Mike Piazza Among A Strong Cast To Debut On HOF Ballot

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• jessep November 28, 2012 at 10:47 am

  A lot of interesting situations will start to unfold now…

  First, can Jack Morris get in? He was just over 66% last year.

  Will Biggio & Bagwell get the respect and go in together?

  Will Piazza get treated like Bagwell under any “suspicion” of PED?

  Can voters understand that Bonds & Clemens were HOF before steroids ever entered their body?

  If Jack Morris is a Hall of Famer, why isn’t Curt Schilling?

  Can Rock Raines finally break the 60% mark?
  • Met Maniac November 28, 2012 at 10:55 am

    How in the world do you know when Bonds and Clemens started cheating? Maybe Clemens started cheating in 1993 after having his first bad season. That would mean 15 of his 24 year career was tainted. Maybe Bonds started cheating in 1990 after he batted .248 and then came back with an MLB leading .565 slugging and .970 OPS the following season. That would practically taint his entire career.
• Alex68 November 28, 2012 at 10:53 am

  I love piazza.. But let’s be honest here, all those guys juiced the hell up.. Bagwell, Clemens, Piazza, Bonds etc.. Maybe Biggio didn’t and even that it’s in question…
• Donal November 28, 2012 at 11:00 am

  To be fair to Sosa, was he ever actually solidly connected to Balco or any of the other ones? Or have we all just been assuming he used due to the super duper accurate “eye ball test”?
  • Alex68 November 28, 2012 at 11:22 am

    Donal, go and take a look at sosa’s rookie card.. Not sure if you remember geronimo berroa, but i knew him and other players in DR, me and him had a conversation about 4 years ago or so, he did tell me how there were many buscones in DR who could get steorids in DR like nothing, and that while in oakland he suspected many players were in on it. somehow we talked about sosa for a bit, he told me that most of them, including mondesi and henry rodriguez juiced the hell up but that they were never gonna have prove because they had their guys coming from DR to bring in, mind you this was all before 2001 sept 11, when you could basically carry anything in your luggage
    • Donal November 28, 2012 at 11:28 am

      I had his rookie card. Yes, he was a scrawny little speedster. But again, that is the eye ball test.

      And your buddy has no actual proof Sosa was on it.

      I wouldn’t be surprised if he admitted to it, but I really don’t think we have enough to say he did.

      Gut feelings and our own biases should not be responsible for decisions like this.
• Nathan November 28, 2012 at 11:18 am

  This is always a fun debate and now it is going into hyper drive with the inclusion of Bonds on the ballot. Like or Hate Roids aside Bonds is the best baseball player ever. If he is not elected into the Hall then the precedent is set and any inclusions from this era will be highly scrutinized.
  • taskmaster4450 November 28, 2012 at 11:21 am

    The best baseball player ever? I think names like Williams, Ruth, Dimaggio, and Gehrig all surpass Bonds and that is just off the top of my head.
  • Alex68 November 28, 2012 at 11:26 am

    Nathan, how old are you?17? Ken Griffey JR was the best player of the 90′s and it wasn’t even closed.. more importantly, he probably was the only one who was clean… Could’ve easily hit 900 HR had he been on the juiced
    In his prime years bonds hit 292 HR, after 30 he went insane and avg almost 40 HR per season…
    • Nathan November 28, 2012 at 11:39 am

      Alex I am 33 years old, Thanks for reminding me lol. Hey guys you don’t have to agree but looking at just his accomplishments he surpasses everyone. He can’t compete with Ruth’s pitching record but as a position player his career is unsurpassed. I don’t like the guy and wish his career happened to another person but to me thems the facts.
  • Donal November 28, 2012 at 11:31 am

    Dude, Mays over Bonds and it ain’t even close.
    • Metstheory22 November 28, 2012 at 5:21 pm

      Mays, Griffey and Aaron over Bonds any day.

