The "Here's Voting For No Doping" Story

Mike Piazza, one of my picks

It was an ordinary day.  Just "Googled" to find the ballot so I could vote for those players who should enter Baseball's "Hall of Fame."  Now, you know how much I love the game of baseball and I'm sure you realize that my vote means nothing when it comes to who actually gets into the "Hall of Fame," but I love to see how close I come to picking the players who will make it this year.  When I was in my childhood and even teen years, I knew very little about the players who were trying to make the "Hall of Fame," but everyone on this years ballot I am familiar with and have watched them play either on TV or in person.  There are 37 names on the ballot and I'm sure I will pick some of the players who will make it, but I'm troubled about quite a few of them.  Reason:  The age of STEROIDS.  I hate to say it, but steroids turned baseball into a glorified video game.  Through the use of pharmaceuticals, hitters gained unnatural bat speed, pitchers picked up velocity and some player's vision became so much better that it helped reduce their reaction time after the pitcher released the ball.  I'm afraid to say that in 20 or so years we will probably look back to this time as the "Steroid Era."  And then will Barry Bonds' 762 homers really look like the record.  To me Henry Aaron still is the all-time home run leader in professional baseball.  I just hope that someday all the records that have been broken by players such as Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire and the like will all be eclipsed by players who can pass a drug test.  I wonder how the sportswriters who will pick the players for the Hall of Fame will vote.  I just hope that the alleged greatest hitter, Barry Bonds, and pitcher, Roger Clemens, of the past 25 years doesn't make it into the hall.  Baseball means too much to me to allow the cheaters into it's Hall of Fame.  I hope the sports writers feel the same as they view Rule No. 5 in the guidelines mailed to the voting members of the BBWAA, which states:  "Voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.”  In this debate, the key words are integrity and sportsmanship.  Any player who used steroids or any other performance-enhancing drug on the list of banned substances was cheating.  Cheaters lack integrity and sportsmanship. Any player who lacks integrity and sportsmanship doesn’t deserve to be voted into the Hall of Fame, at least as long as Rule No. 5 is part of the process.  This year there are 13 “carryover” players on the 37-player ballot (players need to receive 5 percent of the votes to stay on the ballot).  I'm pulling for Alan Trammell (a player on my APBA team), Dale Murphy, Jeff Bagwell, Tim Raines (another player on my APBA Team) and Mike Piazza who was born in nearby Norristown, PA and grew up in Phoenixville, PA.  He was one fine catcher and sportsman.  Well, I have my ballot ready and will be watching when the results will be announced Wednesday, January 9, 2013, on the MLB Network and the web sites of the Hall of Fame and the BBWAA.  Here's hoping that the sportswriters feel as I do and leave the drug users out of the treasured Hall of Fame.  It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.