The steroid issue is much tougher to deal with imo. While i personally think that until evidence can be shown that Rose threw games, he should be allowed; with Steroids it's not exactly clear who did and didn't take them and what effect they took from them. I mean what if Clemens, Sosa, Mcgwire, Bonds, etc are banned and a few elite players like Griffey Jr, Maddux, R.Johnson, etc make it simply because they were never caught? Just to clarify i'm not accusing any of those guys, it's just difficult to be sure with how messed up that era was.
Also with Bonds in particular it's even more difficult because he was on his way to a HOF career before he started juicing. From all accounts i've read Bonds started around 98, without the roids he obviously wouldn't have set the single season or all time HR records, or have beat Babe Ruths single season Slugging % record. Still he was hitting 30 HR's and Stealing 30 Bases every year before he started using Steroids.
This is just my opinion and i know most will disagree with it, but i think these guys should be personally punished; as in charges brought against them if warrented and a lifetime ban from Baseball, but a Hall of Fame without Rose, Bonds and Clemens just seems weird. Mcgwire can stay out he pretty much admitted to taking them his full career and Power Hitting seemed to be pretty much all he done.
I agree with this, and many are being punished because they were part of the era. That era is a big mess, and who knows if any mentioned above will be in. Unless of course somebody already in Cooperstown took them (I believe there were rumors or speculation about Henderson).
Also, I believe that Bud Selig should be banned from Cooperstown as well.
Agreed with everything you said here. I'd never heard of the Henderson rumours, i really hope that's all they were, rumours. The biggest problem that era has caused is the questioning of every single player practically. Another player i've read rumours about is Nolan Ryan, mostly stemming from his unusally long career as a pitcher (or in general) and his post 40 success. Hendersons Base Stealing records may have also have called him into question, unless there's more to it?
I thought that Canseco said something around the time Henderson was being inducted. But, I did find this interesting report. Does not say or speculate which player though. I honestly would think it would be a teammate of Canesco.
Great article Bam thanks for thst. I know the comments on this are as good as citing YT comments, but the consensus seems to be that it's either about Wade Boggs or Roger Clemens. It seems a little weird how these allegations are so restricted to blogs.
Here's a guy trying to analyze Boswells statement and come up with the most likely candidates; and he indeed says Henderson was the most likely; but he points out himself that he's largely relying on the fact that Henderson was Cansecos teammate. This was Boswells statement -
"There was another player now in the Hall of Fame who literally stood with me and mixed something and I said "What's that?" and he said "it's a Jose Canseco milkshake". And that year that Hall of Famer hit more home runs than ever hit any other year.
So it wasn't just Canseco, and so one of the reasons that I thought that it was an important subject was that it was spreading. It was already spreading by 1988."
This is his opinion on Henderson and the link below it.
This may stretch Boswell's definition a bit, but it technically fits. Rickey's 28 home runs in 1990 is indeed his career best, but he also hit the same number in 1986. Even so, I think the Rickey 1990 season fits Boswell's claim the best. After all, Rickey is the only one on this list who was an actual teammate of Canseco at the time he hit the home runs, and 1990 is really the height of the Bash Brothers and that Oakland squad. It'd also make some sense for Boswell, who had made Canseco and the A's a special subject of his, to be close enough to an Oakland player to be able to witness something like that.
I hope I don't need to say that I'm not actually accusing Rickey or Cal or Sandberg or anyone else of using steroids. I have no clue just how accurate or precise Boswell's claim was in the documentary. It's very possible that a more nuanced statement from Boswell would make this investigation completely worthless by the addition of just one key detail.
As it is, though, there are only eight possible players who he could be talking about. Of those eight, the three most likely candidates are Andre Dawson in his 1987 MVP season, Cal Ripken, Jr., in his 1991 MVP season or Rickey Henderson in his 1990 MVP season. Ryne Sandberg's 40 home run season in 1990 could also raise some eyebrows. It'd certainly be nice to hear Boswell, who has been investigating steroids in baseball longer than anyone and who obviously has some important inside knowledge, be a little more specific about what he knows, but that's probably not going to happen for a number of years still. In the meantime, all we can do is speculate over the hints that he drops.
