Should Sammy Sosa ever be allowed in the baseball hall of fame since Pete Rose was not.?
543999
You're comparing apples to oranges. Pete Rose broke the cardinal rule of baseball - Thou Shall Not Bet on Baseball - and was banned for life. His name isn't even on the ballot. He should NEVER be elected into the HOF. As for Sammy and the rest of the steroid crowd, MLB was complicit in this scandal by turning a blind eye to it's use until the public/press rightfully brought it to the forefront. It's illegal now and anyone who gets caught now should never get into the HOF (i.e. Rafeal Palmerio.) Even though we all suspect Sammy used, he was never caught. Innocent until proven guilty.\n\nThat said, based on numbers alone, Sammy should and will get in. It's only a matter of when he'll get in. I won't be surprised if the writers refuse to elect him and the Veteran's committee puts him in later.\n\nAnd the corked bat is a non-issue. Gaylord Perry is in the Hall and that guy had vaseline dripping from his cap.
323543
hell yeah he had hall of fame career b4 the roids issues.. Just look at all the numbers and gold gloves he putting when he was with Pirates.. I think he could of retired with them and still would of been considered for the hall of fame.. The numbers he has put up since joining the Giants are ridiculous!!!!! the guy always had pop in the bat and if he took the roids it only made him stronger and thats it.. his hand eye cordnation is out of this world and before the bad knees his defense was top of the line
974128
Pat Tillman is and should be considered one of our "true" heros in this day and age. If the Hall of Fame had a better hero, I cannot think of any.
635373
he was only offered a minor league $300,000 contract with invitation to spring training by the Nationals. Sammy Sosa has too much pride to take that deal so he decided to retire instead of being embarrassed. He moved back to the Dominican Republic where he is still loved.
988553
No he broke a rule that is written in every clubhouse. Everyone KNOWS that is the rule. It is very clear. Should they put a plaque in pointing out he is the all-time hits leader? Sure they should do that for all the statistics. Just change the name if someone manages to top him.
434816
Pete Rose, with 4256 hits.\n\nand if we are lucky, never to be in the hall of fame
222782
People who don't deserve to be in the Hall of Fame have continually been admitted since its inception. Rogers Hornsby, for Christ's sake, didn't get in on the first ballot. For the most part, the Baseball Writers Association of America has done a great job. The Veterans Committee, on the other hand, has reeked of favoritism. \n\nWhen Frankie Frisch, the all-star second baseman from the 20's was on the Vet committee in the early 70's, he just about admitted every Cardinals teammate he had. Hell we just admitted Bill Mazeroski to the Hall for hitting one memorable home run. We should have remembered that he hit .250 for his career despite having a great glove.\n\nAnyway, to answer your question, I would definitely admit Pete Rose. If we have a biggot in the Hall (Ty Cobb) and a womanizing alcoholic who probably bet on baseball as well (Babe Ruth), then I see no reason why we shouldn't admit Rose. We make such a fuss about Bonds taking an illegal substance, but the Babe was a lush when there was a constitutional amendment against alcohol! \n\nI'd also admit Shoeless Joe Jackson, Ron Santo, Tommy John, and Bert Blyleven. Ron Santo is better than half the 3rd basemen in the Hall already, Shoeless Joe hit over .350 for his career, and Tommy and Bert had better win percentages than Nolan Ryan and almost as many wins. Shoeless Joe may have taken money to throw the 1919 World Series, but the numbers show that he played quite well. Tim Raines was a fabulous player with a high on-base percentage and lots of stolen bases. He was the epitome of a lead-off man, but he had the misfortune of playing his career in the shadow of Rickey Henderson.
956762
Pete Rose is a self serving, egotistical, lying priiick!!  Plain and simple!   He should be banned from baseball for life. . .as should all cheaters!!!   He is also a complete DORK!
