Sportsrageous

Next year’s Hall of Fame voting promises to be a memorable one.

Next year Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, and Sammy Sosa become eligible for induction into the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. What all three players have in common is that they are suspected of having used such performance enhancing drugs as human growth hormone or anabolic steroids.

According to The Associated Press, the Baseball Writers Association of America will have a hard time deciding if these three players deserve to be in the Hall of Fame or not. In the defense of Bonds, Sosa and Clemens, there were no official laws in Major League Baseball, which outlawed the use of performance enhancing drugs when these superstars were alleged to have used them. This fact will make the vote all the more tougher and interesting next year.

It is not too often that Cooperstown inducts a class with three members in it. The last time that three members were inducted into baseball’s Hall of Fame was back in 1999. Without the steroid cloud hanging over their heads, both Roger Clemens and Barry Bonds would have been a no doubt about it, first time ballot Hall of Famer’s. Clemens won the Cy Young award seven times in his distinguished career, while Bonds captured the Most Valuable Player award seven times. Sammy Sosa, who is in seventh place on the all-time home run leaders list, ordinarily would be considered a first ballot Hall of Famer as well.

Mark McGwire, who admitted to the use of performance enhancing drugs, has not been able to get into the hall in his first six tries. Many voters say that the steroid cloud is the reason that McGwire is not in Cooperstown yet.

According to Thomas Boswell of the Washington Post, players like Houston’s Jeff Bagwell have been denied entry into Cooperstown, due to rumors of their steroid use. If these players were caught cheating then they should be banned from Cooperstown for life. However, the rumors against these players may be false; therefore, they should be inducted into Cooperstown.

In the end, if these players used performance enhancing drugs, they will have to live with that guilt and shame inside them for life. Mark McGwire, who admitted using performance enhancing drugs should be banned from the hall for life.