Is it Time to Build an Alternative Baseball Cheaters Hall of Fame?

Hey, did you hear the big news? Mark McGwire failed to get into the Baseball Hall of Fame on the first ballot. Loud outcries were heard across the country; so were cheers. Despite the fact Mark McGwire briefly held the record for most home runs in a single season and despite the fact that he hit almost 600 career dingers-as sure a path to entry into the Baseball Hall of Fame as there is, typically-the baseball writers of America didn't seen fit to include Mark McGwire among that select few who make it on the first ballot. Why?

Two words and an ampersand: Steroids & lying. Mark McGwire has much in common with Barry Bonds and I'm not talking about single season home run records. I'm talking about two rookies who were almost ridiculously skinny turning into two veterans who look like Popeye. If there is any doubt remaining in anyone's mind that Mark McGwire MAY have taken steroids to juice his power numbers, I really cannot suggest vociferously enough that you look at McGwire's rookie card and then look at his card from his record breaking season. A physical transformation like that 300 years ago would have gotten McGwire stoned to death as witch in Salem, Mass. It just ain't normal. Like Barry Bonds, there is simply no way Mark McGwire could have changed his physical appearance merely through strength training. I guess. I mean, hey, I'm not physical fitness expert. But this is what my physical fitness expert acquaintances tell me.

The argument, of course, is that since Barry Bonds and who knows how many others are doing exactly the same thing, why not let Mark McGwire into the Hall of Fame? It's a level playing field; McGwire MAY have taken advantage of steroids, but so MAY have Bonds and everyone else. So it's not like Mark McGwire really had any advantage over anyone else, right?

Well.........