If you think of the HOF as the Majors, with all the candidates residing somewhere in the minors, Sheff is a solid 4A player. I saw him do some great things, and heard him say some stupid things. But his “total package”, which includes PEDs, just doesn’t fit make him a HOFer to me.

Good ballplayer, great hitter, but not great enough.

Upshot: if your drug dealer had already been arrested, you were named. If not, you skated.

Unless, harry, your problem with the Report is that your favorite player/team was named/trashed in it (as a Dodger fan, I was embarrassed, but not overly surprised, at the mention of Gagne and LoDuca). If MLB Executives had any balls whatsoever, that crap would be out of baseball by now.

My “would you tell your grandkids” stance could be amended to be like the Supreme Court pornography stance of “you know it when you see it.” With Sheffield and Palmeiro, I never felt like I was watching anything special. Good yes, legendary, no.

I wouldn’t use your rule of thumb. I tell my children all about Mark Fidrych but I wouldn’t support him for the Hall (not that he played in the majors for 10 years anyway).

On page 116 of the report, Sheffield is among the players who are alleged to have purchased “the cream” and “the clear” from BALCO founder Victor Conte. On page 136, a FedEx receipt from Sheffield to BALCO found during a 2003 search of trainer Greg Anderson’s condominium is referenced. On that same page, an excerpt from Sheffield’s book “Inside Power” where he acknowledges receiving a bill from BALCO for “vitamins” is mentioned. His testimony before the BALCO grand jury — he testified not knowing whether “the cream” contained steroids — is also referenced.

On a side note, at County Stadium in Milwaukee, you used to be able to stand outside and get player autographs as they walked to their cars after the game. The first time I got to do that as a kid, I waited outside with anticipation thinking I’d get Molitor or Yount and use that signature to eventually get rich (autographs and baseball cards are like 401k plans for kids – or so we thought). The first guy to walk out was Sheffield and I slumped down in disappointment thinking, “this guy won’t sign.” He walked up, grabbed the ball out of my hand and asked me for a pen as I stood there stunned. For a small period of time, I was a Sheffield fan. This was before he tanked his way out of town, became an all star, and started demanding that you pay to join his fan club if you want his autograph.

Baseball skills say yes, but everything else says no. Personally I’d vote yes because I think the character clause is bullshit, but some of the writers don’t.

This is an odd situation where because I don’t like Sheff I hope I’m wrong and you’re right. However, for the integrity of the system I hope I’m right and he gets fair consideration by the system.