If you’re a baseball fan who has never been to Cooperstown, it is a must atop your “bucket list.” This quaint, cozy little town in upstate New York will be abuzz this weekend, as tens-of-thousands of fans make the pilgrimage to baseball’s shrine – The National Baseball Hall of Fame.

And make no mistake, the sound of cash registers ringing along Main Street and in the Hall of Fame shop will be music to the ears of baseball’s sacred community. Induction Weekend is critical to the town and its baseball monument. And, whenever a Red Sox or Yankee great is inducted, the dollars usually flow in record numbers. So with Sox legend Jim Rice and 5-year Yankee Rickey Henderson being honored, everyone will be running to the bank this year.

The question is, what about the future of this American landmark?  What effect will the steroid-era have on the Hall of Fame and Induction Weekend?

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Major League Baseball needs to keep honoring its greatest assets. Like no other professional sport, baseball’s tradition is part of the game itself. So, with the likes of Bonds, Clemens, McGuire, Sosa, Palmeiro – and now Alex Rodriquez and Manny Ramirez all questionable future Hall of Famers – where does that leave the business of the Baseball Hall of Fame?

Could the steroid-era be the demise of this great baseball and American tradition and the beautiful town of Cooperstown?

Without great players being inducted on a yearly basis and those registers making music on Induction Weekend, where will the revenue be generated? How long would MLB and philanthropists keep the doors open at 25 Main Street?  And even if indefinitely – or, at least until we move away from this cheating era – what about the small, independent stores and vendors in this little community?  Who will save them?

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and Major League Baseball need to make some tough decisions in the near future regarding the fraudulent numbers these great players allegedly perpetrated on baseball and its fans. The business of Cooperstown was looking forward to the induction of these great players. Without them, they could be doomed.

The National Baseball Hall of Fame and MLB cannot leave these critical decisions in the hands of baseball writers who vote for players eligible for the Hall of Fame. That burden is not their responsibility – nor should it be.

It’s time for the leaders of the game to step up and set new guidelines to ensure the business of baseball and pilgrimage to Cooperstown continues for years to come.

It’s hard to believe the MLB All-Star break is upon us. With summer yet to arrive in the northeast, the weather here still feels like NBA playoff time. When do the Lakers arrive in Boston for yet another NBA Finals? Is Garnett’s balky knee good enough to play? What…you mean we have to wait another year to see that? The addition of Ron Artest and Rasheed Wallace to the Lakers and Celtics, respectively, has all but assured that rematch in 2010. But that’s for another Blog.

So, I guess it really is MLB All-Star week. For some reason the lure of the game no longer exists for me. Is it my age, or has the steroid era dampened my enthusiasm for the game and its stars? Probably a little of both.

However, for me, the game of baseball, once filled with statistics that mattered and star players who gathered yearly to put on a “show” for baseball purists, no longer exists. Oh, sure, the All-Star game now “counts,” as the winner provides its league with home field advantage for the World Series. But that, too, is a joke. Why they allow an exhibition game to carry so much weight for its historic Fall Classic is mind-boggling.

I also wonder; do the names Pujols, Utley, Beltran, Teixeira, Longoria, and Bay bring as much excitement to today’s young fans as did Mantle, Mays, Aaron, Williams, Musial and Clemente did for my generation? I hate to sound like an old fart, but I think not.

Don’t get me wrong. Players of my youth were no angels. They drank and chased women with the best (or worst) of men. We just seldom heard about it. But there was a “star power” in those days that simply doesn’t exist today. I’m sure being a kid and only getting to see baseball games on TV on weekends helped make players larger than life during those innocent years, but I think it goes beyond just that. Times have changed – and so has the game of baseball. Sadly, for the worse.

How does that song go? “Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio – a nation turns its lonely eyes to you.”

Do you think Albert Pujols and his fans know Simon and Garfunkel?