Most likely steroids-linked player to enter the hall?

[Trinidad]

What player who has been linked either through leaks from MLB lawyers, suspensions, or self admitted players has the most likely shot to enter the hall?

Tough choice, but I say A-Rod

[TyCobb]

Barry Bonds.

No doubt HOF before he took the steriods. They just turned him into a monster.

[Can_of_corn]

What player who has been linked either through leaks from MLB lawyers, suspensions, or self admitted players has the most likely shot to enter the hall?

Tough choice, but I say A-Rod

Won't be Arod, he will be 35 this season and, barring injury, there is no reason to assume he will stop playing untill he is over 40. That puts him somewhere around the class of 2021. Someone will get in before that, it might be Sheffield or Petitte but someone will make it before then.

Just saw the choices, of those Piazza for sure makes it in first. As for Bonds Ty, too many folks hate him too much and neither him nor Clemens look to be close to admitting use.

[Trinidad]

Won't be Arod, he will be 35 this season and, barring injury, there is no reason to assume he will stop playing untill he is over 40. That puts him somewhere around the class of 2021. Someone will get in before that, it might be Sheffield or Petitte but someone will make it before then.

Just saw the choices, of those Piazza for sure makes it in first. As for Bonds Ty, too many folks hate him too much and neither him nor Clemens look to be close to admitting use.

I bet Piazza has a hard time getting in, too many voters right now are so anti-steroids that it will be tough for anyone. I expect this to soften over time, and 10 years or so, when A-Rod becomes eligible seems about right.:D

Also, another name I forgot to List is Ivan Rodriguez. Does he have a chance?

[TyCobb]

I didn't know Piazza was linked. He is definitely going into the HOF on the 1st ballot.

[Frobby]

I said A-Rod because he came clean quickly after he was accused. Bonds would have been a Hall of Famer if he'd never touched the stuff, but his stonewalling and denials, coupled with his generally surly attitude towardsw the media, will keep him out for a long time I think.

[Trinidad]

I didn't know Piazza was linked. He is definitely going into the HOF on the 1st ballot.

From Jeff Perlman's book on Roger Clemens"

As the hundreds of major league ballplayers who turned to performance-enhancing drugs throughout the 1990s did their absolute best to keep the media at arm's length, Piazza took the opposite approach. According to several sources, when the subject of performance enhancing was broached with reporters he especially trusted, Piazza fessed up. "Sure, I use," he told one. "But in limited doses, and not all that often." (Piazza has denied using performance-enhancing drugs, but there has always been speculation.) Whether or not it was Piazza's intent, the tactic was brilliant: By letting the media know, of the record, Piazza made the information that much harder to report. Writers saw his bulging muscles, his acne-covered back. They certainly heard the under-the-breath comments from other major league players, some who considered Piazza's success to be 100 percent chemically delivered. "He's a guy who did it, and everybody knows it," says Reggie Jefferson, the longtime major league first baseman. "It's amazing how all these names, like Roger Clemens, are brought up, yet Mike Piazza goes untouched."

"There was nothing more obvious than Mike on steroids," says another major league veteran who played against Piazza for years. "Everyone talked about it, everyone knew it. Guys on my team, guys on the Mets. A lot of us came up playing against Mike, so we knew what he looked like back in the day. Frankly, he sucked on the field. Just sucked. After his body changed, he was entirely different. 'Power from nowhere,' we called it."

When asked, on a scale of 1 to 10, to grade the odds that Piazza had used performance enhancers, the player doesn't pause.

"A 12," he says. "Maybe a 13."


http://deadspin.com/5180679/mike-piazza-the-back-acne-was-the-least-of-it

[TyCobb]

From Jeff Perlman's book on Roger Clemens"

As the hundreds of major league ballplayers who turned to performance-enhancing drugs throughout the 1990s did their absolute best to keep the media at arm's length, Piazza took the opposite approach. According to several sources, when the subject of performance enhancing was broached with reporters he especially trusted, Piazza fessed up. "Sure, I use," he told one. "But in limited doses, and not all that often." (Piazza has denied using performance-enhancing drugs, but there has always been speculation.) Whether or not it was Piazza's intent, the tactic was brilliant: By letting the media know, of the record, Piazza made the information that much harder to report. Writers saw his bulging muscles, his acne-covered back. They certainly heard the under-the-breath comments from other major league players, some who considered Piazza's success to be 100 percent chemically delivered. "He's a guy who did it, and everybody knows it," says Reggie Jefferson, the longtime major league first baseman. "It's amazing how all these names, like Roger Clemens, are brought up, yet Mike Piazza goes untouched."

"There was nothing more obvious than Mike on steroids," says another major league veteran who played against Piazza for years. "Everyone talked about it, everyone knew it. Guys on my team, guys on the Mets. A lot of us came up playing against Mike, so we knew what he looked like back in the day. Frankly, he sucked on the field. Just sucked. After his body changed, he was entirely different. 'Power from nowhere,' we called it."

When asked, on a scale of 1 to 10, to grade the odds that Piazza had used performance enhancers, the player doesn't pause.

"A 12," he says. "Maybe a 13."


http://deadspin.com/5180679/mike-piazza-the-back-acne-was-the-least-of-it

News to me. Most have used before he even came into the MLB because he was a stud prospect in the minors.

[Jermaine88]

I think Arod will make it.
Mainly cause he did not deny it for years and years and years. Also I think he was pretty open about it when people did find out.

[Wish]

News to me. Most have used before he even came into the MLB because he was a stud prospect in the minors.

Well he was a 62nd round pick so he must have needed them pretty bad.

[TyCobb]

Well he was a 62nd round pick so he must have needed them pretty bad.

haha yea I guess. The guy did hit like 30 hrs in the minors though.