1114116
Yeah, probably, at least according to his numbers posted in the steroid/HGH era (ca. 1986 - present).  But then again, considering all that has been discovered over the past two seaons, I have the strong right to wonder if he were/is probably on some illegal performance enhancer himself.  So I would be hesitant to put his name on the top of the list.  In fact, I don't think any player of this same era should have any record in the record books, considering that there is just way too much of a cloud of doubt surrounding just about every single baseball star who has played during this period.  \n\nPersonally, I find it kind of strange that Clemens seemed to be on the decline of his career in the early-to-mid 90s only to re-surface as an amazingly dominant pitcher again a few years later with Toronto.  I mean, the Red Sox must have known that he was on his way out -- sure, teams make mistakes all the time (and the 1990s Red Sox weren't exactly the smartest team around), but not to the point where an organization would have been so entirely, utterly wrong about the future of a franchise player.  It's all just too fishy.  So, that said, I don't think we can ever really judge the extent of Clemens' "greatness".  Which, by the way, is the same reason why I'm not sure how easy it is to gauge any player's "greatness", because many "great" players have either found ways around the rules (corked bats, spit-ball pitchers, etc.) or have just benefitted from favorable conditions unavailable to players of other generations (such as pitchers during the dead-ball era, or sluggers during the Coors Field/Jose Canseco "juiced" era).
882212
Yes he would be much better than a lot of players already in, not that is a good argument, buy Bill James' book" What is Wrong with the Hall of Fame" and that gives very good arguments for and against a lot of players Oliva included. Oliva won 3 batting titles including one in his rookie year he was the best player on some very good Twins teams better than Killebrew and Carew he was what they now call a 5 tool player run, hit, hit for power, play defense, and throw. He was arguably the best player in the AL from 1964-1971 well this is just my opinion and I am a biased Twin fan but like I said he would probably be better than at least 20 players already in, so he would not be diluting the HOF.
845174
Rose didnt' cheat so he's out of the race. Rogers  who cares? Half the pitchers in base baseball are doctoring the ball. Every year a few get caught. Some like Perry made a career out of it. \n\nBonds, Sosa, McGwire, Canseco, Palmiero, Caminitti. Sheffied, McGriff, Giambi are just a few of those busted cold with steriods. \nWith McGwire I think it actually hurt his stats. McGwire and Canseco were both TOO strong. They lost huge parts of thier careers to injuries I think were steroid related. If you watch McGwire's swing nobody ever designed a more perfect HR swing. It was perfect. Most of McGwire's blasts were overkill. If he were not on Roids I think McGwire would have hit more HRs. It's meaningless now since he used them and it taints his stats. \n\nBonds would have been in the hall. I think Sosa will help keep Bonds and McGwire out. After seeing declines in power and general hitting and basically facing the end of his career suddenly Bonds beats his best HR total ever in a year most thought would be his last??? Then the next year hits 70+ HRs. His stats alone bust him and show exactly why Steroids are banned. \n\nOn a side not. People Bonds ADMITED using steroids. He said it was by accident but his steroid use is proven. Whether he did it intentionally or not the fact is he was roided out when he set that record. \n\nThen you have Sosa. Not only did he use steroids. He was twice caught with corked bats. Not once, but twice in MLB games. He was also caught using one in a pre-season game if I remember correctly. So I'd have to go with Sosa. He's a known Steroid user, busted with corked bats and suspected of HG usage. What DIDN"T he do to enhance his own personal stats? He sure didn't do it for the team. \n\nSo Sosa hands down is the biggest cheater the game has seen in years. Not since Ty Cobb was there a player that broke more rules. Unlike Ty Cobb Sosa was motivated purely for personal stats. Cobb wanted to win. He also enjoyed his personal stats but Cobb did most of his cheating to help his team.
