I always thought that Mark McGwire should be in the Hall of Fame and that it was just self-righteous media folk that got in the way. When he finally admitted to steroid use yesterday, I thought it was a good time to give it another look. My conclusion is that he does not belong in the Hall of Fame.
The reasoning is that with more admitted and suspected PED users, we can better compare the numbers he achieved. Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds had HOF careers before their suspected PED use, and became superhuman thereafter. McGwire, however, just did one thing really well, which was hit home runs. Were his enhanced years better than Giambi's or Ortiz's? I would say not. With his lower batting average, pitchers didn't pitch around him as much, and I think that the pitchers he faced were not as good and certainly not as prepared for the power onslaught as pitchers in the 00's. I just think that if you consider McGwire to be HOF-worthy, then Jim Thome should be automatic for you.
Regardless of whether he gets in or not, I just hope that this PED stuff doesn't interfere with future HOF voting (an idiotic process to begin with). I consider Bonds, Clemens, and ARod all automatic 1st ballot HOFers. Their numbers were superhuman. Even if their performance was enhanced, you still have to bring it. It would be like saying someone can't be a supermodel or Miss Universe because she's had work done.
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