Alex Rodriguez, do you vote him in the Hall of Fame?

[Kingdom]

I don't want to know if you think he will be voted in one ..thousand years from now, but rather, if you had a vote on the HoF Committee, would you give him your vote- regardless of what additional numbers he adds to his total.

I don't need to post stats, I'll just give a link if you have been in a closet for the last 15 years:
Alex Rodriguez Statistics and History - Baseball-Reference.com

Maybe it's worth noting, or not, but he'll more than likely end up with 3,000 hits and 300 steals in addition to the home runs.

[catman]

No. He's crossed the uncrossable line by using PEDs.

[browntown653]

I'm at the point where I don't think PEDs should affect Hall of Fame voting because of all the rampant usage. I understand arguments both ways, but I'd put him on and just make sure it makes note of the PEDs on his plaque.

[love_that_reefer]

I would vote him in because regardless of steroid usage, he was still one of the best players of his generation which was the steroid era. Same reason I would vote Clemens and Bonds in.

[BuckFoston]

Exactly what Reef said. Couldn't have said it any better myself. I understand what people are saying about the steroid usage and that side of the argument and do I agree with what he did? No, not at all but steroids or no steroids Bonds and A-rod still would have been great players. Would they have hit as many home runs as they have after using steroids.. we will never know. But I don't see how you can keep someone like A-rod and Bonds out of the HOF forever. That link KOZ posted is enough evidence for me.

[Kingdom]

I'm voting him in because, when he does retire, his career numbers are going to be that impressive. And he also has Gold Gloves to his name. Steroids or not, they didn't make him that inhuman or that consistent for such a long period of time and he was pretty damn good before he went to Texas.

[Saber]

If you take only his career as a shortstop, he's got HOF numbers.

[redsfan28]

I can't vote for him simply because he (in his own way) defiled the game of baseball by his steroid use, like McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds.

[HollywoodLeo]

the way I look at it he was almost forced to take them just to keep up with the competition.

The system's lack of enforcement was the problem.

With or without them he's a hall of famer.

of course, if you vote A-Rod in you have to vote McGwire, Bonds, Clemens etc in

[Porter]

ARod went for 40-40 pre-steroids and hit 54 HRs after his PED fiasco. Take out Texas and he still has a HOF Career.

[love_that_reefer]

I seriously doubt it stopped in Texas

[Porter]

We can't prove it happened either, Reef.

To be fair.

[love_that_reefer]

No we can't but have no reason to believe him

[Tobywan]

I also understand the hullabaloo over the steroid issue, but I find the idea that it is “cheating” to be confusing. I can buy the idea that it makes someone stronger (for awhile) but I fail to understand just how it can make you actually put the bat on the ball better and more consistently or for pitchers how it can make you locate the strike zone or give you command , make you throw harder maybe.(for awhile)

Supposedly steroid use actually breaks down the body so just how long can one use before everything goes to hell?? A year, 2, 5,10? If someone was actually benefiting from the use so much more than a “normal” player would he really be able to use it long enough before his body turns to mush to make a career from it’s usage? Wouldn’t there actually have to be some kind of skill and talent there to begin with, supposedly both Giambi brothers used, so why would it make one a monster and one still pretty much mediocre. I mean if it was such a “magic” substance wouldn’t it make EVERYBODY outstanding?

Sooooo, I really don’t buy the idea that it makes you a better player.

I do think the sports writers will hold it against Alex and hold him up with others as some example about the “integrity” of the game, in my view if you want to bring “integrity” into it, his chasing strippers all over the continent and being Madonna’s boy toy on a leash is a bigger sign of a lack of “integrity”. Personally, I think he should be strung up on a pole by his testicles right next to Tiger simply for being the lowest form of the male gender but that’s beside the point and nothing to do with baseball and stats.

There are already womanizers, drug addicts, racists and even possibly a murderer in the HOF, they are there because between the lines they were some of the best that ever stepped on the field.

If they can ever prove that it was steroids that got him to the numbers he has and the level he has performed “on the field” for the past 14 years then fine, keep him out.

[HollywoodLeo]

It doesn't help you put the bat on the ball but it helps you hit it further when you do put the bat on the ball.

players wouldn't risk their careers and public image if it didn't give them an advantage.