[Wish]

From Jeff Perlman's book on Roger Clemens"

As the hundreds of major league ballplayers who turned to performance-enhancing drugs throughout the 1990s did their absolute best to keep the media at arm's length, Piazza took the opposite approach. According to several sources, when the subject of performance enhancing was broached with reporters he especially trusted, Piazza fessed up. "Sure, I use," he told one. "But in limited doses, and not all that often." (Piazza has denied using performance-enhancing drugs, but there has always been speculation.) Whether or not it was Piazza's intent, the tactic was brilliant: By letting the media know, of the record, Piazza made the information that much harder to report. Writers saw his bulging muscles, his acne-covered back. They certainly heard the under-the-breath comments from other major league players, some who considered Piazza's success to be 100 percent chemically delivered. "He's a guy who did it, and everybody knows it," says Reggie Jefferson, the longtime major league first baseman. "It's amazing how all these names, like Roger Clemens, are brought up, yet Mike Piazza goes untouched."

"There was nothing more obvious than Mike on steroids," says another major league veteran who played against Piazza for years. "Everyone talked about it, everyone knew it. Guys on my team, guys on the Mets. A lot of us came up playing against Mike, so we knew what he looked like back in the day. Frankly, he sucked on the field. Just sucked. After his body changed, he was entirely different. 'Power from nowhere,' we called it."

When asked, on a scale of 1 to 10, to grade the odds that Piazza had used performance enhancers, the player doesn't pause.

"A 12," he says. "Maybe a 13."


http://deadspin.com/5180679/mike-piazza-the-back-acne-was-the-least-of-it

Heh i have terrible back acne too but I'm not on roids.

[Stotle]

Well he was a 62nd round pick so he must have needed them pretty bad.

Draft and follow. Not the same thing as being around the 2000th best player in the draft

[Stotle]

News to me. Most have used before he even came into the MLB because he was a stud prospect in the minors.

Look at the jump between A and A-Adv. He started off as one type of player and turned into a monster power prospect in a year's time.

[TyCobb]

Look at the jump between A and A-Adv. He started off as one type of player and turned into a monster power prospect in a year's time.

I see 1989 .0404 HR per AB
1990 .022 HR per AB
1991 .064 HR per AB

It is a dramatic jump, but he was Age 20/21/22 for those years and a catcher at that.

Maybe he did do steroids. I won't be shocked to find out...but I won't be shocked if he was clean.

[Stotle]

I see 1989 .0404 HR per AB
1990 .022 HR per AB
1991 .064 HR per AB

It is a dramatic jump, but he was Age 20/21/22 for those years and a catcher at that.

Maybe he did do steroids. I won't be shocked to find out...but I won't be shocked if he was clean.

What is the crux of your argument with the bolded? Do catchers somehow develop monster power from out of nowhere at these ages? Not being difficult -- I just don't see what this has to do with his one-year transformation from projected gap-to-gapper to one of the better power prospects in all of baseball.

[TyCobb]

What is the crux of your argument with the bolded? Do catchers somehow develop monster power from out of nowhere at these ages? Not being difficult -- I just don't see what this has to do with his one-year transformation from projected gap-to-gapper to one of the better power prospects in all of baseball.

His first season in pro ball showed he had serious power.

Catchers spend more time on defense than other positional players.

[ccbird]

Clemens and Bonds will both make it. Both were HOFs before they were assumed to start taking steroids.


Now, this is just my opinion but Bonds numbers in the early part of this decade were so insanely good that I think his dominance should be acknowledged in an era when IMO a very high % of players were using PEDs. For a stretch, he was arguably the most feared hitter ever. It's doubtfull we'll ever again see a player given the respect Bonds was given for a 3 or 4 year period .

[Stotle]

His first season in pro ball showed he had serious power.

Catchers spend more time on defense than other positional players.

Eh, agree to disagree. Coming out of the draft he was projected as a gap-to-gapper that might not ultimately profile as a catcher but would be given the chance to stick there because his bat was questionable for 1B. Part of the reason he was selected as a draft-and-follow. Maybe the Dodgers always saw him as a big-time masher in the making. I don't know.

[Icterus galbula]

I don't think that in the public's eye ARod is equated with the steroid era as much as most of the others on this list. Maybe because he was a talent from day 1, maybe because his peak was later than many of the others, maybe because his implication was later, maybe because he isn't envisioned as a strict HR hitter that the stereotype has become.

I believe that the voters will hold a deep scorn against suspected steroid users, but that guys who came at the end of the wave will be less severely punished. I voted ARod as most likely, but I believe that others on this list will eventually get in.

I personally wouldn't ignore the careers that might've happened without steriods- that is I think Bonds (at minimum) was a HOFer no matter what he put in his body.

I think many voters will give the scarlet letter to any player who they believe used PEDs.

[Moose Milligan]

I'm gonna go out on a limb and say Bonds won't make it. At least not on the first ballot anyway.

If we've learned anything this year, we've learned that writers LOVE to make examples out of ballplayers. Witness Alomar not getting in due to people still holding the spitting incident over his head. Look at Albert Belle and what happened there...I'm not saying he's a HoFer but I do believe he was a better player than being a first ballot bounce. Writers "got even" with him for all the years he acted like a jerk to them.

Now Bonds is leaps and bounds better as a player, there's no doubt about that. However I think writers will take it upon themselves to teach him a lesson and keep him out for awhile for a number of reasons...mainly the fact that Bonds is a raging dickhead and the fact that he was so brash and adament about his use of steroids despite mountains of evidence to the contrary.

Same with Clemens. I don't think they give him a first ballot entry for similar reasons.