Mark McGwire didn't get voted into the Hall of Fame. He finished with just 128 votes or 23.5%. No doubt the number one reason he didn't get in was his steroid use. In fact I'm sure it was the reason he didn't get in. A quick look at his stats shows (and comparing him to the two new inductees) he was one of the best.
AVG/OBP/SLG OPS OPS+ RC/27
McGwire .263/.394/.588 .982 163 8.16
Ripken .276/.340/.447 .787 112 5.38
Gwynn .338/.388/.459 .847 132 6.77
McGwire was far and away the best hitter of the three. Yeah, I know that Ripken was a shortstop and should be given some slack. But giving Ripken some slack brings him up to Gwynn but gets him nowhere close to McGwire. Gwynn was a rightfielder, a position where he won 5 gold glove awards but it is still a position that is mostly rated by the players' offense (unlike centerfielder). He still finishes short of McGwire.
So clearly it was his steroid use that caused his low vote count. Which I think needs to be pointed out was not illegal when he was playing. So the question now comes up are the baseball writers punishing McGwire for just one year and will let him in next year or is this something that is permanent.
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