Hall voters snub ex-players tainted by PEDs

Once again, the voters have spoken. As Mark McGwire once famously said before Congress, "Steroids is bad."

Yesterday's Hall of Fame vote by the Baseball Writers Association of America showed again that voters have little tolerance for players who have been linked to performance-enhancing drugs - even if the link never has been proven.

McGwire, the poster child for this phenomenon, received 115 votes (19.8 percent), down from 23.7 percent last year. And that came a year after McGwire finally admitted to using PEDs.

Rafael Palmeiro, one of only four players to have 3,000 hits and 500 home runs, fared even worse. In his first year on the ballot, Palmeiro received 64 votes (11.0 percent).

Palmeiro was suspended for a failed PED test in 2005, just a month after recording his 3,000th hit. He has denied intentionally taking steroids, instead blaming the positive test on B-12 given to him by then-Orioles teammate Miguel Tejada.

In an interview with SI.com Wednesday after the vote was announced, Palmeiro said: "Voters are putting too much weight on the one incident. I wish they would look at my whole career."

Another first baseman whose vote totals could have been influenced by fallout from the steroid era is former Houston slugger Jeff Bagwell, who received 41.7 percent in his first year of eligibility.

Bagwell's bulked-up physique and prolific home-run totals during his career have led to speculation - no proof, just speculation - which even he admits could be a factor.

"Suspicion is going to happen because of the era I played in," he said on a conference call Wednesday. "Suspicion is ridiculous. Because I worked out? Come on . . ."

Three of baseball's biggest tainted stars of the era - Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa and Roger Clemens - will be eligible for the Hall in 2013. And then, many years in the future, Alex Rodriguez's Hall case will be another test for voters after his admitted PED use.