Though Box-Toppers would not have voted David Ortiz as a first-ballot Hall of Famer, it’s hard to argue that his performance on the field was not worthy.

Yet, several other candidates with Hall-of-Fame worthy careers were not voted for induction Tuesday because of their ties to the steroid era. In fact, it can be argued that righteous baseball writers did a noble thing Tuesday by blocking three such candidates—Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa—for their 10th and final time on the ballot.