How Should Steroid Suspicions Affect HOF Candidacy? Verlander, Ausmus Weigh In
By: Will Burchfield
@burchie_kid
Where National Baseball Hall of Fame voters used to draw a hard line on performance enhancing drugs, they're beginning to soften their stance.
Players suspected of drug use are no longer presumed guilty. And even the presumed guilty are starting to gain ground.
In the eyes of Tigers manager Brad Ausmus, that's a good thing.
"First of all, don't tell me you thought they (used). If someone admitted to it or tested positive or you have evidence, then that's fine," he said. "But to me, you don't punish someone for innuendo."
Justin Verlander isn't so sure, concerned that lowering the Hall's standards could snowball out of control.
"I feel like that's a dangerous game," he said. "The what-if game is very dangerous, and if you're going to play that game, man, then all of a sudden you gotta kind of start letting everybody in, because there's probably some guys in that maybe did (use). Who knows? But if that's the case then all of a sudden you open the window to probably everybody should be (allowed in)."
On Wednesday, two players who have been dogged by steroid accusations were elected to Cooperstown, in Ivan Rodriguez and Jeff Bagwell. (Tim Raines was also elected.) Rodriguez was accused of taking steroids in Jose Canseco's notorious book, "Juiced," while Bagwell admitted to taking Androstenedione before it was banned.
But neither player has ever been found guilty, illustrating the crux of an already complex voting process. Verlander, who will no doubt be up for election in the future, grapples with this dilemma today.
"You just go back to who was the best player at the time, and that's kind of tough. On one stance, I wholeheartedly agree that guys that used in the past shouldn't be allowed in. But on the other hand, if you say, 'Well this guy may have, that guy may have,' you can't do that. It's unfair to everybody when you start doing that. I don't know how to solve it -- maybe start doing lie detectors," he chuckled.
To Ausmus, it's a dying debate.
"I think at this point we're kind of moving past the whole steroid era. There's going to be a point in time where we stop talking about it. And I think we're getting closer, which is good, because now Major League Baseball has the most rigorous testing in the game," he said. "You're not going to be able to stop everyone from everything — you're just not. Somebody's going to be ahead of the curve somewhere. But I think we're getting past the steroid era."
Either way, both Ausmus and Verlander were thrilled for the most recent crop of players enshrined in Cooperstown.
"Pudge getting in, man, I couldn't be more excited for him," said Verlander, who played with Rodriguez over parts of four seasons in Detroit. "We still talk on occasion and he was a great teammate and obviously great for the city here, great for the organization, kind of started the whole renaissance of what we have now.
"I saw the video of him kind of tearing up when he got the call. Great guy and I couldn't be happier for him."
Ausmus said the same of Bagwell, his teammate for five seasons in Houston.
"Baggy's a good friend of mine, so I'm extremely happy for him. Pudge I played against for years, you could probably make the argument that he and Johnny Bench are the greatest catchers of all time," said Ausmus.
