Gwynn and Ripken are considered virtual locks for election. Canseco also is on the ballot for the first time but is not expected to come close to election.

Gwynn isn’t sure whether McGwire used steroids.

“I think he’s a Hall of Famer, myself,” Gwynn said. “He hit 500 or so homers, almost 600. I think we have no proof whether he did or not. Canseco said he did. He didn’t perform well at the congressional hearing, and I think that will stick with people more than anything else. He’s on the ballot, too. I have no control over that.”

Hall voters will face additional questions when other players accused of steroid use go on the ballot. Sammy Sosa and Rafael Palmeiro become eligible for 2011 and Barry Bonds, who plans to play next season, sometime after that.

Others view it as a matter of baseball rules. Baseball did not have an agreement with its players’ union to ban steroids until after the 2002 season.

Some writers say they might vote for McGwire in future years but won’t consider him on this ballot, not wanting to give him the extra honor of getting elected on the first ballot.

“I don’t plan to vote for him on the first ballot, but I do plan to vote for him,” said former Chicago Tribune writer Jerome Holtzman, baseball’s official historian.

INTERACTIVE By MSNBC.com's Tony DeMarco

Some players have seen their support increase over time. Jimmie Foxx got 10 votes when he first appeared on the ballot in 1947, then was elected with 179 votes four years later.

Dave Kingman (442) has the most home runs for a player who has been on the Hall of Fame ballot and was not elected — he received three votes in his only appearance, in 1992, and was dropped.

Among the 33 players above Kingman on the career home run list, 20 are in the Hall, seven are active (Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr., Frank Thomas, Jim Thome, Manny Ramirez, Alex Rodriguez and Gary Sheffield), four haven’t been retired the necessary five years (Sosa, Palmeiro, Fred McGriff and Jeff Bagwell) and two are on the ballot for the first time (McGwire and Canseco).

Eleven of the 15 Hall of Famers with 500 homers were elected on the first ballot. The exceptions were Mel Ott (third ballot), Harmon Killebrew (fourth ballot), Foxx (fifth ballot) and Eddie Mathews (sixth ballot).

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