[commish]

I know I am in the minority probably -- but I find this to be a travesty.

The facts are Mark McGwire is being puniched because of SUSPECTED activity and Guilt by Association.

The facts : Mark McGwire never failed a drug test, Mark McGwire never broke any MLB Policy (THERE WAS NONE).

Was MM using steroids - probably, are his records tainted - Probably. But last I heard you were INNOCENT until proven guilty -- and in that case PROBABLY does not cut it.

Unfortunately, until he is convicted or a positive test shows up, I have to also consider BARROIDS in that same vein...however I am willing to bet right now Barry gets in first ballot with ease.

[mainepatsfan]

He's taking the beating because he was the first one of that group to come before the voters.

[dfwgator]

I actually lean towards that position myself. What rules did McGwire actually break? Sure he looked bad in front of the Senate Hearings, but is that enough to keep him out?

[SpringheelJack]

Was MM using steroids - probably, are his records tainted - Probably. But last I heard you were INNOCENT until proven guilty -- and in that case PROBABLY does not cut it.

We're not talking about a court of law here. This is a private organization's award, and if the people doling it out don't want to give it to somebody whose achievements they are pretty sure came from a needle, it's their call and quite a reasonable one.

[Tallguy]

Was MM using steroids - probably, are his records tainted - Probably. But last I heard you were INNOCENT until proven guilty -- and in that case PROBABLY does not cut it.

You are correct in everything you say, but this isn't a court of law. I would propose that Big Mac and others of this era be made provisional members of the HOF. If it is legally proved that they used steroids, out they go. As things stand I don't think there is any mechanism for throwing a member of the HOF out, but there should be.

The unseemly part about all this is that McGwire is being made the fall-guy for the steroid era.

[Alberta's Child]

I wouldn't have voted for McGwire even if there was no suspicion of steroid use in his past. In all the publicity about his record-breaking 1998 season and subsequent controversy in Major League Baseball involving performance-enhancing drugs, one thing that gets overlooked is that McGwire was not an exceptional ballplayer by any stretch.

He put up great power numbers in his career and played on some good teams, but his "steroid-induced" performance in the late 1990s basically resurrected what had been a pretty decent -- but not great -- career. He was hampered by injuries much of the time, was a mediocre fielder at best, and his lifetime batting average of .263 (which -- unlilke most players -- was inflated at the end of his career and would have been lower if he had retired five years earlier) wasn't Hall of Fame material at all.

In fact, at no time in his career would I have considered McGwire one of the top ten players in the game of baseball -- and to me, this is a minimum qualification for a first-ballot Hall of Famer.