I know Jay, very confusing, and not sure exactly what everyone with a HOF vote may or may not be thinking. McGwire openly admitted using Androstenedione, when it was not yet formally banned, and at the time was still an over-the-counter supplement that any one of us could easily, and legally, go and buy at a lot of different retail outlets. Plus, many of the other players you mentioned, like Bonds and Clemens, were not personally liked very much at all by sportswriters, other players, and most fans, unlike McGwire is/was. Most people think of McGwire as a much better overall person, which I believe means a lot for HOF induction in regard to PED users!
Sosa is kind of a conundrum as I always thought of him as pretty well liked as well. But unlike McGwire, when his attorney went before Congress in 2005 to testify for him, he stated he had never taken any illegal PEDs during his playing career and was clean. And then later on in 2009 the story was leaked and first reported in the New York Times that Sosa was included on a list of players that had actually tested positive for using PEDs back in 2003. So in other words, he had actually lied to Congress. I'm guessing that, and the fact he hasn't been involved with MLB since finally retiring in 2009, as well as no longer living in the U.S. since, has worked against him.
So in my mind, maybe once the "public" can forgive and look past McGwire's use of PEDs and give him an honest chance for HOF induction, I think he'll get in. And then sometime after that, the others mentioned may finally start to be given a chance for their own HOF induction.
However, had A-Rod not split from JLo, I would amend my guess and say that A-Rod would likely be the first of the known PED users to get into the HOF. Not because of his baseball record and achievements, but because he was with JLo. All the women out there love JLo, and the men who would be voting for who gets into the HOF probably wouldn't have liked having to sleep on the couch all the time, and/or having wives/girlfriends with constant headaches.
