Baseball great David Ortiz's Hall of Fame induction highlights a big problem

Steroid use and baseball went hand in hand for years, but National Baseball Hall of Fame voters give some greats a pass while scapegoating others.

This weekend David Ortiz will become the 59th person associated with “steroids-era” baseball — covering the years from the late 1980s to early 2000s — to be enshrined in the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

That number should be higher. Worthy players like Barry Bonds, the game’s all-time home run champion, and Roger Clemens, one of the game’s finest power pitchers, should be in the National Baseball Hall of Fame too. But the record breakers have been cast aside for their suspected or confirmed connections to steroids and held to a different standard than their peers.

Baseball was not drug testing players back then, and beyond morality and the legal and health risks, there weren’t enough good reasons not to use.

The baseball writers who vote for the Hall of Fame honorees, in electing dozens of other players from the “steroids era” while scapegoating a handful of the generation’s greatest players, have established a curious demarcation line: You could be good, but not too good, on the juice. And likability counts.

Ortiz, a clutch hitter and fan favorite who led the Boston Red Sox to three world championships, is a worthy Hall of Famer who smashed more career home runs (541) than all but 16 other players in major league history. He was elected in his first year of Hall of Fame eligibility, finishing above the 75% threshold despite having inferior career stats to those of Bonds and failing a drug test in 2003. “Big Papi,” with his megawatt smile, saw his sins atoned or ignored.

https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/david-ortiz-baseball-hall-fames-steroid-double-standard-rcna39670


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Updated: 1 year ago
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