Baseball Hall Voters Reject Plan to Weigh Steroid Use

The Baseball Writers’ Association of America—which decides the annual Hall of Fame class—has voted down an attempt to make new guidelines for players implicated in steroid use, the AP reports. Chicago Sun-Times columnist Rick Telander had suggested a committee be formed to create new rules that acknowledged the effect of recent doping scandals; the motion was voted down, 30-25.

Current guidelines require voters to consider a player’s “record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played” when deciding the inductees. A player must get 75% of the vote to join the Hall of Fame. Mark McGwire, the first big-name steroids suspect eligible for the Hall, got 118 votes this year—21.9%—down from 128 in his first 2 attempts. (More baseball stories.)