Did you know that if a 40-year-old man is brought up on legal charges for a crime he committed at age 15, he will be charged based on the laws at the time the crime was committed?

 If that rationale is good enough for the legal system, then why isn't it good enough for the Baseball Writers Association of America?

 In all of the posturing rhetoric and sanctimonious whining surrounding Mark McGwire's induction into the Baseball Hall of Fame, one very significant dynamic is being ignored: that Mark McGwire has become the scapegoat for Major League Baseball's molasses-slow response to the use of performance-enhancing substances by its players.

 A bit of trivia: back in the 90s, Mark McGwire used a then-legal androstenedione supplement.  The key words here are "THEN-LEGAL".  Andro was not banned by the USFDA until 2004, and was not considered illegal until 2005. 

 That may seem like some judicious bean-counting, but consider this:  the home run race of 1998 was long-touted as the event that saved baseball in America.  When McGwire sent that 62nd home run into the stands--ironically against Sammy Sosa's Cubs in Busch--NOBODY dared to second-guess McGwire's use of a legal dietary supplement.  To do so would have amounted to heresy.  No one remembers that--not even the holier-than-thou sportswriters who have jumped on the moral flagpole and forgotten that eight years ago, McGwire was not rumored to have done anything underhanded, and used discipline, a renewed sense of purpose, an improved workout regimen and a bit of "dietary help"  to poise his body to make history.

 Where was all of this bible-thumping back then?  Drowned out by cheers, I suppose.

 The bottom line is this: Baseball was slow on the uptake in establishing a cogent policy regarding performance enhancing drug use by players.  And now, the BBWAA wants to parse McGwire's then-legal supplement choices based on knowledge--and laws--that we have now.   Why don't we go back and remove Babe Ruth because he cheated on his wife, and NOW we have discovered that his moral character was not befitting of the HOF. 

 Vote on McGwire based on his numbers, and not on what you think you perceive in the 21st century as 'cheating'.  Because while we know more about steroids and their dangers today, to deny Mark McGwire a place in Cooperstown will prove that you still haven't learned anything.