1103339
Yes he should because he played the game. He was wrong not to turn the others in BUT that shouldn't keep him out of the Hall. He should have been kept out of the game, forced to retire. The ones who were cheating should have been kept out of the Hall. Bonds isn't IN THE HALL for the record. Neither is Big Mac, who proably won't get in. I'm sure he is pissed that Bonds hasn't retired because Bonds is a reminder of that era and it will make the voters vote against him as a punishment to what he likely did. Until they are in you can't compare the two situations.
230499
First of all I do not support steroid use and personally yes I do believe Barry Bonds knowingly took steroids.  However, just because he juiced up did not mean he did not have the ability to hit these homeruns, just because he "juiced" up did not make him able to see the ball better etc.  He has to have natural ability and has to be a great athlete to accomplish what he has.  Yes the steroids made him stronger but he still had to have the abilty to make contact with the ball and steroids did not cause that to happen.  So no I do not think they should take his record away, just like I do not believe it is right for Pete Rose to be banned from the "Hall of Fame".  Yes it says in the rules it is illegal to bet on baseball games as a player or manager but NOWHERE does it say if caught you will be banned from being in the Hall.  Which is something he earned as a player before he was ever caught betting on baseball
1146761
No.  He's a very, very good player.  But very, very good players don't go to the hall of fame.  Special ones do.  He's not that special.  He had 46 HR's last year - but in today's game, that's nothing special.
813257
Bernie is a Yankee!!   Mickey Mantle, Don Mattingly, Whitey Ford, Joe DiMaggio, were Yankees and only Yankees.  Bernie is on a very special list of players to wear only Yankees pin strips.  Even Yogi Berra can't say that as he played briefly with the Mets before retiring.  If the Yankees offer him a contract, good, if not retire.  My only concern would be that in my humble opinion Bernie would need 300 career home runs and 2500 career hits to give him a real shot at the Hall of Fame.  Right now he is just short on both counts.  With 4 world series rings and 6 AL pennants and a batting title he still might make it.
504928
lets see . He is a cheater and a liar . I feel that it does not matter what you did before you cheated .once you have been caught  you should have to step up and be a man ,and take your punishment . the steroids years have hurt baseball how are fans going to be able to trust the players  anymore. I know that no one is perfect but the real reason  behind all of this is greed and jealousy. bonds could not stand by and let sosa and mark get all the attention, they were cheating and people loved them and he thought that if they can do it so can he. well guess what now they are all in the dog house .there is NO WAY that any of them make the HALL of FAME . so let bonds break the record it will alway be tanted and it will be all he has from baseball. long live the memory of  and hank aaron  and roger's 61
931549
Yes, he should go for the following reasons:\n1. He has the stats to be an automatic hall of famer.\n2. What steroid did he take??  He took Creatine, which is a body building enhancer but is not a steroid.  \n3. Even if Sosa and McGuire were jacked up on every steroid known to man, there was no rule against it in baseball until after their record-breaking chase.\n4. People say McGuire and Sosa carried baseball in the 1996-1998 seasons.  Although I agree with ESPN announcer Mike Greenberg that if they did not do it, someone else would have stepped up and carried baseball...I do believe that they were the best ambassadors for baseball at that time.  Can you picture Barry Bonds and Manny Ramirez having the same good-guy media image for the game of baseball as those two had?\n5. It's not like McGuire came out of nowhere and started hitting monster number of homreuns.  10 out of 11 seasons where McGuire played 100 games or more, he hit over 30 homers.\n\nAs you can tell, I am a very strong supporter of McGuire going into the hall of fame.  HOWEVER, I don't think he is a first ballot hall of famer, just because of the legends he is facing on the ballot this year.  Ripken and Gwynn are average everyday guys who went to work everyday and worked hard at perfecting their craft.  They became legends while they were playing, not for monster homerun numbers, or huge strikeout numbers,  but for doing the simple things in the game to perfection and showing every   Tom, Dick and Harry out there that if you work hard at what you believe in, you too can acheive greatness.  They were ambassafors to the game every day of their lives.  I am hoping the Hall of Fame voters are smart enough to vote McGuire in on the second ballot.