No Hall of Fame Vote, Just An Opinion

We're hearing and reading a lot lately about the vote for the National Baseball Hall of Fame, who should be voted in and who doesn't deserve it.

Now, I have something of a leg to stand on here.

I'm a ten-year member of the Hall of Fame--no, not because of anything I ever (EVER!) did on the field.

But I'm a member of the "Friends of the Hall," a support organization sponsored by the HOF. Check one of the most recent issues of "Memories and Dreams," the official Hall publication, and I'm in there. And my car has the decal we all get that says "Member, National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum."

Anyway, the issue right now is whether such luminaries as Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa belong there, because of performance-enhancing drugs they may or may not have taken, although it's all allegation and suspicion. People of stature are on both sides of this issue.

These (and there are more) were some of the top players of their time. And I know, there are probably players in the Hall who found some way to give themselves a questionable edge, and we didn't know about it.

But I know this: If I had a vote, I would do all I could to keep the cheaters out.

Some of the players under suspicion would have been great anyway. How many home runs are enough? How many strikeouts?

Countless players compiled Hall-of-Fame-quality stats without cheating. And there are a lot of season and career totals we can't really believe anymore.

Now if some of the questionable crew get in, good for them. They deserve congratulations.

But if I were a voter, they wouldn't be on my ballot.