NEW YORK – Nobody was happier about the Hall of Fame shutout than the Hall of Famers themselves.
Goose Gossage, Al Kaline, Dennis Eckersley and others are in no rush to open the door to Cooperstown for anyone linked to steroids.
Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa: Keep ‘em all out of our club.
“If they let these guys in ever – at any point – it’s a big black eye for the Hall and for baseball,” Gossage said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. “It’s like telling our kids you can cheat, you can do whatever you want, and it’s not going to matter.”
For only the second time in 42 years, baseball writers failed to elect anyone to the Hall of Fame on Wednesday, sending a firm signal that stars of the Steroids Era will be held to a different standard.
All the awards and accomplishments collected over storied careers by Bonds, Clemens and Sosa – all eligible for the first time – could not offset suspicions those exploits were artificially boosted by performance-enhancing drugs.
“I’m kind of glad that nobody got in this year,” Kaline said. “I feel honored to be in the Hall of Fame. And I would’ve felt a little uneasy sitting up there on the stage, listening to some of these new guys talk about how great they were.”
Gossage went even further.
“I think the steroids guys that are under suspicion got too many votes,” he said.![]()
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