What Jake said ...
Dwight Gooden had one truly great year (1985), a couple above-average years (84, 86, 90) but was otherwise an average MLB pitcher for most of his career. He never led the NL or AL in any category that doesn't involve cocaine after his second MLB season. His "peak" was 2 or 3 seasons. No freaking way is he a HOFer.
I take that back. Gooden actually had a short peak, then compiled to get to his final numbers. I have a soft spot for Gooden because I think the Mets abused his arm at a young age, but people still look at his inability to sustain that early dominance as sheerly a moral failing on his part.
This. Cooperstown has been defined into irrelevance, at least to me.
I used to think they should be kept out, but I’ve moved on from that. They are basically being punished for being better than everyone else, such that their likely usage was more obvious.
Would they be in the conversation without help?
I guess that depends on whether you believe that Bonds started using after the home run record race of 1998, which was his age 33 season. I do believe that. By that point, Bonds had won three MVP awards and he was robbed of one in 1991. He had led his league in home runs once, slugging percentage three times, OBP four times, and WAR six times. He had three seasons of at least 40 steals, including 52 in 1990. He had eight Gold Glove awards.
Bonds wouldn't have had the home runs but his career might have been longer. He was an excellent fielder who disguised a below average arm. He was speedy and he could hit 30 homers. His eye for the strike zone is what made his home run totals explode when he used. The roids just made the ball go very far. The dude was the only hitter who could make PacBell (now Oracle) look small. No other juicer could do that.
