So the Hall of Fame ballot is out

[Mays-Fan]

This will start to get interesting.

First, six former Giants (barf alert!):

1) Barry Bonds
2) Jeff Kent
3) Ray Durham
4) Moises Alou
5) JT Snow
6) Armando Benitez

The ballot: Moises Alou, Jeff Bagwell, Armando Benitez, Craig Biggio, Barry Bonds, Sean Casey, Roger Clemens, Ray Durham, Eric Gagne, Tom Glavine, Luis Gonzalez, Jacque Jones, Todd Jones, Jeff Kent, Paul Lo Duca, Greg Maddux, Edgar Martinez, Don Mattingly, Fred McGriff, Mark McGwire, Jack Morris, Mike Mussina, Hideo Nomo, Rafael Palmeiro, Mike Piazza, Tim Raines, Kenny Rogers, Curt Schilling, Richie Sexson, Lee Smith, J.T. Snow, Sammy Sosa, Frank Thomas, Mike Timlin, Alan Trammell, Larry Walker.

Lots of PED-ophiles on that list.

2014 HALL OF FAME BALLOT OUT TODAY | Baseball Hall of Fame

 

[msgkings322]

This will start to get interesting.

First, six former Giants (barf alert!):

1) Barry Bonds
2) Jeff Kent
3) Ray Durham
4) Moises Alou
5) JT Snow
6) Armando Benitez

The ballot: Moises Alou, Jeff Bagwell, Armando Benitez, Craig Biggio, Barry Bonds, Sean Casey, Roger Clemens, Ray Durham, Eric Gagne, Tom Glavine, Luis Gonzalez, Jacque Jones, Todd Jones, Jeff Kent, Paul Lo Duca, Greg Maddux, Edgar Martinez, Don Mattingly, Fred McGriff, Mark McGwire, Jack Morris, Mike Mussina, Hideo Nomo, Rafael Palmeiro, Mike Piazza, Tim Raines, Kenny Rogers, Curt Schilling, Richie Sexson, Lee Smith, J.T. Snow, Sammy Sosa, Frank Thomas, Mike Timlin, Alan Trammell, Larry Walker.

Lots of PED-ophiles on that list.

2014 HALL OF FAME BALLOT OUT TODAY | Baseball Hall of Fame

And at least one very outspoken antiPED guy. Should be interesting to see how easily Frank Thomas makes it in...he'd better get in. The same sanctimonious writers sending 'messages' to Clemens and Bonds may wish to send the message further voting for a guy who publicly called for PED testing his whole career.

I think off that list Thomas, Maddux, and Glavine are in for sure. Kent has a good shot, as does Biggio and Piazza. A few borderline guys there too like Morris, Walker, Schilling. And of course Bonds and Clemens should get in but won't. It will be very interesting if their vote totals rise, and by how much. Some voters said last year they'd only leave them off the ballot once to send their message, but then start voting for them....

 

[calsnowskier]

The votes I don't get are the guys who vote fir EITHER Bonds OR Clemens, but not both. I do not think it is defensible to vote those guys differently.

 

[Sandisfan]

Some points not usually discussed

is that except for early adopters like Canseco the PED's were a bottom up occurrence, that is borderline guys and mid level guys generally were the first to use and as they closed the gap there was pressure on the higher level players to use PED's to hold onto their relative positions with respect to their performance and value to the team. Even the prosecutors held that Bonds didn't use until lesser player like Mark McGwire, and Sosa made their big splashes and received adoration from the the Baseball execs and even the Union bigwigs.. With the Players Union not caring and The Baseball execs not caring it seems there should be some leeway for some of the violators.

When I here quote-unquote older players saying there should be strong punishment all I can say if there were people when some of these PED's were available had discovered them earlier there would have been many who would have used especially if there jobs were on the line. It is revisionist history to say what they might have done if they had realized the performance benefits were there to be had. It was a surprise to me to here one time on the radio that some of the types of steroids that have been used were available as early as when Babe Ruth played.