Mark McGwire and the Baseball Hall of Fame

Does the Former Slugger Deserved to Be Enshrined?

The 2007 nominees for the Baseball Hall of Fame were released on November 27, 2006 and no name caused as big a stir as Mark McGwire. McGwire is remembered for his assault on Roger Maris' record 61 home runs in 1998. He and Sammy Sosa both surpassed the mark, but the taint of potential performance enhancing drugs started to cloud the picture on McGwire's Hall of Fame candidacy shortly thereafter. While not illegal under baseball's rules at the time, a bottle of the protein based Andro was found in McGwire's locker. McGwire admitted to using the substance, but said it was not against baseball's rules at the time and thus not cheating.

The bigger bombshell came in Jose Canseco's book "Juiced" in which Canseco names McGwire among others as someone he witnessed using steroid during their tenure together with the Oakland Athletics. McGwire's credibility was again called into question. Canseco's book fueled a Congressional hearing that McGwire appeared before in March of 2005. McGwire made the statement that he wasn't there "to talk about the past" which many people interpreted as an admission of guilt. McGwire dodged the congressional questions and never really provided any concrete answers about what he did during his playing days or what he witnessed others doing in the locker room. McGwire's subsequent silence and the suspension of Rafael Palmeiro for a banned substance gives credence to Canseco's allegations that McGwire and others used performance enhancing substances during their major league careers.