MARK McGWIRE: In or Out?

NEW YORK -- Steroid-tainted stars Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa have been denied entry to
baseball's Hall of Fame with voters failing to elect any candidates for only the second time in four decades.

Bonds received just 36.2 percent of the vote, Clemens 37.6 and Sosa 12.5 in totals announced Wednesday
by the Hall and the Baseball Writers' Association of America. They were appearing on the ballot for the first
time and have up to 14 more years to make it to Cooperstown.

Craig Biggio, 20th on the career list with 3,060 hits, topped the 37 candidates with 68.2 percent of the 569
ballots, 39 shy of the 75 percent needed. Among other first-year eligibles, Mike Piazza received 57.8 percent
and Curt Schilling 38.8

Jack Morris led holdovers with 67.7 percent. He will make his final ballot appearance next year, when Greg
Maddux and Tom Glavine are eligible for the first time.

Hall of Famers applaud shutout

NEW YORK -- Nobody was happier about the Hall of Fame shutout than the Hall of Famers themselves.

Goose Gossage, Al Kaline, Dennis Eckersley and others are in no rush to open the door to Cooperstown
for anyone linked to steroids.

Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa: Keep 'em all out of our club.

"If they let these guys in ever -- at any point -- it's a big black eye for the Hall and for baseball," Gossage
said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. "It's like telling our kids you can cheat, you can do
whatever you want, and it's not going to matter."

For only the second time in 42 years, baseball writers failed to elect anyone to the Hall of Fame on
Wednesday, sending a firm signal that stars of the steroids era will be held to a different standard.

All the awards and accomplishments collected over storied careers by Bonds, Clemens and Sosa -- all
eligible for the first time -- could not offset suspicions those exploits were artificially boosted by
performance-enhancing drugs.

"I'm kind of glad that nobody got in this year," Kaline said. "I feel honored to be in the Hall of Fame.
And I would've felt a little uneasy sitting up there on the stage, listening to some of these new guys
talk about how great they were."

Gossage went even further.

"I think the steroids guys that are under suspicion got too many votes," he said. "I don't know why they're
making this such a question and why there's so much debate. To me, they cheated. Are we going to reward
these guys?"

Wow!

Hmmm, are there any Latter-Day-Saints in the HoF.