Hardly. I grew up about a half hour from Cooperstown (and on a side note, I'm getting married there) and the HOF is probably the coolest museum I've ever been to, including the Smithsonian, British Museum, and MOMA. But as much as I love that the HOF is a piece of the past, their voting process and moralizing over HOF qualifications has lost all meaning, starting with the retirement of the steroid era players and reaching a zenith this year. The HOF has, unfortunately, become more about the vote than the players itself, which is a shame, because regardless of the circumstances of a player's career, breaking the rules shouldn't keep someone out of the HOF just because Peter Gammons and the rest of the BBWA is sanctimonious enough to have us believe that they can pass judgment over the entirety of Major League Baseball.

The voting process for the HOF is bullshit and baseball writers are morons.

Some of the writers are idiots, such as Dan LeWhateverhisnameis. I believe the exact opposite about the Hall of Fame, though I agree that there are issues. It's just coming time that I know the players being inducted, more than just having read about them. I've watched them, I've seen them. I have Greg Maddux's autograph, and I didn't buy it. I've come to enjoy seeing where I line up with the voters.

The game is evolving and the Hall of Fame is eventually going to evolve too - steroid era players will start getting in and hopefully they'll be kind enough to give them an asterisk on their bust.

The fact that Rafael Palmeiro is no longer eligible to be voted in is nonsense, just like Maddux (and Ruth, Gehrig, and any other big name you can think of) weren't unanimous. And yeah, its a lot different now that you and I have a "stake" in the action. Some of my earliest baseball memories come from the '96 World Series against the Braves and watching the likes of O'Neill and Jeter go up against Maddux and Glavine. Maddux shut the Yankees the fuck down. I think a lot of a player's accomplishments need to be taken in context of their era - Ty Cobb was a racist asshole, but so was most of the league, he just happened to be the worst. Gaylord Perry doctored the ball, but so did most pitchers from his era, he just happened to get caught. Guys like McGwire, Sosa, Palmeiro, and Clemens totally deserve to be in the HOF. Bonds I'm less sure about, but I think they'll all get in via Veterans Committee in fifteen or twenty years, but that's doing them all a disservice. Guys like Ryan Braun and A Rod I have zero sympathy for, but they're relics of a past era, much like the HOF voting process.

The baseball HOF is the only HOF anybody cares about, precisely because they actually have standards and don't let just anybody in. If you want to visit the Hall of the Very Good, go to Canton, OH. The hall voters are BBWAA members who have been in the BBWAA for 10 years or more. I trust them way more than I trust the masses, on anything. As for moralizing, until they eliminate character and sportsmanship from the criteria for the HOF, cheating is going to be an issue. And I hope they never let cheaters in. Cheating is for the NFL, NBA, Nascar, cycling, swimming, bodybuilding, and golf.

If the rest of the cheaters are allowed in the hall then Bonds deserves to be in. Bonds is the greatest player in the history of the game. He's also a cheater. His numbers are absolutely unreal. And they were unreal before he really began using roids in the late 90s.

A lot of the stuff said about Cobb is mythology, perpetuated by a bad/historically inaccurate movie with Tommy Lee Jones.

Putin, cheating is as much a part of baseball as tobacco and the infield fly rule. Every era has had cheaters, but they just weren't as glorified as steroid users. Gaylord Perry was caught doctoring baseballs. Mickey Fucking Mantle missed the end of the '61 season after getting an infection from a steroid shot. Can we kick him out if we aren't letting guys like Sosa in?

Scuffing up balls is subjective and was legal at one point. You can grease a ball with a wet rosin bag and nobody will you call you out for it. It's not on the same planet as PEDs. Perry didn't get in the hall because of spitballs. He got in because the guy had endurance like nobody else. Plus now you have pitches that do the exact same thing as spitters anyway, without the saliva.

"Mickey Fucking Mantle missed the end of the '61 season after getting an infection from a steroid shot"

In the imagination of Zev Chafets. Totally unproven claim.