More so than any other sport, baseball players compete against history.
For decades, sluggers were judged by how many home runs they hit compard to the 61 Roger Maris hit in 1961 and the 60 that Babe Ruth wacked in 1927.
When cheaters like Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa broke those records, baseball history was turned upside down.
Now baseball writers must judge who else were among these imposters and who should be let in or kept out of the Hall of Fame.
On Jan. 6, the Baseball Writers' Association of America will announce the newest inductees into the Hall.
In the 10 years since steroid testing was put into place, there have been six instances of players hitting 50 home runs or more in a season.
In the 10 previous seasons, there were 18 instances, or 300 percent more times a player hit 50 homers.
That is just the offense side, the pitching side is more unknown as only two major pitchers of the last two decades — Clemens and Kevin Brown, were linked to steroids as part of the Mitchell Report.
Judging by recent Hall of Fame ballots, players implicated in steroid use do not have enough support to enter the Hall of Fame.
But what about those who weren't implicated but still put up amazing statistics and other-worldly physiques?
And how do the statistics put up by steroid-era players affect the way players in the past are judged?
Here are the major players in the 2015 Hall of Fame Ballot:
Jeff Bagwell: Admitted to taking Andro before it was banned as a performing enhancing drug. After only hitting six home runs in 212 Minor League games and not more than 20 in each of his first three Major League seasons, he blasted 39 homers in the strike-shortened 1994 season. He would have been on pace to slug more than 50 homers in 1994. He would have been Brady Anderson before Brady Anderson. Never won a batting title and his 449 homes runs falls short for playing in a hitter's era. Only batted .300 a handful of times despite being one of the game's most walked batters. He is in the top 40 for most strikeouts.
Craig Biggio: For 120 years, most players had their best years in their 20s to early 30s. Except in the Steroid Era. Biggio had his highest home run total at the age of 40. His highest doubles total was at the age of 34, when he smacked 56, though three years earlier he could only muster 24. Biggio’s 668 doubles put him in the top five, behind Ty Cobb, Tris Speaker, Pete Rose and Stan Musial. Are we to believe he was as good as four of the best players the game has ever seen? He collected 3,000 hits but never won a batting title. He only hit above .300 four times despite playing in hitter friendly. His .281 average is far below much better hitters and players like Keith Hernandez (.296) and Don Mattingly (.307) who are not in the Hall. He is in the top 20 for most strikeouts by a batter. Biggio played for 15 years alongside admitted andro user Jeff Bagwell.
Barry Bonds: At the age of 37, he hit 73 homers, one year after hitting 49. By this math, Babe Ruth and Roger Maris would have hit 85 home runs on steroids.
Roger Clemens: Looked like the Incredible Hulk after being traded from the Red Sox to the Blue Jays, He went from having a mid-life crisis to becoming Nolan Ryan and Christy Mathrewson. At the age of 43 playing for Houston, he posted the best E.R.A. of his career as a teammate of Bagwell and Biggio.
Carlos Delgado: A beast of a hitter who put up numbers like Willie Stargell in the middle of the steroid era. Never tied to steroids, his 477 homers and .546 slugging average are all hall worthy. His .280 average for a bulky power hitter is very good. He came up as a catcher but developed into a solid first baseman, turning the most doubles plays from the position four times and most putouts five times. He also led in errors three times. A consistent slugger whose power numbers didn't decline after steroid testing. Deserves serious consideration.
Randy Johnson: His 4,875 strikeouts are second to only Nolan Ryan and just one season away from having approached the previously untouchable mark of 5,000. Led the league in strikeouts 9 times, second to only Ryan. He boasts 4 ERA titles and led the league in fewest hits allowed per inning six times. In 2001 at the age of 38, while a teammate of Curt Schilling, he posted 372 strikeouts, the most of his career. If he was clean, he was one of the 10 greatest pitchers.
Jeff Kent: One of the least deserving players on the ballot. His .290 average and 377 homers are not enough to get him into the Hall when he led the league in errors at second base five times. His 560 doubles are very good but Bobby Abreu and Luis Gonzalez hit more.
Edgar Martinez: A designated hitter who never hit 30 homers until he was 37 and didn’t even break the 18 home run barrier until he was 32. His 2,242 hits and 309 home runs over 18 seasons is yawn-inspiring for a guy who didn't have to play a position. His .312 batting average is nice but there are a boat load of guys with the same or better average not in the Hall.
