The logic pretzel that a lot of Hall of Fame voters constructed to choose among steroid era candidates is crumbling. Some writers maintained for years that they would never vote for cheaters, until seemingly and finally acknowledging with their ballots that there’s no real way to separate who actually cheated and who did not.

By the numbers, Mike Piazza was the greatest hitting catcher of all time, finishing his career with 427 homers and a .308 batting average, and seven top-10 finishes for MVP. But he was kept out of the Hall of Fame in his first three passes through the voting because of steroid suspicion, before finally getting in last summer.

The same has apparently been true for Jeff Bagwell, whose statistical credentials for election are overwhelming -- the 1994 MVP had a .408 on-base percentage in his career, mashed 449 homers, reached base almost 4,000 times, won a Gold Glove and stole 202 bases. But he’s waited through six rounds of votes without election almost certainly because a lot of writers have seemingly guessed that he used steroids. After receiving 71.9 percent of votes last year, he appears poised to be elected next month.

Piazza’s in, despite suspicions. Bagwell will get in, despite suspicions.

So what in the world is keeping the writers from supporting Sammy Sosa?