2013 MLB Hall of Fame Ballot

The upcoming 2013 Major League Baseball Hall of Fame vote will be a telling case for the future of the Hall of Fame, and athletes accused of using performance enhancing drugs. Three former sure fire Hall of Famer’s: Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and Roger Clemens, are all on the ballot for the first time in 2013. All of them have also been accused of using some sort of performance enhancing drug. That is why this ballot should tell the tale for all future potential HOF’s and if the voters are ok with players cheating.

Although this will be a focal point for baseball fans, what should be considered is that there are already players in the HOF that used performance enhancing drugs. Players in the 80’s and later admitted to using illegal drugs such as cocaine and speed so they would have more energy come game time.

Yes the drugs used in the past and the present are different, but in the end they do the same thing, help the athletes maintain a high level of play for a whole season. While steroids and HGH help a player build muscle and recover faster, the cocaine and speed would let the body wear down, but in return it gave the athletes the energy needed for a long season.

The only real question to differentiate between the two types of drugs, is which era of players was smarter. The drugs used today are all about building the body stronger so it can maintain itself better. In the past the drugs used were just a quick fix for an afternoon game that would be repeated most of the season. When looking at the choices of the players from that perspective, it seems the players that are being voted on now are the smarter of the two groups.

Once you look past the PED use of athletes, and think about what the HOF represents you begin to see that is the baseball history museum. It has balls, bats, jerseys, and plaques of players inducted, players that either dominated the game or changed the game.  Which is exactly what Bonds, Sosa, and Clemens accomplished, they dominated the game, and also created excitement again in the game of baseball with the outrageous amounts of home runs they hit.

These three players not only deserve to be in the HOF because of their accomplishments, they were also a part of baseball history, a history that deserves to be represented in the Hall of Fame because together they changed the game of baseball.