Mariano Rivera was arguably the greatest player at his position. Ever.

Edgar Martinez was arguably one of the greatest right handed hitters of all time, at least of his era.

Roy Halladay was a fireballer who was one of the best pitchers of his era, if not the best.

Mike Mussina was among the best, smartest and most durable pitchers of the same era.

All have also been recognized by teammates as credits to the game and the human race.

Barry Bonds’ best friend serve prison time instead of telling the court about the petulant slugger’s performance-enhancing drug use.

Roger Clemens threw a baseball bat at Mike Piazza during a playoff game during a fit of ? rage but was found not guilty of lying to Congress about using steroids and Human Growth Hormone, despite testimony to the contrary. Alex Rodriguez was caught multiple times using performance-enhancing drugs as was Rafael Palmeiro, who also lied about it to Congress.

As the song goes, some of these things are not like the other. Some of these people have tremendous career statistics, but don’t deserve to be honored in the Hall of Fame.

There was a scant 2-3-percent increase in votes for Bonds and Clemens by Baseball Writers Association Of America this year. Even if the increase continues, the total would still leave them short of the 75 percent required for induction.

Mentioned? Sure, in a display of morally-decrepit cheaters who cheated us once when we didn’t know exactly what was going on, and wouldn’t as Major League Baseball execs and the union took their sweet time acting.

They would have us now look the other way, when we know the truth.

Honored?

No thanks.