One would be to say that if everyone was using steroids then you could say it was an even playing field of sorts and he was the best of the best.

Another would be that he was still a great hitter roids or no.

Overall I feel he should get in.

If you dont put McGwire in you dont put ANY of these players in…Its simple with the slight exception of Bonds because you could make a legit argument hes a hall of famer without the homeruns. Still I think you leave all of them out. That is not going to happen so this is purely an almost personal thing. If McGwire came out and apologized and showed remorse I think his chances would improve. Great parallel will be to see what happens with Roger Clemens, another person who was fingered by someone else and appears pretty guilty of something.

1. There really isn’t any question that his stats – absent the PED concerns – are Hall worthy. Heck, in a Simmons pantheon he’s nearer the top than the bottom.

See analysis here and here (for example).

2. The “cheating” issue is silly, since there are already a ton of cheaters in the Hall and the only substance we know McGwire used – Andro – wasn’t even against the rules.

See, for example, one Bruce Jenkins.

3. The arguments people make against him are invariably “he cheated” or “look at one relatively unimportant thing he couldn’t do” or “if you ignore the good things he did, he sucks.” None of these are serious arguments. Here’s an example.

Lets get one of the best hitters (or, if you anti-Custians prefer, best offensive performers) of his generation into the Hall.

The problem is they think they have this obligation to protect the sanctity of the game, as if it really is sacred. It’s poorly wielded power at its bloody worst, which is why no one will ever will get voted in unanimously, because well, let’s “punush” someone like Rickey for the ignorance of some dead voter who left Ruth or Cobb off their ballot a thousand years ago. It’s why Gaylord Perry, an admitted spitballer even though the pitch was banned nearly twenty years before he was born, gets in, but McGwire doesn’t because, well, he admitted nothing.

The numbers alone should get him in, the numbers compared against others from his era, even more so. As for being one-dimensional, he wouldn’t be the first or the last to get in. That is, if he was one-dimensional, which he wasn’t.

No way. Look at that guy. He was more jacked up than the current WWE Champ, who is also steroiding off his ass.

He and Sosa’s season really did save baseball. And while I’ve always hated the cheating, I I think you have to point out that he was part of an era where this was so widespread. He was juiced. The pitchers were juiced. Other players were juiced. I think you just kind of have to accept the steroid era for what it is.

I really thought I’d support anybody that was a known user of steroids, but more has come out about the era, and it’s pretty obvious it wasn’t just him and Sosa. Time heals things, I guess.

Somewhat reluctantly, that is. The suspicion that he is a ‘roider is the reason for the reluctant part (obviously). I’d still like to see him make the HoF, just not this year when Rickey is elected on the first ballot (and he’d better be a UNANIMOUS winner).

Somewhat OT, but my parents used to live next door to Mark’s younger brother Dan when he was a Seahawks QB. Dan and his wife Dana were are really nice people, although it hurt my neck to talk to him since he is at least a foot taller than me. Unfortunately for Dan, he never made it in the NFL, probably because his first coach (Chuck Knox) hated him, so he did not play a single down as a rookie. The Seahawks were awful in those years, so even when he did get a chance to play, he got beat up – kind of like Alex Smith.

if 54% in your unscientific poll on this most a’s friendly site say no…

Isn’t it relevant to consider that steroids were essentially legal in baseball when Big Mac was playing? I don’t remember the exact history of the MLB anti-doping policies, but I do know that there was never any punishment for a positive steroids test until 2005 (as fallout from the BALCO mess).

How can we pass retrospective judgment on a man who did nothing to break the rules of the game, which either explicitly or implicitly permitted steroid use? An imperfect comparison, but that’s like penalizing Babe Ruth for not playing against players of color.

The fact is, Mac put up some unprecedented numbers, even when compared against the unprecedented era in which he played.

i don’t care either way whether he or any player used steroids or not.the vast majority of people who are against them don’t actually know anything about them, other than “THEY GET YOU HYOOOOOOGE!!!111”

i’ve seen countless debates on this between world-class bodybuilders, and those who are against them can’t give any scientific proof as to why THEY ARE SO BAD OMGZZZ. so many of the actual facts are left out in arguments. do they cause testicular atrophy? yes, but when the cycle is over, the testicles regain their size. i bet a ton of people knew the first part of that statement, but had no idea about the second.

i could go on and on, but i’ve made this argument on other sites and it gets old. go watch bigger, stronger, faster* for a look into the other side, it may open your eyes to how things really are. the only reason that they are illegal is because people COULD harm themselves, when DONE INCORRECTLY. the government is trying to save the stupid, or those who are too young and who are not finished growing (those under 22 years of age). if arnold didn’t do steroids at 15, who knows if they would be legal these days or not.

anyway…i know i didn’t really say much there other than ranting, but i vote yes for big mac. favorite A ever.

50-50, 266 votes each. Cool.

So I vote no.

I was born in ‘84, and during my younger days, I couldn’t think of anyone more awe-inspiring and heroic than McGwire and Canseco (well, maybe my dad when he fixed my Power Wheels Jeep). Finding out Mac was a user— and let’s face it, admission or no, it’s pretty clearly the case— was crushing to me.

So I propose a radical solution, for all those pshaw-ers who cluck their tongues, stroke their beards, and say, “what is to be done about these holier-than-thou ‘no’ voters”: do not induct any cheaters, and throw out all previously inducted cheaters. I don’t really care how it’s done— throw together a committee that decides where to draw the line; maybe having thrown a spitball gets you tossed, sharpening your spikes, taking greenies. I just don’t care. Get ’em out.

My opinions haven’t changed, but they have migrated/hyperbolized: where once I simply didn’t care whether a player took PEDs, I now actually favor them for having done so; and my opinion of the HOF has pretty much moved alongside those of the AG and postseason awards—now I pretty much ignore it entirely.

   Cheating or not McGwire is big part of Baseball history and nothing can change that. No fan of baseball during the 1998-2001 seasons will forget what McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds did even if they were on roids. I’m not saying everyone likes them for it but they will most likely remember it.
   I also think HOFs should be compared to the players that played at roughly the same time. He obviously was one of the best during the years he played and if your comparing to other PED users it makes no difference.

I’m not so sure his numbers put him in the HOF. Yeah he broke the record and hit some MAMMOTH home runs but, maybe if they enshrined based on the disance of the home runs