[quote=PK;30203]
Quote Originally Posted by hblakewolf View Post
Yankwood-

McGwire used Andro and admitted it. I'm not aware of a single positive test ever being produced that implicates big MAC of using Steroids. Until I see some type of substantiated documented proof, he's still one of the best who has ever played the game-period!

Howard Wolf

Best ever? Please. He did one thing well, hit home runs. 7th all time in HR and and hit one every 10.6 times he was at bat. Other then that what?? Not too much. IF, he gets elected he would have one of the lowets batting averages ever(.263), has only 1,626 hits(would be very low on list), played average defense at first base with 1 gold glove, 12 CAREER stolen bases, sturck out more then 25% of the time he stepped to the plate 1,596 SO to 6,187 AB and was never an MVP.

He admitted to Andro and another over the counter drug that I cannot remember and at the item was legal in baseball and not tested for so he does get a pass there, but where there is smoke there is always fire. Look at how much his body changed during and then after his career ended. Something sure let all the air our of him because he looks nothing like he did when he played except for all the pock marks on his sandpaper face. I know what I saw when he went in frort of Congress and he was a deer in headlights with something to hide. As I heard someone say, only Mobsters go in front of Congress or a jury and pleed the 5th. Or not there to "talk about the past"

Mark McGwire may have been for all intents and purposes a "one dimesional player" however my question is this; at what point do you achieve HOF status for being the best of the best at what you do. McGwire forever clouded his past achievements and future HOF status that day in front of congress. If he would have never appeared before congress and that debacle would not have occured nor any additional speculation regarding steroids; would that have changed the HOF voters minds? I am not entirely sure as speculation would still abound that Big Mac used PED's. The facts are this, he was the most prolific home run hitter in history in terms of homers per at bat as the numbers here do not lie. Injuries took their toll on Big Mac and many may argue this was from his own doing if he did take illegal substances. If he would not have missed the many games that he did and would have stayed healthy at the end of his career he might have added another 100 home runs.

Maybe this is not comparing apples to apples but if a closer such as Rollie Fingers or Bruce Sutter gets into the HOF being one dimensional in what they did, why can McGwire or another specialist not be inducted in the HOF. All Big Mac did was hit homers but he did it more often than anyone in baseball history so that needs to be taken into account.

Whether or not that ultimately is enough to outweigh all the questions and controversy surrounding his career is something that the voters and history will ultimately have to judge.