Hall of Fame president Dale Petroskey spoke to the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. for the second time in five years last Thursday.

Petroskey talked about the changes in the Hall of Fame and baseball over the past five years, explained how and why the Hall of Fame functions as it does, and addressed the steroid issue as well.

Petroskey said during his first week on the job Hall of Fame pitcher Don Sutton put his arm around him and said "They've just handed you the keys to the Vatican."

Petroskey said the museum exists for three main reasons-to educate, to honor the game's greats and to preserve history. He said the Hall of Fame has about 100 full-time employees and an annual budget of $16 million.

" We are the game's institution of record, baseball's Smithsonian and Library of Congress rolled into one," he said.

Petroskey made a case for Hank Aaron being the most underrated player of all-time.

"When fans think of Hank Aaron they think of home runs, but that's precisely why he was underrated," Petroskey said.

Petroskey pointed out that Aaron is third all-time with 3,771 lifetime hits, trailing only Pete Rose and Ty Cobb, not to mention his baserunning and defensive abilities. He is easily the all-time leader in runs batted in with approximately 2,300, and over a 23-year period averaged 33 home runs, 100 RBIs with a .305 batting average.

For all the positives that have occured in baseball and at the Hall of Fame over the past five years, both have had to work to deal with the steroid scandal which came to a head last year.

"When I was here five years ago, not one question about performance-enhancing drugs," said Petroskey, pausing for effect. "Since then, we've been inundated with rumors and allegations."

Slugger Mark McGwire, whose home run chase with Sammy Sosa during the 1998 season captured the attention of the nation and helped the Hall of Fame regain attendance figures which had been steadily dropping since the strike of 1994, is eligible for Hall of Fame Induction in 2007.

Whether McGwire, who hit over 500 home runs during his career, is elected or not, steroids, and their effect on statistics, are bound to dominate conversations and sports talk shows next summer.

"Despite all the good things that have happened in the game, how this (steroids) is dealt with is baseball's most important challenge-by a mile," Petroskey said.