Well, the Babe Did It!

Recently there was an article in the USA Today regarding Mark McGwire and the question of his chances at getting into the Hall of Fame. The whole "Steroid Era" has been a black eye of sorts for baseball. Some people feel that McGwire's "testimony" in March of 2005 (and his focus on the future not the past) meant that he confessed to using performance enhancing drugs. I think that it was a bad decision by McGwire and his lawyer to approach the hearing in the way they did. And I agree that the more pure the game is the better it will be in the long run. I am totally for a steroid policy and am glad that one has been implemented.

That being said, I have some beef with everyone who wants Mark McGwire not to go into the Hall of Fame because of steroids. As we all know steroids, for non-medical uses, are illegal in the United States. This makes McGwire a "criminal" if he ever used steroids. However, a key aspect that some people miss when saying that McGwire should not be in the Hall of Fame is that of another, the first, power hitter, Babe Ruth.

Ruth, who played from 1914-1935 has a similar story to McGwire. The Ruthian legend is that of a charismatic, larger than life, hot dog eating, beer drinking ball player that clouted balls out of Yankee Stadium at tremendous rates. He was depicted by John Goodman in "The Babe" as a guy who enjoyed life and did not refrain from drinking. However, here is where the irony sets in. Ruth played during all 13 years of Prohibition (18th Amendment to the Constitution: 1920-1933) which made the production, distribution, and consumption of alcohol in the United States illegal. Of the Babe's 714 career home runs, 637 of them came between 1920-1933. That is 89% of his career home runs that came when alcohol was illegal.

Should we take the Babe out of the Hall of Fame because he broke a Federal Law? Heck no. The Babe transcended the game of Baseball. He brought fans to the stadiums and popularized the game. I think that we owe it to the Babe for baseball being called America's Pastime. Mark McGwire, on the other hand, has not even been proven to have taken steroids but people are already proclaiming that he is not a first ballot Hall of Famer. It was Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa that brought most of the fans back to baseball after the 1994 strike. 583 Home Runs would get anyone else into the Hall of Fame, without the steroid controversy. All that I ask is that we look at the impact that each of these men had on the game in their time.


Big Mac For Hall of Fame in 2007!