Oakland Athletics’ Mark McGwire: Hall of Fame or Hall of Shame?

Does Former Oakland Athletics’ Slugger Mark McGwire Deserve To Be In the Hall of Fame?

On Tuesday night, the Oakland Athletics’ faced off against the Dodgers at the o.Co Coliseum. Fans received Mark McGwire bobbleheads, in honor of the long-time A’s slugger and current Dodgers’ hitting coach.

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Any time McGwire’s name is mentioned or honors are bestowed upon him, even one as silly as a bobblehead, the inevitable question arises: is the home run champion worthy of the Hall of Fame, or should his actions remove him from consideration?

PEDs can’t change a player entirely. For instance, the A’s light-hitting Eric Sogard can’t take a handful of PEDs every morning and suddenly smash fifty home runs in a season. But steroids absolutely gave McGwire an added edge, and it’s impossible to know exactly how that affected the numbers he put up during his playing career. Did they have any impact on the longevity of his career, or perhaps give him more endurance during a long season? No one will ever be able to say for sure, and that means no one will ever know what portion of his numbers can be attributed to him, and what portion must be attributed to PEDs.

The Hall of Fame ballot asks voters to consider a player’s career, character, and overall contribution to baseball. The so-called character clause is typically where McGwire’s “no” voters come from. They believe his use of PEDs shows how willing he was to cheat in order to achieve fame and success, and that it set a bad example for young athletes. The opposing camp believes that his overall contribution to the game – such as the popularity that came from his home run race with Sammy Sosa – was important enough to overlook his use of steroids.

Both sides of the argument make valid points. In one light, McGwire’s name is clearly written in the record books, and Major League Baseball actively chose to ignore the PED issue at the time he was setting those records. Despite a rampant drug problem within every clubhouse, the Commissioner and the owners looked the other way, preferring to count the money they were making on ticket sales rather than worrying about their players’ health.

In that respect, it doesn’t seem fair to punish McGwire, or any other player who got caught up in the league’s culture. Retroactively punishing someone for sanctioned activity can’t be easily justified.

On the other hand, baseball is hardly as forgiving when it comes to other crimes. Just ask Pete Rose. His lifetime ban from baseball for betting on his team hardly seems fair. Both players’ decisions had the chance to affect the outcome of games, yet McGwire is allowed to coach, while Rose isn’t even permitted to act as a special advisor to a team. If Major League Baseball is going to make exceptions for one set of crimes, it seems that they should do it for all violations.

The best solution for everyone would be to allow McGwire to get in to the Hall of Fame, but notate somewhere in his biography that he was one of the primary offenders during the steroid era. Whether voters care for a particular player or not, how can Cooperstown explain why someone with 583 career home runs isn’t a Hall of Famer? McGwire was a 12-time All-Star and led the league in homers five times within his storied career. He is the fastest player to ever reach 500 homers, and only Barry Bonds has ever hit more in one season. His numbers mean that he is absolutely a Hall of Fame player.

The problem for McGwire is that the window of eligibility which players can spend on the Hall of Fame ballot was decreased from 15 to 10 years, and now there is a very real question as to whether he will ever receive enough votes. So far, his vote percentage has decreased each year, and he was only listed on 10 percent of ballots this season. The minimum amount needed to stay on the following year’s list is five percent. Before, there was an expectation that traditional voters would give way to younger, more-accepting writers who viewed PEDs less harshly. Now, it seems like he will run out of time before that happens.

Regardless of how one feels about PEDs and their effect on the game, the Hall of Fame tells the story of baseball, and it is wrong to leave out the player who participated in one of the most iconic summers in MLB history. McGwire deserves a place in the Hall, even if that place comes with an asterisk in his biography. Voters should select players who represent the complete history of baseball, not just the bright spots that MLB prefers to remember.

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