The Baseball Hall of Fame welcomed four new members Tuesday.
There were some no-brainers. Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson pass every eye test -- and glowingly pass my highest version of the HoF litmus test of "If you ask should they be in the Hall and if you have to think about it for more than three seconds, the answer is always no."
Johnson and Martinez were dunks. Each got more than 90-plus percent, with Johnson getting more than 97 percent since the question is not "Is he a Hall of Famer?" as much as it's "Is he the greatest left-hander of all-time?"
Martinez' career numbers are great -- he was 219-100 with a 2.93 ERA, more than 3,100 strikeouts, three Cy Youngs, you get the idea -- but Johnson's are elite. Like otherworldly elite. Johnson's stats are crazy -- 303-166 with a 3.29 ERA, 4,875 strikeouts, an all-time best 10.6 Ks per nine innings, five Cy Youngs, including four in a row from 1999 to 2002. By almost all accounts, dude is on the short list of the greatest resumes of all-time.
The rest of the ballot was crazy crowded, considering Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and the rest of the accused/known steroid-era super-duper stars are hanging in voter purgatory.
By almost all accounts, Bonds and Clemens have little chance to get into the Hall despite being on the Rushmore of all-time position players and pitchers, respectively.
It's become irresponsible and haphazard. And that Bonds and Clemens do not have the same number of votes -- because the only way not to vote for them is to play the steroid card, plain and simple -- screams the erratic nature of the current system.
Gang, it's time to drop the facade and voters need to stop this third-party, arbitrary "He did, He didn't" stance that has watered down the entire process to the point of being overshadowed by a three-team NBA trade and second-day stories about an ESPN celebrity dying.
If something does not change in the process soon, the biggest victim of the steroid era will be the shell that used to be the most revered Hall of Fame in all of sports.
It's time for baseball to reclaim the process. It's time to tell voters that the only thing they can vote on is the player. Not their suspicions or the allegations or the rumors.
FILE - From left are Arizona Diamondbacks' Randy Johnson in 2008, Boston Red Sox' Pedro Martinez in 2003 and Atlanta Braves' John Smoltz in 2008. Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez and John Smoltz are the leading newcomers on baseball's Hall of Fame ballot when voting is announced Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2014. (AP Photo/File) If a player admitted to taking steroids or failed a drug test after PEDs were banned, then take said player off the ballot.
And, under that criteria, any writer who does not vote for Clemens or Bonds -- or Mike Piazza or fill in the blank with player X who may or may not have taken PEDs but is covered with the blanket of guilt because of when his baseball card came out -- gets his ballot pulled.
If you don't want to vote for Jeff Bagwell or Don Mattingly beause they had great careers but not Hall of Fame careers, fine. But Bonds and Clemens are in the team picture of the best ever. Period.
But if we're going to be arbitrary and contrarian in our views and throw the shade of guilt at everyone who may or may not have taken steroids because of the "warning signs" like acne or muscle and ligament injuries or extended and/or abnormal success in the latter years, well, how can we be sure that any or all of the candidates cheated?
Johnson's skin was a mess, and that four consecutive Cy Young streak started when he was 35 and lasted until he was 38. Dude led the NL in starts (35) and strikeouts (290) when he was 40. FORTY.
So why the dichotomous brush? Why is Piazza, the greatest offensive catcher ever, tainted but Johnson praised? Why did Craig Biggio and his 3,060 hits have to wait three years? Why did Gary Sheffield -- one of only 13 major leaguers ever with more than 500 homers and 2,600 hits -- get all of 11.7 percent of the vote?
So Johnson was clean and Piazza wasn't. Hall of Fame? More like Hall of Shame Blame.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com.