The real question I want to ask is when (if ever) do any of the tainted heroes get elected? For now Bonds/Clemens/Palmero/Sosa/McGwire/etc. are all persona non grata, at best 20% on ballots when you need over 75% to get elected.
Surely that can't last forever. With new candidates every year (some borderline, some obvious), the voting for those guys will ever rise or fall. What will happen?
You have a slippery slope: if the steroiders are out, then why not the amphetamines guys from the sixties, or why not modern spitballers?
I've come to think that the people best-qualified to decide which cheating was over the line is the current Hall of Famers. I would cut the period the writers have to vote from 15 down to 5 years, and then let the players take over. The Hall allowed the current Hall of Famers to act as the Veterans Committee for a few years, but stupidly changed the makeup of the committee a few years ago.
I don't think the gamblers should be allowed in. Jackson threw the Series and admitted it. With respect to Rose, all we have is his word that his gambling didn't hurt the Reds. He brought a good team home in second place four times, and the team won the Series the first year after he was gone. The only way that doesn't look fishy is if you start from the assumption that Pete Rose just wouldn't do that.
