I don’t think the fact that he cheated is as clear as you seem to believe. Let’s say that you sign a contract with a company (not at will employment) that requires you to dress professionally. Every day you and your colleagues come to work in jeans. Your boss and the higher ups are clearly aware. Then one day, 5 years later, they decide to fire you for dressing casual. You would sue for wrongful termination and you would win.
The why is important, because this isn’t remotely black and white. It is essential for understanding the mindframe of players, and, most importantly, in discouraging future players from taking steroids. Talking about the limits of steroids is much better than treating steroids as a magic pill.
One thing I find appalling about McGwire’s apology is that he admitted to wrongdoing, noted how deeply ashamed he was of his actions, etc. but is no way prepared or willing to accept any material punishment for the things he did, including dissembling for years and years on the subject of his steroid use.
I’m cool with McGwire’s new position if only it included an explicit statement to the effect of “And if this horrible mistake that I made means that I’ll never get into the HoF, or that I’ll never, never be hired in MLB again in any capacity, or that I’ve lost my credibility forever, well, then that’s the price I’m prepared to pay.”
But as it stands it seems he’s saying “Yes I did a terrible thing, but why can’t you forget about it already and treat me as if I were an honest, respectable, admirable sportsman again?”
McGwire also admits to HGH. There is no doubt he became bigger and stronger through the use of drugs. It also made him a stronger hitter. He would not have hit 70 without the drugs. We will never know what level he would have reached.
Since Sosa has never been caught, and never admitted a drug boost, how could we deny him a trip to the H.O.F.? It is pretty damn obvious that he and a lot of other players did. Now he does not understand English well enough to discuss it, and HGH and steroids are not in his vocabulary. It would be wrong to let cheaters who did not get caught in, while denying cheaters that did get caught or admitted it. We have never found a way to deal with that thorny problem except by not voting for them. Without a set policy, it will just be ugly for them to fall short every year. Then what about Bonds? Who could deny him? What about Arod? There is much ugliness in the future . Yet no one in baseball wants to set a policy. They would wind up in court for a due process violation.
McGwire admitted to using illegal drugs. He may not have cheated according to the letter of MLB’s rules, but that’s irrelevant. He committed a crime in order to gain a competitive advantage.
I bet MLB doesn’t specifically ban sneaking into an opposing pitcher’s house and dosing his breakfast with sedatives, either, but I bet nobody would say, “it’s not cheating because it’s not in the rules!”
The illegal part is a red herring. Do you care if a player used cocaine? Beat his wife? It is the performance enhancing part that people care about not that it is illegal. If “steroids” were legal would you be okay with Mcgwire taking them? Some were. Some still are. HGH is legal with a prescription. If he had a valid prescription would you be okay with his use?
It was against MLB rules. The problem is that the league was not enforcing its own rules, and that’s what makes baseball ultimately culpable in this mess as far as I’m concerned. Things were going well, so from the top down, the steroids situation was ignored for a long time. So I think there’s no sensible way to strip the steroid-affected stats from the record books, as satisfying as that would be. It would also be unfair and nonsensical to get rid of only the cheaters we know about from the '90s and 2000s and to ignore the fact that there was lots of other cheating in prior eras. It’s not like the steroid guys invented cheating.
The question that remains unanswered, is what happens to the rest of the alleged and assumed users when HOF time comes. McGwire is being kept from the hall. He has the numbers. He is not close to admission. When Bonds comes up, there will be a huge outcry if he does not get in. Arod too. But the consistency demands that we keep them out too. It is a lot of ugly in the future.
I think it could open the door for some of the perennially snubbed and overlooked candidates. The ones who didn’t use are going to start looking better and better by comparison.