's are not going to teach hand-eye coordination. And so in that regard, Mr. McGwire, I say agreed. You always hit home runs, but on the flip side of that who knows if you would have hit as many as you did. And the answer to that will never be known.

So do I also agree with Tim Kurkjian that McGwire belongs in the hall of fame? And my answer to that is a thousands times yes. And I was completely flabbergasted to see a poll on Sportscenter this morning where 45% (which was the leading percentage of the choices) of those polled felt as though McGwire did not now nor would he ever deserve to be in the hall. This is completely asinine. The steroids era was something that happened in baseball and the sad fact is that a lot if not most of the players in the MLB at the time were taking PED's. They still had to hit the ball. They still had to throw it. Did the drugs give them an edge? Yes, but in an era where this use was running so popular in clubhouses, and it was the best known secret in major league baseball, how can the public really punish an entire era? You can't, and it is laughable to me to say that guys like McGwire, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, and Roger Clemens won't someday be in the hall of fame. This is, as Kurkjian said, a part of baseball. It is a story of an era and when these records are looked at and the history book is written about that game, it is a story that should be told along side everything else. The important aspect of learning from all this is just that, we need to learn. And i feel like baseball has done this. Proper testing is in place and the game has been cleaned up. We can't right the wrongs of the past but we can learn from them, and the general public, by saying that McGwire does not deserve the hall should take a long look in the mirror and ask themselves who the hell they think they are that they are better than to forgive an forget a man who so obviously was doing the same thing as most others.

Now, do not read this blog and say, "Oh well the Chicago's Sports Son is condoning the use of PED's," because I am not. I am simply saying, if McGwire is not put into the hall it is not only an injustice to the individual, but it would be an injustice the game. We should, as we always have, look at hall of fame voting on a case by case basis and consider everything surrounding a candidate rather than looking at one smudge on a man's career. There is no denying that McGwire used steroids, or, if you believe Jose Canseco, 75% of the league did during this era, but the superstars were still superstars, and the scrubs were still scrubs. No asterisk is needed nor does one belong not only to McGwire but to the era. It should simply be stated that circumstances were different, as they were for every day, week, month, or decade. Maris had an asterisk by his name for a short time because he played a longer season. This simply proves how great the Babe was; that he could accomplish what he did in fewer games. Athletes these days have many more advantages than they did in the glory days. Technology is responsible for that. The advancement of a society is responsible for that. Better bats, better knowledge, and a better understanding of the game and how it has and will evolve is why records get broken and people get remembered. It is sad that McGwire used PED's, but it is not the end of the world, and it is definitely the the sole reason he was a magnificent baseball player.