{"id":9052,"date":"2009-05-15T08:24:44","date_gmt":"2009-05-15T13:24:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.playingfieldpromotions.com\/blog\/?p=87"},"modified":"2009-05-15T08:24:44","modified_gmt":"2009-05-15T13:24:44","slug":"will-steriod-scandal-affect-baseball-hall-of-fame-chances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/will-steriod-scandal-affect-baseball-hall-of-fame-chances","title":{"rendered":"Will Steriod Scandal Affect Baseball Hall of Fame Chances?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Manny Ramirez\u2019s recent failed drug test was just another black-eye for baseball, a sport that can\u2019t seem to distance itself from the performance-enhancing drug scandal.<\/p>\n

The interesting thing about Manny Ramirez is that he has a reputation for being among the hardest workers in baseball. Teammates tell stories about how Manny is among the first in the weight room. If he\u2019s indeed the greatest right-handed hitter of our generation, why did Manny need to take a banned substance? I\u2019m told the substance he took helps players recover faster, which no doubt is a big advantage to players in the their mid to late 30\u2019s. But is it worth losing more than $7 million in salary and having your legacy tarnished forever?<\/p>\n

One of the main attributes that makes baseball so special is its ties to the past. In no other sport do people compare the present and past like they do with baseball. So how can this era\u00a0 of the power hitter and unprecedented home runs ever be compared to the past? It can\u2019t. It will be interesting to see how people look at this era 50 years from now. I have a feeling they won\u2019t look at it very favorably.<\/p>\n

My guess is that many of this era\u2019s \u201cgreats\u201d like Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Manny Ramirez and Roger Clemens won\u2019t get elected to the Hall of Fame, at least not on the first ballot and likely not for a number of years after if at all. If you had an isolated incident with one or two players, that would be one thing. But when you have many of the elite players either testing positive or being linked to performance enhancing drugs, there\u2019s no way to look past it. Also, because the most hallowed record in sports \u2013 the all-time home run record \u2013 has fallen to a person suspected of taking a banned substance (Barry Bonds) and may very well fall to another person who\u2019s already admitted taking steroids (A-Rod), many baseball fans believe the game has been tarnished forever.<\/p>\n

Can you really mention Hank Aaron<\/a> and Barry Bonds in the same sentence? I know it doesn\u2019t sound right to me. I expect that history will view this era almost as a separate part of baseball history. There\u2019s just no way you can compare the great players of today with those of the past. It\u2019s not an even playing field.<\/p>\n

I used to love to discuss the most intimidating pitchers of all-time \u2013 Roger Clemens, Nolan Ryan<\/a>, Bob Gibson<\/a> and Don Drysdale among them.\u00a0 I was a huge fan of Clemens. He was one of the few baseball players I would pay to watch. I loved his intensity, fiery demeanor and how he instilled fear in batters. But ever since his steroids controversy, he no longer belongs in the same discussion.<\/p>\n

I know many people talk about putting an asterisk next to the records that have been broken during this era. That\u2019s not going to happen. But by denying those who cheated access to the hallowed grounds of Coopertown, that will in some small way show even more respect to the greats\u00a0 of the past who played the game the right way.<\/p>\n

Jonathan Wexler is the booking agent<\/a> for PFP Sports and Celebrity Talent Agency<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Manny Ramirez\u2019s recent failed drug test was just another black-eye for baseball, a sport that can\u2019t seem to distance itself from the performance-enhancing drug scandal. The interesting thing about Manny Ramirez is that he has a reputation for being among the hardest workers in baseball. Teammates tell stories about how Manny is among the first […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[847,848,849,850],"class_list":["post-9052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-baseball-news","tag-alex-rodriguez-steroids","tag-barry-bonds-steroids","tag-manny-ramirez-steroids","tag-steroid-scandal"],"yoast_head":"\nWill Steriod Scandal Affect Baseball Hall of Fame Chances? -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Manny Ramirez\u2019s recent failed drug test was just another black-eye for baseball, a sport that can\u2019t seem to distance itself from the performance-enhancing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsspeakers360.com\/blog\/will-steriod-scandal-affect-baseball-hall-of-fame-chances\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Will Steriod Scandal Affect Baseball Hall of Fame Chances? 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