I despise Sammy Sosa. Never liked him. I disliked him because I thought he was a hotdog, a phony, a cancer in his clubhouse, and because he played for the Chicago Cubs.
I reveled when a corked bat came flying out of his bat and when it became obvious to everyone else last year he was a steroid user, going from the Incredible Hulk to the Incredible Shrinking Man.
I never thought he was an overrated player, though, because Sosa was one of the most dominant sluggers in the game. He is no longer the slugger he was and is probably done with baseball. Even though he's through with baseball, Sosa and his 588 home runs should saunter right into Cooperstown, right?
Wrong!
Sosa, along with Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro, all of whom have Hall-of-Fame numbers and Hall-of-Fame careers, will be heavily debated by Hall voters because of their use (or possible use) of steroids.
In my view, this is ridiculous. We'll never know when or if these players took steroids. It's possible McGwire only took steroids while he was a teammate of Jose Canseco and was on only Andro and other supplements while he was breaking home-run records. McGwire also could have been on steroids every year starting in 1988. The point is we'll never know. We'll never know to what extent, if any, these or any other player during the late 1980s and early 1990s was ever on steroids or performance-enhancing substances.
Steroids give hitters an edge to hit the ball longer and hit more home runs, but it doesn't give hitters an edge in putting the bat on the ball.
The object of the game is still to try to put the bat on the ball and get a hit. The skill in doing so is still up to the hitter and how well the pitcher pitches. Steroids alone do not get a player to the majors. He still needs good hitting skills. So its not like steroids is some kind magic voodoo that turns ordinary people into superb baseball players.
The edge steroids give a hitter is not as big as having a corked bat, where the hitter's bat speed increases the likelihood of getting a hit, or a pitcher throwing a spitball. There are spitball pitchers in the Hall of Fame. Why shouldn't steroid users be there?
The reason why writers and fans feel like convicting players without trial and don't want to let accused steroid users into the Hall of Fame is because they feel betrayed. Betrayed that the players cheated and broke sports' most precious record. They feel betrayed that athletes whom they looked up to and admire possibly were dirty cheats and won't admit to their wrongs.
I share many of these feelings. The home-run chase of 1998 was one of the greatest things that has ever happened in sports and enthralled the nation. Now my memories are tainted by the likelihood that McGwire and Sosa both used illegal performance-enhancing steroids.
Steroids weren't the only reason those two players and other possible users hit a lot of home runs. Poor pitching, smaller ballparks, expansion and other factors help explain the explosion of home runs during the '90s.
To keep Sosa, McGwire, Palmeiro or any great player out of the Hall of Fame would be ridiculous. The players might have cheated, but we'll never know to what extent, if any, they cheated and how long they did it for. Not putting Sosa or any possible user in the Hall of Fame without fully knowing the extent of their crimes would be worse than the crimes they committed.
