Question for Hall of Fame voters

With Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro trapped in Hall limbo with Pete Rose, we are now facing the prospect that the greatest hitters of the last two decades are likely not to make the Hall.

Consider the man who announced his retirement today, Manny Ramirez. There is no doubt that Ramirez is one of the greatest hitters to ever step in a batter’s box — he hit for average, power and was a flat-out RBI machine for the bulk of his career.

The same can be said for Gary Sheffield and, of course, Barry Bonds, who faces all kinds of legal woes.

Here is a list of the Top 20 homerun hitters in baseball history:

1. Barry Bonds  762 L HR Log
2. Hank Aaron+  755 R HR Log
3. Babe Ruth+  714 L HR Log
4. Willie Mays+  660 R HR Log
5. Ken Griffey  630 L HR Log
6. Alex Rodriguez (35) 615 R HR Log
7. Sammy Sosa  609 R HR Log
8. Jim Thome (40) 589 L HR Log
9. Frank Robinson+  586 R HR Log
10. Mark McGwire  583 R HR Log
11. Harmon Killebrew+  573 R HR Log
12. Rafael Palmeiro  569 L HR Log
13. Reggie Jackson+  563 L HR Log
14. Manny Ramirez (39) 555 R HR Log
15. Mike Schmidt+  548 R HR Log
16. Mickey Mantle+  536 B HR Log
17. Jimmie Foxx+  534 R HR Log
18. Willie McCovey+  521 L HR Log
  Frank Thomas  521 R HR Log
  Ted Williams+  521 L HR Log

Seven of them have a steroid asterisk next to their name (or would have were it to exist). Add Sheffield to the list of plus-500 homer guys with an asterisk and then consider this: Only three power hitters of the last 20 years — Ken Griffey Jr., Jim Thome and Frank Thomas — are without asterisks and there are writers who question Thome and Thomas’ credentials. (This doesn’t take into account the pitchers, by the way.)

I am not advocating for voting all of these guys into the Hall, but we have to address this in some way. The reality is that the game was badly tainted by the accusations and its best players, for the most part, were all involved.

So, here is my question: Can we continue to ignore these hitters without ignoring an entire era?

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Author: hankkalet

Hank Kalet is a poet and freelance journalist. He is the economic needs reporter for NJ Spotlight, teaches journalism at Rutgers University and writing at Middlesex County College and Brookdale Community College. He writes a semi-monthly column for the Progressive Populist. He is a lifelong fan of the New York Mets and New York Knicks, drinks too much coffee and attends as many Bruce Springsteen concerts as his meager finances will allow. He lives in South Brunswick with his wife Annie.

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