Baseball Hall Of Fame Candidates Linked To PED Use Still Suffer In Voting Results

In 2017, the late Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Morgan sent a letter to voting members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America, urging the group to not elect players linked to performance-enhancing drug use.

“Steroid users don’t belong here,” Morgan wrote. “Players who failed drug tests, admitted using steroids, or were identified as users in Major League Baseball’s investigation into steroid abuse, known as the Mitchell Report, should not get in. Those are the three criteria that many of the (Hall of Fame) players and I think are right.”

Morgan, who died in 2020, also wrote in the letter that if steroid users were elected to Cooperstown, those Hall of Famers already enshrined would skip the induction ceremonies altogether, rather than share a stage with a drug cheat.

Predictably, Morgan’s letter sparked criticism from all corners of baseball after it became public, with numerous writers crying hypocrisy and pointing to Morgan’s playing era when the scourge of “greenies” — or stimulants —permeated clubhouses.

And what if a steroid/PED user has already been inducted?

Even Morgan’s fellow Hall of Famer and baseball contemporary, the late Willie McCovey, took issue with his “best friend” Morgan in a San Francisco Chronicle story. McCovey defended home run king Barry Bonds, who is linked to steroids and PEDs through his association with the federal BALCO steroids trafficking case.

“That letter Morgan wrote sure is not going to help Barry,” McCovey told the Chronicle, referring to Bonds’ Hall of Fame candidacy. “But I’m glad to hear a lot of the writers say the letter is not going to influence their vote because I know a lot of it is aimed at him. I wasn’t too happy about it. You’re naive if you don’t think it was aimed at Barry.”

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But almost six years after Morgan’s letter was sent, the BBWAA voting results for PED-tainted candidates has, for the most part, trended toward Morgan’s wishes. Last year, Bonds and Roger Clemens — two of the most prominent players linked to the steroid era — fell short of the 75% threshold needed for election. It was both men’s 10th and final appearance on the BBWAA ballot.

The Contemporary Era Committee — comprised of Hall of Famers, executives and veteran writers — also rejected Bonds, Clemens and Rafael Palmeiro (who failed a drug test in 2005) when the panel voted on eight candidates this past fall. Only Fred McGriff was elected to Cooperstown among the group that also included Don Mattingly, Curt Schilling, Albert Belle and Dale Murphy.

The latest sign that doping in baseball still factors into BBWAA members’ decision making is the 2023 Hall of Fame results. Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez — the former who served a season-long PED suspension and the latter who twice failed a drug test during his playing career — both finished with 35.7% and 33.2% of the vote, respectively.

This was the second year on the ballot for Rodriguez and seventh for Ramirez. Third baseman Scott Rolen was the only player elected by the writers for the class of 2023.

Rodriguez, 47, was a three-time American League MVP and has 696 career home runs, but admitted in 2009 to using banned substances all three years he played for the Texas Rangers (2001-03). The last of those three seasons was when he won his first MVP.

Prior to his admission, he told broadcast journalist Katie Couric in a 2007 interview that he never used performance-enhancing drugs. Then Sports Illustrated reported in early 2009 that Rodriguez failed a drug test during baseball’s survey testing year (2003).

In 2013, Rodriguez received a historic 211-game suspension from then commissioner Bud Selig for violating the Joint Drug Agreement stemming from his involvement in the South Florida Biogenesis doping scandal. Rodriguez fought the ban and at the conclusion of his arbitration hearing, he told veteran sports talk-show host Mike Francesa that he never used PEDs and that he shouldn’t have to “serve one inning” of his suspension.

An independent arbitrator later reduced Rodriguez’s punishment to 162 games, all of the 2014 season, which A-Rod served.

Ramirez, 50, was a 12-time All-Star, World Series MVP, won two World Series titles with the Red Sox and has 555 career homers and a career .312 batting average. But two failed drug tests late in his career have loomed large for Ramirez’s post-playing legacy, much like Palmeiro’s positive test in 2005 torpedoed his Hall chances.

As more younger baseball writers join the ranks of the BBWAA voting population, it’s possible that views on steroids and PEDs will soften over time. But until that happens, players with doping links are paying a high price.

“I hope the Hall of Fame’s standards won’t be lowered with the passage of time,” Morgan wrote. “For over eighty years, the Hall of Fame has been a place to look up to, where the hallowed halls honor those who played the game hard and right. I hope it will always remain that way.”