COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. -- He wasn't speaking for the entire class of the 50 or so living Hall of Famers who have flocked back to baseball's nirvana here this weekend.
He wasn't speaking officially for the Hall, for baseball or for anybody else.
He was just one man, speaking his mind.
But because the man was Henry Aaron, former all-time home run leader and still viewed by many as the game's legitimate Home Run King, and because the topic was steroids, each word carried the weight of a cement truck.
Especially as he called for asterisks to be affixed to the plaques of any steroid user who is voted into the Hall of Fame in future years.
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| Henry Aaron says some Hall of Famers have said they'd wave goodbye to an induction ceremony involving Steroid Era stars. (Getty Images) |
"Do you put guys in with an asterisk behind their name and say, 'Hey, they did it but here's why,'" Aaron said during a conversation at the historic Otesaga Hotel here Saturday afternoon on the eve of induction ceremonies for Jim Rice, Rickey Henderson and the late Joe Gordon.
"To be safe, I think that's the only way you can do it. ... I've played the game long enough, and you've watched it long enough, to know it is impossible for players, I don't care who they are, to hit 70-some home runs [in a season]. It just don't happen. It just does not happen."
Aaron never mentioned anyone by name. But when he talked specifically about 73 home runs in a season, it was pretty clear he wasn't targeting Roger Maris. The game's single-season home runs record is 73, set by Bonds in 2001.
"Somewhere on the plaque, or behind his name, and say, 'Hey, 73 home runs, da da da da, he was accused of ...," said Aaron, who recorded a tribute video that played on the scoreboard in San Francisco's AT&T Park in 2007 on the night on which Bonds passed Aaron with No. 756 to become the game's home runs leader.
"That's the only way you can do it."
Shortly afterward, Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson said he was "thrilled" that Aaron publicly took the stance he did.
"When Henry speaks, it's the book of knowledge," Jackson said. "Willie Mays, Bob Gibson. It's the book of knowledge. And when they speak it's nice because it helps so much. ...
"If they come out with something, guys like Aaron, and people start supporting that, it helps guys who are listening to how that level feels and thinks. And it will persuade people. I'm for that. I'm thrilled that Henry spoke."
In Jackson's view, the asterisks -- for those who have either tested positive or are surrounded by circumstantial evidence -- essentially would translate into universal sign language.
"Duly noted," Jackson said. "You tested positive for steroids. Duly noted.
"And with that, it's going to knock your votes down."
While the mood here was light and cheery Saturday on a gorgeously sunny day -- following torrential rains, thunder and lightning that practically had the ducks on Lake Otesaga quacking for mercy Friday -- the performance-enhancing drugs issue never is far away. Even here, where the sun always seems to shine (yes, even on cloudy days).
Not after Alex Rodriguez confessed to past performance-enhancing drugs use before the season. Not after Manny Ramirez served a 50-game suspension for violating baseball's PED policy. And not after the New York Times reported earlier this summer that Sammy Sosa had violated a PED test.
Aaron stopped short of saying he would not accept a fellow Hall of Famer who failed a PED test.
"I have to," he said. "I'm only one person. If somebody votes somebody into the Hall of Fame, if possible, I would be here to welcome him in."
But not all of Aaron's colleagues here would be so charitable. There have been rumblings that some would walk off the stage, or simply not participate in a ceremony in which a tainted player was inducted into the Hall.
"I've heard some players say that," Aaron, 75, said. "I think it would happen. I think some players -- and I don't need to tell you who -- probably would do that."
There are 50 living Hall of Famers expected in attendance this weekend, including a rare appearance by Carl Yastrzemski (here to support Rice), Mays, Tom Seaver, Sen. Jim Bunning, Bob Feller, Sparky Anderson and Bob Gibson.
As for how many might decline to participate if, say, Ramirez, A-Rod or Bonds were inducted in the future, Aaron said he couldn't say how big a group it would be.
"I don't know," he said. "The people that I've talked to certainly have some resentment. I don't think they would show up."
One of those probably would be Goose Gossage, who was inducted last summer.
"I probably wouldn't come," Gossage said. "I'd boycott, or whatever you want to call it. What this place means ... it is so sacred."
Gossage added: "I think if you cheated, you shouldn't be allowed in. ... What's an asterisk? I don't think they should be allowed in."
Aaron, with 755 home runs, is second on baseball's all-time homers list behind Bonds' 762. Another Hall of Famer, Harmon Killebrew, recently stoked the debate when he decried Ramirez (15th with 538) passing Mickey Mantle (16th, 536) on the list. Among other things, Killebrew said the cheapened numbers tarnish the "integrity" of the game.
Killebrew, ninth on the all-time list with 573 (though A-Rod, at 572, is poised to pass him in a matter of days), also told Patrick Reusse of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune, "As far as I'm concerned, Hank Aaron is the all-time home run champ, and Roger Maris should still have the [single-season] record at 61, but Barry Bonds is the name you see in the record book."
And Killebrew is considered one of the nicest, most non-controversial legends in any Hall of Fame room.
"I appreciate it," Aaron said of Killebrew's support. "But it's still second. Like I told somebody the other day, no matter how they feel, I don't think I'm going to ever hit another home run. I think it's all over with. I don't think I can. I can't even play 18 holes of golf anymore.
"It's over."
Jackson, now 12th on the all-time list with 563 homers, has been passed in recent years by four players who have either failed PED tests or who have been suspected of using banned supplements: A-Rod (10th), Rafael Palmeiro (11th, 569), Sosa (sixth, 609) and McGwire (eighth, 583).
"It hurts," Jackson said. "It hurts. People are so immune to it now. It's like, 'Steroids, this is the way it is, so what?'"
