Whether it was cheating or not, Sosa & McGwire did revive baseball in 1998 and some people still give them that credit. Sosa hit the most HRs in any 10-year stretch in history - 479. More than Ruth or Bonds or anyone else. Yes, it was during the highest HR era ever and yes it was through murky means, but it still happened. No, just hitting HRs does not a great player make, but it is the best thing a batter can do in any given at-bat, in any situation.
If Sosa had played in the 80s or earlier, his slash line numbers would be great. But because of his run-scoring environment, his 128 career OPS+ is pretty pedestrian. Yet he had over 400 total bases in a season TWICE, which is nuts. The only time that's been done outside Coors Field guys in the last 40 years was Bonds and Luis Gonzalez's big year in Arizona.
Gonzalez is the big all-time DBacks "guy" here in Arizona, but look at a picture of him in 1993 vs 2001 and tell me he wasn't injecting horse tranquilizers into his aortas......but Bonds and Clemens are the only ones good enough to have to "pay" for their transgressions.
Alex Rodriguez comes up for the HOF in 3 years, in Bonds' and Clemens' final years. Won't that be interesting.