Pedro Martinez: He had one of the five greatest seven year pitching stretches in history. His 1997 to 2003 run in which he led the league in ERA five times with two sub-2 0 ERA's in the middle of the steroid era is matched in modern times only by Sandy Koufax since the live ball era. In 2000, he allowed the fewest walks and hits per inning by a starting pitcher EVER. Six times, he allowed the fewest combined walks and hits allowed per inning.
Don Mattingly: Best player in baseball between 1984 and 1987. A bad back led to his power disappearing while holding a career batting average of .307. One of the hardest hitters to strikeout in the live ball era. He struck out less often than Stan Musial and Honus Wagner. He deserves to be in the Hall over Joe Gordon and Phil Rizzuto, but his 2,153 hits and 222 homers means the veterans will have to get him there.
Fred McGriff: No cloud of steroids under this consistent hitter who belted an average of 35 home runs between 1988 and 1994 while looking like the Plastic Man compared to Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire's Gorilla Grodd frames. McGriff declined like a normal player as he got older though he had a brief resurgence between 1999 and 2002. His 493 home runs and .284 batting average will keep him in the conversation. He owns a World Series title and hit 10 home runs in the postseason. His 1,550 RBIs are better than Mickey Mantle. Certainly more deserving than Bagwell, who is outpolling him.
Gary Sheffield: Was connected to steroids in the Mitchell report. His 509 homers would have landed him in the Hall 20 years ago but not in this era. He was also a below average fielder and a disappointment in postseason play. His 2,689 hits are not much for 22 seasons.
John Smoltz: His 3,084 strikeouts despite pitching as a reliever for six seasons is impressive. His 3.33 ERA in the steroid era is akin to pitching below a 3.00 ERA in the 70's. While he didn't dominate in the regular season as much as his teammate Greg Maddux, Smoltz was ferocious in the postseason with a 15-4 record. He was unhittable in stretches including the 1991 and 1996 World Series,
Sammy Sosa: He hit more than 60 homes runs not just once — but three times. But there is only one reason he will not touch the Hall's doorsteps.
Mark McGwire: Hit 70 home runs and we now know how after his admissions: steroids.
Mike Mussina: Pitched in the steroid hitter's era while never a shroud of suspicion that he ever laid hands on the stuff. Similar in body-type to David Cone. Won the most games in the 1990's and struck out 200 batters four times with. His 2,813 strikeouts and 270 wins are Hall of Fame worthy. His numbers were always right behind Clemens, Kevin Brown, Curt Schilling and Pedro Martinez. At least two of those guys were on steroids and maybe three. And perhaps half of the hitters he was facing were also juiced up.
Mike Piazza: He admitted to taking Andro and put up otherworldly statistics while playing the most demanding everyday position. He made Johnny Bench look like a schoolchild. He was the greatest power hitting catcher but not the best pure hitting catcher and he was a bad throwing catcher. He called a good game but suspicions about he hit those towering opposite field homers will make him wait .
Tim Raines: All of the sudden, he became a cause celeb, getting more than 40 percent of the votes the last few years even though he was nearly identical to Kenny Lofton, who couldn't even get the five percent of votes needed to stay past the first ballot. Raines batted .294 lifetime compared to .299 for Lofton. His 808 stolen bases are just 56 more than Vince Coleman, who played 10 fewer seasons. At 5-foot-8, he walked a good amount but his on-base percentage is less than Dave Magadan and Rusty Greer.
Curt Schilling: It's amazing that this guy, who put up an identical career to kevin Brown, gets almost one-third of the vote while David Cone, who boasts similar numbers, never made it past the first ballot. Schilling is similar to Kevin Brown, who was identified as a steroids user, in that their strikeout totals both skyrocketed when they reached their 30's, which is highly unusual. After never striking out more than 182 batters in his first nine years, Schilling struck out 319 at the age of 31. The next year, he struck out 300. And then, the magic vanished. In 2000, he was traded to Arizona while striking out 168 batters. His ERA got worse four years in a row. But in 2001, at the age of 35, he was a madman, mowing down 293 batters and beating the Yankees in the World Series. For a complete list visit www.spartaindependent.com
Nathan Mayberg
Reporter for Straus News