This is the best analysis I have seen so far regarding how to approach the voting sportswriter's selection process.  In particular, I agree with the basis on which you reject the two most common justificiations for voting on the dirty players.  Well stated.  

 They dont have to be at the top of your ballot but some of the confessed or caught are still Hall of Famers. Where did it start and end will never really be known. Lance Armsrtong used drugs to overcome challanges most could not handle laying down. i applaud him. Still took incredible skill rrsiliance and training. This stuff is not majic its s upplement albeit very helpful. So is speed , cortizone ,  Lazer eye surgery,the best Doctors, and many other forms of cheating. Do i wish it were pure ? yes. Can they all be Williams ? Can we even find out who is really pure now anyway..  Very tough.. nothing is black and white except a hoodsie right when you open the cover. After that its all mixed up. Just my two cents..

Raines, of course, was a cokehead. He admitted it, did the rehab, but Rule 5 is a bar for him. He's also not a Hall of Famer by the usual standards.

Glad to hear someone refuse to get on the "they were HOF'ers anyway" bandwagon. Honestly, the people making excuses for these cheaters just seems to represent the way morals swirl down the drain nowadays. It really is not very trendy to have any character; I guess that comes with so many living in Mom's basement. And I like the vote for Schill. Borderline, yes, but I agree... I'd give the ball to Schill 100 times for a game I had to win before I gave it to Fat Roger. Morris, too.

And this is why Shaughnessy needs to lose his HOF vote. 

Not one mention of the most qualified "clean" candidate on the ballot: Craig Biggio.

So dan, you have a huge problem with ped's, but no problem with cocaine? Seriously, where was the outrage in 1985 when the "pirates / mlb" cocaine scandal broke out? Tim Raines was in the middle of it, admitting that he not only did cocaine during games, but would slide headfirst so to not break the viles in his back pocket. Hey, in the same investigation, John Milner testified that Willie Mays gave him amphetimines! Sorry you are so offended by 35 year olds taking andro to get their T levels back to what they were when they were 25 (ok, some may have strecthed it a bit beyond that). Just want to make sure I understand the full extent of your hypocrisy!

What happened to Craig Biggio?  3,000 hits, 7 time all star, played second, catcher and outfield.  And a Roberto Clemente Award winner.

I knew I couldn't get through this article without a couple punches being thrown at Schilling. However, I like that Shaughnessy put (most of) his personal feelings aside and voted based on numbers and talent. I do not envy having his responsibility of electing players.

Thank you Dan.  I can only hope that other sportswriters vote to uphold the integrity of the Hall and the Game by doing the same.  

In the summer of 1995, I took my then 8 year old son to Fenway Park to watch the Red Sox and the A's.  Mark Maguire came to bat 3 times, and hit 3 towering home runs.  It was a feat foreshadowing the race to pass Maris, a piece of history, a baseball legend being made in front of our eyes.  I got to share that with my son....  but it was all a fraud.  

I was cheated, my son was cheated, baseball was cheated, we were all cheated.

That memory is a reminder to me of what those cheaters took from all of us.  It was fools gold that makes you feel the fool when you realize it was all an illusion and you were the sap that bought it.  We can't undo history, but your action is a small step taken in the right direction. 

That's great Dan..I agree with you for once...by the way, I held my nose and read this column today!

Like it or not, believe who you choose, but, while Shaughnessy' s principle is right, that plain fact which cannot be denied is that Roger Clemens was judged in a court of law by a jury of his peers not to have lied to Congress, a verdict that cannot have bee decided without also, having heard all the evidence, concluding that he did not use steroids. Not voting for perhaps the greatest pitcher of all times because you think he used steroids when a jury concluded otherwise violates a much higher principle - in this country a person is innocent unless proven guilty, and this man was proneness not guilty.

Where is the integrity in professional sports to begin with?  Most professional athletes are spoiled and vastly overpaid.  Those who decry being defrauded by those using PEDs need to get a life.  They were defrauded the moment they began hero worshipping athletes and paying exhorbitant ticket prices.  As far dirty players qualifying for the Hall of Fame, they chose to risk the health consequences of taking PEDs to lengthen their careers and fatten their paychecks.  In doing so, they forfeited recognition for their tainted "accomplishments."

Great vote on Schilling. I remember being a twelve year old in Baltimore when Frank Robinson came to the Orioles in a trade for Milt Pappas and (I think) Jack Baldschun. The Birds already had another Robinson, a pitcher named Palmer, along with Powell, McNally, and others. Frank put them over the top that year (1966). I'm not comparing Schilling to Robinson in terms of performance; the latter was in a class by himself. But Schilling came with a lot of expectation weight on his shoulders, and he delivered. In one commercial from 2004, Schilling said he came to Boston to break an 86 year old curse. He did it, and he's got decent numbers to go along with that year and the special one with Arizona. Borderline? OK. But borderline on the positive side. Again, great vote.

Dan, is it humanly possible for you to be more self important?

"In addition — even more unfair — you don’t get my vote if you look dirty. " L'etat, cest moi. If two of the criteria for HOF membership are sportmanship and character, Cooperstown might want to start cleaning house. See the article in the NYT today:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/09/sports/baseball/baseball-hall-of-fame-has-always-made-room-for-infamy.html