quote jahendricksi
The larger question is what to do now about players that knowingly used PEDs? Do you let them in the Hall of Fame? Bonds and Clemens are in the mix of best hitter/pitcher ever (definitely the best of their generation); do you not let them in the HOF because they used PEDs?
Barry Bonds has federal indictments of perjury and obstruction of justice hanging over his head; add that to the previous accusations and he has to deal with a very serious cluster*bleep*. As of now I'm not sure if Bonds should go into the hall of fame or not.
As for Roger Clemens, I break it down to this: IF-and that's a very big IF-Clemens goes into the Hall of Fame, he would have to go in wearing a Boston Red Sox cap. According to the
Mitchell Report, pages 215-223, Roger Clemens didn't start juicing until his time with the Blue Jays; said juicing continued during his time with the Yankees.
The report, however, wasn't clear if he was juicing during his time with the Astros, but the report mentioned that the New York Daily News reported on May 15th, 2007 that Clemens had severed ties with longtime trainer Brian McNamee-who was instrumental in this investigation-probably to save face.
Back to point. If Roger Clemens goes into the Hall of Fame, it would have to be with a Boston Red Sox cap. This has nothing to do with the Red Sox/Yankees rivalry, as the steroid issue involves ALL of baseball. This is about integrity for the game in general and Roger Clemens in particular.
What kind of message would MLB be sending if Roger Clemens went into the Hall of Fame with a Blue Jays, Yankees, or Astros cap? Answer: The wrong message. It would be telling MLBs' players, kids, fans, and employees that if you take steroids, you can win an MVP, World Series, and multiple Cy Youngs-outside of Boston-and possibly enter the Hall of Fame all by injecting steroids up your ass and HGH into your navel!
And THAT is the message that MLB does NOT want to send to anyone under any circumstance. Period. (NOTE: Astros is in there because while it is unclear if Clemens was juicing during his run in Houston, he had already juiced before then.)
As for Mo Vaughn, this does clear something up. When he retired from baseball due to his knees giving out on him, I remember hearing that the doctors had no idea what the cause of the knee damage was. The only suspected cause at the time was due to his weight--seriously, Barry Bonds looks like a twig compared to Mo Vaughn back when he was with the Red Sox.
But with the information released today, we now know the truth. The steroids caused the knee damage; it was the steroids that ended the career of Big Mo Vaughn.