      Piazza in before Clemens–PRICELESS
• taskmaster4450 November 28, 2012 at 11:19 am

  There wasnt a player in that era who didnt take at least HGH. Why wouldnt they? It wasnt illegal nor banned from baseball. To them, in that day, it was like vitamins.

  As for the roids, they were illegal thus can be classes as cheating. Who was and wasnt on them is impossible to figure. The bottom line is either voters are going to allow all of them in or none of them in. Aside from a few pitchers like Maddux, Glavine, Hoffman, Rivera, and Johnson, who else would you put in?
  • LA Met Fan November 28, 2012 at 11:25 am

    How about Jose Lima?
• LA Met Fan November 28, 2012 at 11:27 am

  If Selig hadnt turned a blind eye to this, we should have had testing since late eighties. I wonder how many of these players would be on this ballot if there was testing going on since 1990?
  • taskmaster4450 November 28, 2012 at 11:32 am

    That comment makes no sense. How does Selig ignoring the problem equate to testing in the late 80s? He didnt become commissioner until 1992.
    • LA Met Fan November 28, 2012 at 11:56 am

      Well whenever he took over, he ignored the problem for over a decade.
• Donal November 28, 2012 at 11:32 am

  So, can someone once again explain to me why HGH and steroid users should be kept out of the Hall, but we’re fine with amphetamine users (even though they were controlled substances that MLB banned in the 60s)?
• DMets3 November 28, 2012 at 1:37 pm

  This is going to be a very hard choice to make for those involve in the HOF voting process. My guess is Morris, Piazza and Biggio.
• Richard November 28, 2012 at 3:37 pm

  Joe,I believe Piazza and Biggio SHOULD be the ones to go in as well.
• sarge69 November 28, 2012 at 4:13 pm

  Equating playing during those years along with being linked along with everyone else was doing it is the dumbest argument against voting in players like PIazza, Biggio, Griffey and to a larger extent Sosa.

  McGwire had his Andros in his locker for all to see while he was in Oakland and ie was available at GNC and other vitamin shoppes so it wasn’t till a reporter asked about it and later steroids were illegal according to US law so the cheating continued with steroids as owners, press, MLB didn’t say anything till the numbers got ridiculous, and Cammenitti admitted to use, etc.

  My point is that when steroids were made illegal by US, that is when it should of been stated in baseball but because some players were taking legal, over the counter supplements that were not illegal in US or baseball they should not be held to the same standard as those that took steroids when the law made them illegal.

  Piazza belongs in hall along with Biggio and should not be tainted by BBWA
• gasparsarm November 28, 2012 at 10:58 pm

  There’s little evidence against piazza, and he seems to be well liked.
  But there are stories that at least make you ask the question, and the way he broke down
  is quite similar to how McGuire broke down, he broke down suddenly and badly –
  who knows, I loved Piazza, but I do feel suspicious.

  I wish we had the info to know and not just wonder.
• tlagee November 28, 2012 at 11:18 pm

  Murray Chass has had it in for Piazza for years. He will tell anyone who will listen that Mike juiced and the entire clubhouse knew it.

  Some point to the weird injury, when Mike ripped his groin muscle off the bone while at the plate swinging, as proof that he juiced.

  Personally, I believe that Piazza didn’t take PEDs. He passed the ‘eye ball’ test where he didn’t really grow during his career – he was always pretty stocky and built.

  He also didn’t exhibit ‘roid rage (unless you include him going into the opponents locker room searching for Mota after a spring training game).

  A friend of mine knew him pretty well and said there was no way he would do steroids. She said that he was really careful about what he ate and his fitness routine.

  His career, while outstanding, was on a normal timeline. He was really good for quite a few years and tapered off with age.

  I would love to see him in the Hall.

  Anyone for Curt Schilling?
• alan November 29, 2012 at 10:00 am

  With Bonds, Clemons, and Sosa being eligible for the first time, the BBW of America will surely be thinking that the three “juicers” get no support for induction.

  I see that Piazza and Biggio get the honors this year and that Morris and a few others have to wait a bit longer