Baseball: Should PED Users Be Allowed in the MLB Hall of Fame?

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Should PED Users Be Allowed in the MLB Hall of Fame?
In the late 80s to mid-2000s, steroids changed the way baseball was played. It became known as “The Steroid Era,” and it is a part of history that baseball wants to forget. The players during this time did some of the greatest things to ever happen to baseball such as Barry Bonds breaking the single season homerun record with 73, and Roger Clemens winning his record seventh Cy Young Award (Ortiz). These are Hall of Fame worthy stats, but they have a very slim chance of ever getting into the Hall of Fame because they are linked to using Performance Enhancement Drugs. These players should be allowed into the Hall of Fame because of their accomplishments, but they need to have a wing dedicated to “The Steroid Era” players because conditions change so dramatically in different eras that it is hard to compare them to players now (Ringolsby). Even though PED users cheated the game, they should be allowed into the Hall of Fame if they have their own wing. They played in a different era than the players now, and it is hard to compare the different eras.
Players since the beginning of baseball have used some type of drug to enhance their game such as in 1889 Pud Galvin ingested monkey testosterone and Grover Cleveland Alexander used banned alcohol to enhance his game (Chafets). This should prove that baseball will never fully stop the use of PEDs, they can only cover up the ones that have. As Zev Chafets puts it “Chemical enhancement won’t kill the game; it is the cover-up that could be fatal” (Chafets). This cover up will ultimately hurt the game of baseball so the league should give the players the opportunity to use the PEDs, and if they choose not to then that is their decision ...

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...merio should have been a Hall of Famer, but since he was linked to PEDs he will never be in the HOF, but should be. Players every year are slowly falling of the ballot because they were linked to PEDs, but should be in the HOF.
If players did things that are worthy of being in the HOF then they should be recognized for them. There needs to be a wing added for the “The Steroid Era” because players during that era maybe would not have used PEDs if they had played back in another era. These players did cheat the game, but they just did what was happening during their era. Baseball cannot hide from its past, and should not keep trying to cover it up because it will just keep leading to more argument. The MLB and MLB HOF need to accept the dark history of baseball, and compare these players to the players of their own era, and give them the recognition they deserve.

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