Who says gays can’t be sporty? This post was submitted by Arthur D. Hartnett.

In light of Mark McGwire’s “confession” last Monday about his steroid use, there seems to be a rush by baseball pundits to say that now Mac is worthy of inclusion into Cooperstown and the Hall of Fame.

Cheers to those of you slow enough to the party to be surprised by Mac’s admission, first of all. Second of all, Mark McGwire, at NO point in his career, was ever a Hall of Famer. There is not a statistical or practical argument to support the idea. There is not. No, no, and no again. We will begin today, boys and girls (side note: I am very grateful to those of you who read this column, whether or not you love me, hate me or have no idea what I’m writing about most of the time), with the easiest reason Mark McGwire has no place at all in Cooperstown. He cheated. Everyone (with more than 3 functional brain cells) knew it and he has now admitted it. He said that he was using steroids since the early 1990s. That’s at least seven years of cheating. One year is too much. Admitted and caught cheaters are barred from the Hall of Fame. The 1919 White Sox, Pete Rose, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco (who continues to look like the only guy on the planet telling the truth, by the way) and Roger Clemens are not, and will not be, put into Cooperstown BECAUSE. THEY. CHEATED. Period.

Now, there’s a second reason I am so aggravated with the crap coverage that mostly ESPN has been giving to this. Mark McGwire does not have the statistical numbers to justify a plaque in the hall. He doesn’t. Outside of raw power numbers (only his home run total), Mark McGwire was at no point during his career one of the best players in baseball. One of the most well known? One of the highest selling jerseys? Yes. But not one of the best players in the game. He was a terrible defensive player. He swung at everything, and either hit it out of the yard (but rarely with runners on base, as reflected by his low RBI, totals, 1414, for a guy with 583 home runs) or didn’t hit anything (as shown by his propensity to strike out). He only hit .300 twice when given more that 300 plate appearances.

For his career: Mark McGwire hit .263, with more strikeouts (1596) than walks (1317). Though the career OBP of .394 is really good, it is not enough to offset the deficiencies of his other numbers. According to the 10 most statistically similar batters to McGwire of all time, only two of them are in the Hall of Fame currently (Harmon Killabrew and Willie McCovy), and the only one other on the list will/should be (Jim Thome). The two most statistically similar batters of all time to Big Mac? Jose Canseco and Jason Giambi: two other steroid monsters. No, no, no, no, no way, no how does he belong in the only sports Hall of Fame that actually matters.

McGwire lied to baseball fans starting in 1989 when he started using steroids. He obfuscated in front of Congress enough to ensure he wouldn’t be convicted of perjury, but lied to them and continues to lie to the public today, even after his confession. He can’t seriously believe that he would have hit 583 home runs without the ‘roids. Everyone knew he was on drugs during the Great Chase of ’98, but very few actually wanted to say anything. Now, after finally admitting to being a liar and a cheater, people are rushing to canonize a man who doesn’t have the stats anyway? Why?!

Though I am a proud homo, I am a prouder fan of baseball (meaning that I’ll admit to being a baseball die-hard before being gay). My baseball sensibilities are, admittedly, easily offended. But this whole McGwire issue is just plain common sense. To borrow a cliche, hall no.

---

First time here? See what we're all about... Get involved... Send us a tip!...

---