PED Debate Will Decide Class in the 2022 Baseball Hall of Fame

The 2022 Baseball Hall of Fame writers’ ballot could very well be the most intriguing and polarizing referendum in museum history. This week, before the results are announced on January 25, The Post’s Ken Davidoff will break down many of the issues and ongoing debates before revealing his ballot.

Rule 5 was the Baseball Hall of Fame equivalent of the Brood X cicada, appearing every 17 years or so to spur a discussion about a particular candidate and his friends. before disappearing again.

Now, Rule 5 is as common as mosquitoes. Thanks a lot, steroids.

Rule 5, of the American Baseball Writers Association voting rules, says: “Vote will be based on player record, playability, integrity, sportsmanship, manner and contributions to the team(s) on which the player has played. ”

It was the trio of “integrity, athleticism and character” (some overlap there) that threw the Hall into uncharted chaos, with this 2022 writers’ ballot placed Fort close some doors while opening others. All those doors lead to illicit performance-enhancing drug use, the issue that has defined the process since Mark McGwire qualified in 2007, many critics say he lacks those three qualities overlap and there is no hope of abatement.

On the contrary, time only clouded the matter, the game’s evolving rules about illegal performance-enhancing drugs creating subclasses of suspects. Consider that a certain group of players – led by Jeff Bagwell, Mike Piazza and Ivan Rodriguez – have weathered the whispers of illegal PED use due to the lack of evidence beyond a visual (and subsequent) examination. that raised eyebrows) to get the 75% of support needed for the election.

Let’s break down the other subclasses, none of which reach that 75 percent threshold. Some players have raised enough hell to get into multiple groups; here, they were assigned to the demographic group that was supposed to make them miserable the most.

Previous testers

McGwire, when he joined the Cardinals’ coaching staff in 2010, admitted that he took steroids during his record-breaking home run (70) season in 1998. He wasn’t having good results before. That revelation, topping 23.7% in ’10 (in doubt about both the veracity of his achievements and their worthiness) and even worse six years later, also made a small appearance on the Today Game Era Commission’s vote tally.

Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens boarded the ship in 2013 and saw their vote move in virtual lockdown – Bonds hit new highs last year with 61.8%, Clemens with 61.6% – for good reason: Two all-time greats have seen government agents arrest government agents their purported vendors, although the federalists cannot convict both myths. This year marks their last chance on the writers’ ballot.

Sammy Sosa, also in his last chance, peaked last year at 17%, a far cry from induction. He allegedly failed his 2003 survey test, but possibly his most remarkable moment came when he pretended not to speak English fluently at a famous hearing. of Congress in 2005 on illegal PEDs in baseball.

Gary Sheffield said in 2004 that he had unknowingly used “ice cream,” an illegal PED made by BALCO and given to him by the Bonds during the 2001-02 season. He grew to 40.6% last year and three more years to go.

Andy Pettitte confirmed the Mitchell Report’s findings that he used human growth hormone in 2002 and then admitted to using it again in 2004, at which point the players were tested for steroids but failed. must be HGH. He climbed 13.7 percent last year, his third year on the ballot.

Tests failed

Rafael Palmeiro became the first high victim during the testing period, which began in ’04, when a 2005 sample tested positive. He only lasted four years on the ballot, his 4.4% showing in 2014 falling below the 5% needed to stay on the ballot.

When Manny Ramirez failed a test in 2011, it marked his third skirmish with illegal PEDs, as he allegedly tested positive in the 2003 survey and was suspended. in 2009 for analytic positive. This will be his sixth round on the ballot.

Positivity does not analyze

An unanalyzed positive result is a conviction with evidence not obtained from actual drug testing. That’s how Major League Baseball got Alex Rodriguez in 2013, thanks to text messages between him and Biogenesis founder Anthony Bosch that Bosch provided and verified. A-Rod also admitted to illegally using PEDs with Rangers between 2001 and 2003 and reportedly failed the ’03 survey test. A-Rod is someone debuted at this dance and has about 40% support from the voting public according to Ryan Thibodaux.

Experimental 2003 survey

David Ortiz gave most of his numbers in the age of testing and never came back positive…except in that 03 year survey, which was used as the basis for determining whether Disciplinary testing is required and is believed to be anonymous. Slugger has asserted his innocence, and commissioner Rob Manfred also defended Ortiz, saying his results could have been a false positive. Ortiz, who joined A-Rod as a freshman to vote, got off to a strong start and was able to get elected on the first try, which will be a major milestone for those involved. Illegal PEDs.