ESPN's Stark: A-Rod has wrecked baseball's history

And we felt this way from the minute we heard the news about Rodriguez’s positive test.

I’m willing to bet right now that Alex Rodriguez will join that Cooperstown missing-persons list — no matter how many home runs he hits, no matter how he chooses to spin Selena Roberts and David Epstein’s impeccably reported story on SI.com.

So if that’s true, think of where this sport almost certainly will find itself 15 years from now:
The all-time hits leader (Mr. Peter E. Rose) won’t be in the Hall of Fame.

The all-time home run leader (assuming that’s where A-Rod’s highway leads him) won’t be in the Hall of Fame.

The man who broke Hank Aaron’s career record (Barry Bonds) won’t be in the Hall.

The man who broke Roger Maris’ single-season record (Mark McGwire) won’t be in the Hall.

The man who was once the winningest right-handed pitcher of the live-ball era (Roger Clemens) won’t be in the Hall.

The man with the most 60-homer seasons in baseball history (Sammy Sosa) doesn’t look like he’s headed for the Hall, either.

That is pretty astonishing to think about. A couple of thoughts that are kicked up for us are: 1) doesn’t it all make Pete Rose look a little bit like a girl scout and; 2) is there anyone in the Hall currently who used steroids but wasn’t caught? Then you’d have a case to let Rodriguez, Sosa, McGwire and Bonds among others in.