This year the Baseball Writer's Association of America failed to elect anybody to the Baseball Hall of Fame. This was partially because some all time greats were linked to steroid use. The steroid issue, however, only partially explains why nobody was elected to the Hall of Fame.

Keeping people out of the Hall of Fame because of suspected or real connections to steroids may or may not be wise, but keeping people out because the voting rules have not changed to fully recognize expansion is not.

We have a Hall of Fame filled with many players who played in a segregated era and said nothing, who either took amphetamines or looked the way while others did and probably even players who said nothing about the gambling and betting on baseball they saw around them.

It doesn't bother me that Jeff Bagwell didn't make the Hall of Fame. What bothers me is why he didn't make it into the Hall of Fame.

Does Jeff Bagwell, rejected his first year on the ballot, merit enshrinement in the National Baseball Hall of Fame?