Eight years ago the Baseball Writers’ Association of America failed to select a Hall of Fame class for just the third time in its history. I was livid, and I even wrote a lengthy piece calling out the voters for their ridiculous ballots.

This year, the BBWAA again didn’t put anyone in, and I am oddly OK with it.

The only difference for me, really, is that this time COVID-19 is involved. My lack of anger isn’t because of a desire to keep crowds down so that no more HOF players catch COVID and die (which is partially true, I guess), but rather simply because last year’s induction was pushed back a year.

That’s it. That’s the reason. 

I think there are three guys on the ballot that should be in, full stop, and another 5-8 that have great arguments to make. But I’m OK with BBWAA skipping a year so that Derek Jeter and Larry Walker get in without any of the controversial figures that I deem suitable to be enshrined in Cooperstown.

And when I say “controversial figures” — I mean it. I feel that 2022 should be the year of unrest for Baseball’s most powerful museum.

Here’s the locks who should make it in next year, according to me (and their overall stats; note, 75% of the vote needed to be inducted):

●  Barry Bonds (61.8%)

●  Roger Clemens (61.6%)

●  Curt Schilling (71.1%)

●  Alex Rodriguez (1st year on ballot)

●  David Ortiz (1st year on ballot)

What makes these guys controversial? Well, you must be new to the sport or were just born three years ago, but for the most part, allegations of performance enhancing substance use (and views on race, gender and politics that is deemed very controversial by some in one case).

By the straight numbers alone, no one can deny any of these players are among the best of all time. Bonds and Clemens stack up as Top-5 (if not higher) for their bats and arms in the entire history of the game. Even taking out the years of supposed use of performance enhancers, and each is still a hall of fame-level player.

For reference, I don’t care about PED use. At all. These players are professional athletes, not kids, and either knew what they were doing, or were OK with whatever the unknown consequences might be. I also have the firm belief that about 90% of all baseball players used PEDs in some form or another. 

In fact, if you want to take it further back, the amphetamines (greenies) that players used coming out of WWII and through the 1980s are currently banned. Guys like Mickey Mantle, Ted Williams, Bob Feller, Whitey Ford, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays all used them at some point or another. Going back to the “old days” of baseball, HOF Pud Galvin used to drink ox semen, believing it would give him an advantage over his opponents. 

Cheating is a thing in every sport — from racers altering their vehicles, to pitchers scuffing balls, basketball and soccer stars flop, to boxers “taking a dive.” In football, players — including some of the game’s best — get hit with a 4-game PED suspension and nobody bats an eye. I don’t see any of them as different, the same way I don’t see a fundamental difference between Ibuprofen and an anabolic steroid — if it helps you recover from injury, or allows you to continue performing when you otherwise would be injured or in pain, it’s the same, just at different levels.

That sidebar now thrown out there, let’s get back to the business of picking HOF baseball players.

My ballot this year would have included (maximum 10 names) Bonds, Clemens, Schilling, Scott Rolen (52.9%), Omar Vizquel (49.1%), Billy Wagner (46.4%), Todd Helton (44.9%), Andrew Jones (33.9%), Jeff Kent (32.4%) and Torii Hunter (9.5%). Other names I can understand their arguments for would be Andy Pettitte (13.7%), Gary Sheffield (40.6%) and Manny Ramirez (28.2%), a twice-caught PED user. Heck, even an argument can be made (to me) for Sammy Sosa (17.0%). First-year guys like Tim Lincecum, Prince Fielder, Jimmy Rollins and Jake Peavy started their careers hot, but injuries and slumps took over the second half of their careers.

Next year is also the last year that Bonds, Clemens, Schilling and Sosa can be on the ballot. So again, make it the one year we let all the controversial people in. Heck, even throw in Pete Rose. We don’t even have to hold a ceremony, or hold it an no one shows up but Mike Birbiglia as MC. Maybe don’t even run the TV broadcast live, just show clips of Birbiglia’s jokes and the players’ reactions.

The Hall is a museum that is supposed to tell the history of the sport, and honor the best that played — regardless of misfortunes in their lives. Make a wing that discusses PED use from the 1980s until 2010. Fine. I’d be cool with that. The entire 30-year era can be called the PED Era.

But rather than the continued will-they, won’t-they storyline that would percolate for years, just throw them all in at once and move on.

— Adam Krebs is the editor of the Monroe Times and didn’t discover the benefits of performance enhancing drugs (a cocktail of Ibuprofen, Aleve and Tylenol) to hide achiness and pain until he was 10 years removed from athletic competition. He has regrets. Adam’s column appears periodically. He can be reached at editor@themonroetimes.com.