had to go there eventually, might as well start it early!

I was just listening to an interesting interview on sports radio with former pitching great Jim Palmer, who was asked about the state of baseball, steroids, Bonds, McGuire, etc., and I thought he made an interesting point.

Specifically he was asked if he would vote for McGuire, Tony Gwinn, or Cal Ripkin for the Hall of Fame, all of whom come up for induction this year. He said no to McGuire because he was essentially a one-dimensional player…meaning he only hit homeruns. He went on to make the point that whether you think it’s a result of steroids, juiced balls, diluted pitching, or smaller parks, the fact is that homerun hitting is devalued in the current era because so many guys seem to be able to do it in great numbers! When Babe was playing he hit more home runs a season than whole teams because so few players were hitting homeruns, while Aaron’s records are a result if incredible consistency for a player who never hit more than 45 in a season. But never before the current era was there the frequency of homeruns from the number of players – Griffy Jr., Palmiero, Conseco, Giambi, A-Rod, Sosa, Mcguire, Bonds, and others.

I liked that approach, because it deals with the fact that we only have circumstantial evidence about steroid use (though one can argue that the abundance of circumstantial evidence is overwhelming and many have been convicted of more serious crimes with less!). It punishes, if you will, players who sacrifice an all around game for one specific stat. McGuire was never more than a 2 tool player. But it rewards the likes of Griffy and A-Rod, Gwinn and Ripkin, who were much more well rounded players and who achieved at high level in all facets of the game - they won gold gloves on defense, hit for high average, hit for power, ran bases well, and so on. Sort of like Bonds before he decided to go for the long ball…