Had there never been a Mitchell report, or if Jason Grimsley had never spilled the beans to a grand jury, or if Andy Pettitte himself had not been so truthful in his congressional affidavit, the question of whether or not Pettitte belongs in the Hall of Fame would have made for great conversation.

By many yardsticks, he is a shoo-in, and by others, he is close enough that a strong case could be made in either direction.

But one slip-up renders the conversation moot: Pettitte admitted to using HGH, he said, on just two occasions in 2004 to speed his recovery from an elbow injury.

Andy Pettitte's exploits on the field will be talked about for years after his retirement. But one off-the-field choice will ruin his Hall candidacy. Rich Schultz/Getty Images

As much as I like and admire Pettitte, who announced on Friday that he will retire after this season, I can't vote for him, and judging by recent results for other known steroid abusers like Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro and Pettitte's former friend Roger Clemens, a lot of other voters feel the same way.

Contrary to what the new breed of steroid apologists -- the ones who believe any means to success is justified -- would have you believe, this is not a moral judgment.

It is a strict reading of the Hall's own criteria for induction, which says as follows: "Voting shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character and contributions to the team[s] on which the player played."

By most of those standards, Pettitte is very much worthy of consideration.

His career total of 255 wins is more than Whitey Ford's final haul. He also had more wins than Juan Marichal, Don Drysdale, Jim Bunning, Catfish Hunter, Lefty Gomez and of course, Sandy Koufax.

His career ERA of 3.86 would be the highest of any Hall of Fame pitcher, but when the current leader in the clubhouse, Red Ruffing (3.80), retired in 1947, the league average ERA was 3.71. This year, the AL average ERA is 4.01. Still, this would be a sticking point for a lot of voters.

And Pettitte's career WAR, if you're into that sort of thing, is 60.3, slightly below that of the average among Hall of Fame pitchers, but still equal to or better than that of Bunning, Ford, Koufax, Hunter and about 25 others who have a plaque on the wall.

Pettitte's winning percentage of .627 is well above the average among Hall of Famers, and he has never had a losing season, although with the way the Yankees have been playing lately, that could end over the course of the final nine games this season.