Baseball Hall of Fame - Lacking Inductees for 2013

Today the Baseball Hall of Fame was to announce its Class of 2013. This was the first time since 1996 that no one was elected into the Hall of Fame. Still, I have to wonder, did this result really surprise many people? This was the first year on the ballot for many players suspected of or who tested positive for PEDs and/or supplements to mask the use of PEDs. As a result, many of these big names that set records are considered to have done so with an asterisk, and marred the game long after leaving it.

Election into the Cooperstown is not only based on your stats, or your impact on the game during your tenure, but also your character. It is the only Hall of Fame which has a Character Clause as part of the election criteria. I believe it is is clause and the concern of putting cheaters into the Hall with the likes of Ruth, Aaron, Cobb and Mays that keeps these gentlemen out of the Hall this year. And then there were those guys like Biggio that were on the ballot for the first time. Craig led all results with 68.7%, but still missed the hall, but then again, Joe DiMaggio and Cy Young weren't even first ballot hall of famers. The last First Ballot Hall of Famer was Ricky Henderson in 2009 and in all the list is only made up of 44 players, which include the likes of Ripken, Ruth, Koufax, Williams and Aaron. Biggio deserves to be in, and the numbers look good for him in the coming years. For the suspected steroid crowd, they may be forced to wait, potentially until their last year of eligibility, if the writers deem it a worthy punishment.

Still, the Hall of Fame should recognize this period in the game in the museum, but does that mean we need to elect some of these players to the hall? I do believe that those that are only suspected have the right to be elected in, but all information about suspected PED use should be on their plaque. Clemens deserves to be in, but his plaque should include information about his trial and PED suspicions. But if you tested positive for any banned substance during your tenure in the game, you should not even be ballot eligible. Court documents show Bonds testing positive for steroids; Manny Ramirez tested positive for an estrogen supplement used to mask steroid use. When you take a suspension, you lose Hall eligibility in my mind. Take a stance Cooperstown. Protect the sanctity of the game and your legacy.