So Major League Baseball’s steroid scandal has come and gone. It seems as if the general public, for the most part, is sick of hearing about it. They understand that a majority of the superstar players were on the juice during the now dubbed “steroid era.”

Earlier this year Mark McGwire confessed that he, in fact, was on PEDs during the infamous 1998 season in which he and former Cub favorite Sammy Sosa both broke Roger Maris’s homerun record. Baseball writers across the country credited McGwire and Sosa that year for bringing fans back to baseball after losing many to the 1994 strike that led to the cancellation of the World Series.

However, now both players, among others, are looked upon as black sheep in the baseball family. They turned to the dark side searching for power. Yeah, everybody knows this story already right?

Well, hold on a second.  

The story goes as such: Nobody, including the Baseball Writers Association of America seriously thought about these players using steroids (at least failed to write about it) until Barry Bonds went and cranked out 73 homeruns in 2001, just three years after McGwire hit 70.

Then Jose Canseco came out with his book “Juiced,” in which he sold out his former friends and teammates for money, which subsequently led to congressional hearings of said former friends and teammates.

And because of the fallout from Canseco’s book, McGwire and Sosa will most likely never get inducted into the Hall of Fame. After all, nobody “is above the game.” Go ahead, ask Pete Rose.

See, it is the BBWAA that decides who makes the Hall of Fame and who doesn’t. They decide a lot of things, including who wins the MVP. In 1998, Sosa, who had more RBIs and stolen bases than McGwire, won the MVP and McGwire came in at a close second. The voting makes perfect sense given the impact these two players had on the 1998 season.

Now, here is where it gets interesting. Here is what nobody talks about. The year after, in 1999, Sosa and McGwire had nearly the same season statistically that they did in 1998. McGwire, for a second year in a row, broke Maris’s record and finished with 65 homeruns and 147 RBIs. Sosa wasn’t far behind with 63 home runs and 141 RBIs.

So, logically, it would make sense that one would win the MVP with the other following close behind right? Wrong. In fact, somehow, McGwire and Sosa were not even in the top four of MVP balloting that year.

Shockingly, McGwire came in at number five and did not receive one first place vote; 65 homeruns, 147 RBIs, and not one first place vote. Chipper Jones took the honor in the N.L. that year, despite McGwire having 20 more homeruns, 37 more RBIs, more runs, more walks and a higher OPS.

Don’t get me wrong, Chipper’s numbers were fantastic and his Braves made it to the World Series that year. He also had McGwire beat in the batting average and stolen base department. Still, shouldn’t have McGwire at least came in second? With those numbers shouldn’t he have received at least a few first place votes?

Even more shocking is Sosa, who came in at number nine in voting. I don’t care how bad the Cubs were in 1999 (They were 67-95), if a player hits 60 plus dingers and drives in 140-plus ribbies, they are always going to place in at least the top three of MVP voting. Unless, you know, the people voting knew that player was on steroids.

I guess what I am suggesting is somewhat of a conspiracy theory, but the numbers don’t lie. The same writers that acted shocked and appalled by the steroid scandal are the same ones that coincidentally decided not to vote for Sosa or McGwire the year after the ’98 season.

Perhaps voters were just sick of McGwire and Sosa. Perhaps they felt the teams they played for were so bad they simply didn’t deserve to be called Most Valuable Player. Or maybe, just maybe, the baseball journalists knew about the steroid use way back in 1999 and instead of reporting it, they chose to keep quiet.

After all, if they write about baseball they clearly love the game. If they love the game, then they certainly would not want to hurt her, especially so soon after she was deeply wounded from the strike. Maybe that is how they rationalized it; maybe they kept quiet for the love of the game.

I don’t know, perhaps I’m wrong. Maybe voting was just different then than it is now. In the American League that year, Manny Ramirez finished fourth in MVP voting despite more homeruns, more RBIs and a higher batting average than winner Ivan Rodriguez. I mean, Manny wasn’t on that congressional panel. Manny wasn’t in Canseco’s book. It’s not like he’s ever been caught using steroi…oh…wait...never mind.