Baseball's Hall Monitor

I was 10 years old when I started following sports, baseball in particular. It was the summer of 1987. I still remember trading the 1987 Topps baseball cards, the ones with the wooden border, with my friends. The thought of getting my hands on a Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco, or Barry Bonds was unbelievable. These players were Gods. Rising stars who were heroes to millions of kids. Sadly, when my son is 10 years old, these same players will not be looked upon in the same manner that my generation looked upon them. Was what they did wrong? Yes. Did they let millions of fans down by their actions? Yes. Do they deserve to be in the Hall of Fame? YES. Clemens, Bonds, etc. were no saints, that's for sure. But instead of comparing them to players from the past, at least their records anyways, compare them to the players they played against. Is it fair to compare Barry Bonds records to Babe Ruth's? No. Yes, Bonds did steroids. I think we can all figure that one out. But Barry also had more specialized pitchers to face, smaller ballparks, he played against Black, Hispanic, and Japanese players, which Ruth did not. There are too many variables to compare one to the other. Same with all of these current players who are suspected of PED's. Not all of their numbers are because of PED's. Compare Bonds, Clemens, ARod, etc. to the players they played against. Were they the best of THEIR generation? Then they deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. This might be a simplistic view, but if a batter is on 'roids and he is facing a pitcher who is on 'roids, then it seems like an even playing field to me. Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Alex Rodriguez, and Rafael Palmeiro were all the best players of their generation. All deserve to be in the HOF. Plus, let's be honest, if baseball wants this "scandal" to go away, they need these players in the Hall. There's more talk of players who are NOT in the HOF than there are of who is. Shoeless Joe Jackson is a HOF-caliber player. If he had been elected, no one would remember the Black Sox scandal of 1919 and no movie would have ever been made. Same with Pete Rose's gambling. If this current group of players are never elected, this "Steroids Era" will never go away. Except for ARod, Palmeiro and Manny Ramirez, who failed tests, all that is keeping these players out are allegations. The ones that did fail tests, just put that on their plaques in the Hall.