The Hall of Famer discusses Bonds, Rose and more

                    

	Mike Schmidt's book, "Clearing the Bases". HarperCollins

Last week SI writer Richard Deitsch interviewed Mike Schmidt for the magazine's Q&A. The 56-year-old Hall of Fame third baseman is the author of Clearing the Bases: Juiced Players, Monster Salaries, Sham Records, and a Hall of Famer's Search for the Soul of Baseball.

SI: Have you reconciled whether Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro belong in the Hall of Fame?

Schmidt: At this point in time I'm not taking any position if they are deserving or not. I think there are going to be issues with the writers who have the votes. I truly think those three players are gut-lock-cinch first-ballot Hall of Famers, and I know now there will be some questions. If you talked to 12 writers who had votes, I think the vote would be split down the middle or worse. I do think, though, at some point in time they will all end up in the Hall of Fame. But I think it's a tough call now to say they'll get in on the first ballot. I think there will be a sense of wanting to punish them by the writers.

SI: How rampant were steroids in your era?

Schmidt: None that I know of, and I don't think I'm naive in that regard. During my era, in the pre-1990s, surely steroids existed, but I think more in the World Wrestling Federation and weightlifting. There were no steroids that I would have known of prior to 1990.

SI: Is the steroid era in baseball over?

Schmidt: Without a doubt. It's not to say something else won't surface. But I think for the next couple of years we're going to see a very clean ballgame. A few cups of coffee might be the only thing that players take the field with.

SI: In the book you write that Barry Bonds is a friend. Can you be objective when it comes to his accomplishments?

Schmidt: While what's written in [the book Game of Shadows] sounds incriminating, I still give him the benefit of the doubt until there is an admission or until there's a positive test. So as a fellow athlete and a friend, I'm going to give Barry the benefit of the doubt and say he just worked hard. Mechanically, he has become the greatest hitter in the history of the sport.

SI: Do you understand why he's a divisive figure?

Schmidt: I truly understand the Barry Bonds dilemma. I can really see it. He's a guy who people are less apt to give the benefit of the doubt to. He truly has had a tough time being a hero. I think the baseball fans in America want a guy who's as gifted as him, a guy to have a chance to break one of the greatest records in all of sport, to be an American hero. But Barry just does not fit that mold. I think he overworks it and tries too hard to be it and gets himself in trouble in that. I can relate to that. Early in my career in Philadelphia I had issues myself. I truly was never the hero the Philadelphia fans wanted me to be. I kept to myself. I worked hard to produce every year, but I never got to be as friendly with fans as I would have liked to and they would have wanted me to, looking back on it. So I can relate to Barry Bonds' dilemma.