Burn it down.

"Now, there are fair and absolutely reasonable arguments to be made that a) writers shouldn't be the ones voting for the Hall of Fame; and b) that a players' character and integrity shouldn't be part of the Hall of Fame process. Those arguments still wouldn't change the fact that these are the realities of the Hall of Fame process currently, and for the foreseeable future.

So, barring any modifications to the Hall of Fame ballot language, Rodriguez finds himself in an excruciating position. Sympathizers will almost surely fall back on the 'he was a Hall of Famer before and after he cheated' excuse, but such logic is irrational. Imagine a high school student, who is caught cheating on just one of the six tests he takes in a semester. The student gets a zero for that test and, even if he gets a perfect score on the other five exams, the best he can do for an overall grade is an 83. That's a B-minus."

Huh?

What does that have to do with a baseball player who hits 800 homeruns?

"In Rodriguez's case, his admitted cheating means he gets a zero on at least the integrity portion of the ballot, and all the home runs and RBI in the world can't change that. Even if you wanted to grade him perfectly on the other five categories, that zero has to be counted. And the Hall of Fame isn't a place for 83s. It isn't a place for B-minuses."

Oh, gee.

For one thing, I've know from the people in the Hall of Fame, and some of them are certainly B-minuses. I mean, Bill Mazeroski turned a super-quick double play and hit .260.

Secondly, I have an easy way to fix your imaginary grading system. Just grade on a weighted scale, where baseball-playing ability counts the highest. Since it's the baseball Hall of Fame.

Or, you could just grade on a curve. Jackie Robinson gets an A. Sammy Sosa gets an F, because he corked hit bat and took steroids. Everybody else gets a C.

The problem with the morals clause is that it's too late to start selectively enforcing it.

I know I am being redundant, but I want to show you three examples of the type of people whose plaques grace the walls of the MLB Hall of Fame:

• Ty Cobb was not only allowed in the Hall of Fame, he was a member of the inaugural class. Want to read something hilarious about Ty Cobb?: "In a May 15 game against the Highlanders, Cobb's ears were burning from the continuous insults of a fan sitting behind the dugout. When Cobb could take no more, he charged into the stands and beat the fan senseless." Many accounts claim the fan had no hands. Good stuff for the kids of America.
• Cap Anson was inducted a few years later. Few remember his batting average. However, "His contemporary influence and prestige are regarded by historians as playing a major role in establishing the racial segregation in professional baseball that persisted until the late 1940s. On several occasions, Anson refused to take the field when the opposing roster included black players."
  
• Gaylord Perry's book, "Me and the Splitter," was published in 1974. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1991.
  

It's the baseball Hall of Fame. It ain't Heaven ... and Sam Borden ain't St. Peter.