TuckerBlair89 wrote:I pretty much agree with what you say ofahn.
It's at the point where we just have to accept that an entire generation was built around this. You just have to accept that it had become almost a "standard". All the players that deserve to make the HOF that did them, most likely made it anyways. And even if you argued they didn't, they were still at the top of the game for many years to come.
It's always going to be a touchy subject though.
I had a conversation with my son today in which he argued that we should try to identify which players may have been squeaky clean and only consider them for Hall admission. I raised this scenario:
Suppose you have a pitcher named Johnny Clean. He has NEVER used
any form of PED. But he plays on a team that during his career always had at least five regular fielders or hitters that did. All of
THEIR performances would have been enhanced. PEDs would have made their bodies stronger and given them more endurance. A 3B would have had a faster reaction time, an extra step, and a stronger throw to 1B. An OF would have the extra step in chasing down a ball and a stronger throw to a base. The C would have had a faster reaction time against a base stealer and a stronger throw to 2B. Once the ball left Johnny Clean's hand many beneficial things would have happened because of OTHER players using PEDs that would have benefited Johnny Clean and improved his stats and success. That's before you consider that his teammates would have been better producers at the plate, which would have given him more runs. That could have resulted in him winning more games.
Johnny Clean hasn't touched an aspirin and he has benefited from PEDs.
THAT'S what makes it impossible to pick and choose which players were "clean" and which ones weren't, and why it necessary to simply evaluated ALL players from the "Steroids Era" against their competition.
EVERY PLAYER WAS AFFECTED.
