[alnorth]

Overall, I'm fine with this result.

Biggio is not an obvious slam-dunk first-ballot HOF'er. He's not obviously not either, its iffy whether he should be voted in on his first year. I would have, but I'm not upset about it. I'm fine with Piazza not getting in this year for similar reasons.

I'm more upset about Bagwell, he really should have been voted in, but at least he gained more ground this year. He'll eventually get in, there's never been any credible steroid accusations.

Morris is not a HOF'er, so I'm fine with him not being in. He'll eventually get in by the VC, but thats better than being voted in, which is a step up from being let in by the VC.

Clemons, Bonds, McGwire, etc should never be voted in. The rules are the rules, it is clear they lack character, integrity, and sportsmanship, and you can take all your arguments about greenies, uppers, and spitballs, and you can go stuff it. You know whats like steroids? Steroids. Thats it, there is nothing comparable. None of that other stuff dramatically changes your body, damages your health, and forces other players who otherwise wouldn't have doped, to dope to keep their jobs. Many players extended careers because of it, and that means some honest clean ballplayers somewhere toiled away in the minors and never got called up because of it. Why not think about them? I don't care if baseball was complicit, those players knew they were cheating, and they did it anyway. If its an economic decision (I'd rather make millions more than protect my legacy), fine, so be it. Its time for them to pay the price of cheating, however small that price may be, and die in baseball purgatory right beside Pete Rose. The guy who invented the freaking hall of fame was the one who came up with those character clauses, we can't throw out the Thomas Jefferson of the baseball hall of fame now because some people find it inconvenient.

The cheaters should not be honored.