Musings on the Hall of Fame....Dan Shaughnessey

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Good Morning.

Mark McGuire is on the hall of fame ballot this year... Do you think he should be in, or is his candidacy going to turn into a referendum on steroids?

Baseball fans, check out Dan Shaughnessey's column in the Boston Globe today: http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/articles/2006/05/31/troubling_ingredient_in_hall_vote/?rss_id=Boston+Globe+--+Dan+Shaughnessy+columns

By Dan Shaughnessy, Globe Columnist | May 31, 2006

You know what I hate most about Barry Bonds and his joyless, fraudulent pursuit of the home run gods?

My Hall of Fame ballot.

And Mark McGwire.

The Barry Plague infects Shea Stadium this weekend, which means another tonnage of speculation and suspicion about Bonds and his place in baseball history. Barry surpassed Babe Ruth's home run total last weekend and goes into tonight's action 40 home runs shy of honorable Hank Aaron's career mark of 755. With the Bambino in the rearview mirror, there will be a lot of talk about Barry and Hank in New York this weekend.

And we'll hold our noses. I'm still hoping Barry retires, or confesses and asks our forgiveness, but that's not likely. As Sundance said to Butch when considering options while they were hopelessly cornered by a team of hired guns, ``They could surrender to us, but I wouldn't count on that."
Message Board What do you think about Bonds passing Babe Ruth?

Barry is going to be 42 in July. He's standing in the batter's box on a surgically repaired right knee and he has bone chips in his left elbow. Most nights he runs around like a man with a Steinway baby grand on his broad back. He has stopped hitting home runs with regularity. Waiting for No. 714 and No. 715 was like waiting for Franco to die (Generalissimo, not Julio). Barry's $90 million contract with the Giants expires at the end of this season and it looks as if his days in the National League are almost over. At best, Bonds is bound for a role as a designated hitter, but right now he'd be a drag on any American League team, and Oakland is probably the only place where he'd be welcomed by new hometown fans.

But what's killing me the most is the prospect of McGwire on this year's Hall of Fame ballot. And that is because those of us who vote are going to be held to new scrutiny now that the Steroid Boys are coming up for election. We won't have to decide on Bonds for at least five years (players are not eligible for election until five years after they retire), but McGwire is up this year and he's going to be the litmus test for all who follow.

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