Bonds & Clemens
Although the trial of Roger Clemens ended in a mistrial, (as of now it is unclear whether or not they will retry him) no one believes he DIDN’T use steroids. This puts his chances of going into the Hall of Fame in jeopardy, even though his numbers clearly make him a first-ballot Hall of Famer.
Growing up as a huge baseball fan, there were many great players that put up crazy numbers, but the best pitcher of my generation was clearly William Roger Clemens, and the best player was without a doubt, Barry Lamar Bonds. Now both of these athletes may never get the honor of going into the Baseball Hall of Fame because of their connection to steroids. To me this is unfathomable. I believe all of the great players and products of my era should be honored. Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Nike ‘95’ Air Max, Reversible Nautica Jackets, Issey Miyake Cologne, The “Illmatic” Album, Voltron Cartoons…you get the point.
I don’t know whether or not they will ever make it into the Hall of Fame, but I hope the Baseball Writers Association of America does not wait until they are damn-near ineligible to put them in the HOF. That would be equivalent to the writers of “Who’s The Boss” waiting until the last season of the show to make Tony and Angela hook up.
The steroid era has forever changed baseball. Any time anyone puts up any power numbers, people automatically start with the steroid talk. It’s sad what has happened to the game but what is more sad is how there is a cloud of suspicion over most of the great players of my era.
