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Bryant Gumbel, in a spot for Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel, made the logical case that if Tony La Russa is getting into Cooperstown, it is only fair that Mark McGuire gets inducted as well.
As Bryant notes, about 43% of La Russa’s 2,728 wins came when La Russa was managing Mark McGwire, a sports figure who would become the face of steroids in baseball (One could also argue it’s Barry Bonds. Coincidentally, today is also Barry Bonds’ 50th birthday). Yet, while Cooperstown has repeatedly shut McGwire out of the Hall for supposedly tainted stats and records, they are about to honor La Russa, a man who benefited immensely from McGwire’s offensive output on the Cardinals.
And while many could argue that it’s not La Russa’s fault that McGwire took steroids, it is also not like La Russa couldn’t have noticed how McGwire seemingly bulked up over night and suddenly started playing some of the best ball of his life ten years into his major league career.
Of course, Bryant is really just pointing out how silly the Hall is being with regards to the Steroid Era. If baseball is serious about its sanctimonious attitude towards the era of burgeoning arms and all it represented, then it may as well view the whole time period as tainted and not let anyone into the Hall of Fame. If they aren’t willing to do that, then the Hall will look hypocritical every time someone from the Steroid Era gets inducted into the Hall of Fame.
