Seeing as how Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are two of the most dominant players in the history of baseball, it would seem they would be first-ballot Hall of Famers and have their spots reserved in Cooperstown, N.Y., from the day they retired five years ago.
Well, not so fast. No one was voted into the Pro Baseball Hall of Fame on Wednesday, and Bonds and Clemens each fell about 30 percent shy of earning the required 75 percent of the vote to gain induction. Of course, Bonds and Clemens are two of the biggest names linked to steroid use in the early and mid-2000s, inaffectionately known as the "steroid era" in baseball.
Texas Rangers left fielder David Murphy spoke out on Wednesday saying he doesn't believe anyone linked to performance-enhancing drugs should ever get into the Hall, even though it seems everyone was using them during that time.
“I think if they had a connection to performance-enhancing drugs, it’s hard for me to say that I’d let them in,” Murphy told ESPN Dallas' Richard Durrett. “I think it’s tough to let guys in the Hall of Fame that cheated the game when plenty of other guys didn’t.”
Then, in an odd twist after Murphy said he was excited to see former Houston Astros great Craig Biggio get the most votes of anyone, he championed the cause of Biggio's Houston teammate Jeff Bagwell, who has been linked to steroids himself.
“You’d like to think he’s only going to go up [in votes],” said Murphy, who grew up in the Houston area. “It would be cool to see a guy like Craig Biggio, who I admired so much growing up, get in. He’s most likely going to be in the Hall of Fame someday and hopefully [Jeff] Bagwell gets in too.”
Hmmm.
