Steroid Users Kept Out Of HOF; Not Good News For Bonds
COOPERSTOWN, NY (CBS / AP) — Roberto Alomar and Bert Blyleven became baseball Hall of Famers on Wednesday, the two-time World Series champions easily elected after narrow misses last year.
But sluggers Rafael Palmeiro, Mark McGwire, Jeff Bagwell and Juan Gonzalez came nowhere close. Hall voters, for now, seem intent to prevent the cloud of the "Steroids Era" from covering Cooperstown.
That's not good news for former San Francisco Giants slugger and Major League Baseball homerun-hitting champ Barry Bonds, whose name will appear on the Hall of Fame ballot in two years.
Palmeiro, McGwire, Bagwell and Gonzalez all fared poorly in this year's election, with Baseball Writers' Association of America members apparently reluctant to choose bulky hitters who posted big numbers in the 1990s and 2000s.
"The writers are saying that this was the Steroids Era, like they have done Mark McGwire," Blyleven said. "They've kind of made their point. It doesn't surprise me."
"Guys cheated," he continued. "They cheated themselves and their teammates. The game of baseball is to be played clean. I think we went through a Steroid Era and I think it's up to the writers to decide when and who should go in through that era."
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