Roche: If I Had A Baseball Hall Of Fame Vote ...
BOSTON (CBS) -- I have always loved the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y. I have been there too many times to count. I have taken my family there. My son has played in a tournament there. I played a high school baseball game on Doubleday Field. I have been there for induction ceremonies and private tours with Dennis Eckersley and Wade Boggs.
I love everything about it.
However, it's been sad to watch the past month or so as the baseball writers try to figure out which players to enshrine. The "steroid era" has cast a dark spell over the entire process and nobody knows what to do about it. Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa brought so many people back to the game, but now they have torn its past apart. I guess that time is still needed to try to figure out what to do.
The problem is that we will never know who was clean and who wasn't. And, how bad were some players? Did they use PEDs all the time? Or, did they use them just to extend their careers? Or did they use for a few years and then decided to stop? I feel like we will never know and thus there is no real good answer.
So, if I had a vote, here's who I would put in:
Greg Maddux
Tom Glavine
Frank Thomas
Craig Biggio
Jeff Bagwell
Tim Raines
Mike Mussina
Curt Schilling
Jeff Kent
Alan Trammell
I am open to getting crushed about my picks, but I went with guys that I thought were dominating players at their position when they played. As you can also see, I steered clear -- for now -- of anyone associated with PEDs.
Follow WBZ-TV's Dan Roche on Twitter @RochieWBZ.