by Tom Ontis

Created on: November 05, 2007   Last Updated: October 31, 2008

As a long time baseball fan and a San Francisco Giants fan, I defend the rights of every great player to at least be considered for the Hall of Fame. Pete Rose has been banned for life, by a commissioner who is no longer with us. That is a travesty.

The steroids question is pointed fully at Barry Bonds. He broke one of the most hallowed records in the game late this past season. I am convinced if he was the average player hitting around .280, with about 9 knocks-baseball talk for home runs-per year, the question would have not even come up. Commissioner Bud Selig seems to have used Bonds as his personal punching bag: He was at the Giants game in which Bonds broke the record, but stood with his hands in his pockets as Bonds rounded the bases and took the applause of the assembled crowd.

Let's take a moment and look at another player: Jason Giambi of the New York Yankees. He is not a Hall of Fame caliber player and never will be. He admitted a few years ago that he took something and maybe it was steroids, but maybe not. Selig will not fire on him because he came 'clean,' still not admitting whether he juiced up or not. He is still occupying the first sack in New York. Where is the fairness.?

If we denied every great player the chance at the Hall because he was a jerk, or did something that was/is illegal by today's standards, a lot of them would not be in Cooperstown. Ty Cobb was a racist from Georgia. Babe Ruth smoked, drank heavily and was a womanizer. They are in the Hall and they should be!

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