[Charles Henrickson]

McGwire acknowledged that he took Androstenedione while he was still active. Andro is not a steroid and was available in "health food" stores at the time.

That part is understood and is not a problem. The question is what McGwire may have ALSO taken that he DIDN'T acknowledge. There ae plenty of yellow flags, if not red ones.

And like I say, I followed McGwire's St. Louis years very closely, and I cheered for him at the time. I WANT to believe, but even I have my doubts.

If there were no doubts about what he took, then I would say McGwire is absolutely a first-ballot HOFer. Definitely one of the top ten 1b of all-time, based on his numbers (along with Gehrig, Foxx, Greenberg, Sisler, McCovey, Murray).

[Charles Henrickson]

I think Harmon Killebrew played more 1b than 3b, so I'd put him in the top ten at that position as well.

Ernie Banks ended up playing a little more 1b than SS, but he made his mark at short, so I'll consider him among the top SS.

Likewise, Rod Carew and Jackie Robinson played a lot of 1b but rate higher at 2b, a position requiring less offense.

[TravisBickle]

Fair or not, I think some players make it in with very good numbers, but also because they seem to take on the team identity. Ripken was the Orioles, Gwynn was the Padres. And Kirby Puckett was easily the most popular Twin for a long, long time. Numbers are certainly important, but does anyone think that Ozzie Smith should have been a first ballot, Hall of Famer with his numbers? But since he was the Cardinal icon for so many years, he was a shoo-in.

I think one of the problems Ron Santo has is that he was in the shadow of Billy Williams and Ernie Banks, and to a lesser extent, Fergie Jenkins. Dave Parker was in Stargell's shadow, Dawson was in Gary Carter's shadow, then Ryne Sandberg's. As for Murphy, I would have thought that he owned Atlanta, and would have been an early inductee. I guess I'm missing something there.