Some 50 years ago, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart famously wrote in an opinion for the court that he couldn’t necessarily define what constitutes pornography, “but I know it when I see it.”

When it comes to voting for the Baseball Hall of Fame in the wake of the so-called Steroid Era, the same frustrating ambiguity seems to apply.

Left to their own guiding values by the powers that be in Cooperstown, voters have proved to be maddeningly difficult to pin down when it comes to evaluating the careers of men who may or may not have cheated their way to glory in the 1990s and 2000s.

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That label can fairly be applied to me. Through my first three years as a voter, I declined to check the boxes of the two best players on the ballot, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens. I have no doubt that the greatest hitter and pitcher of their era used performance-enhancing substances, and even though they obviously weren’t alone among their contemporaries, I just couldn’t pull the trigger on either of them.

The compromise I reached regarding their candidacies was that I would consider them each year at the bottom of the list of players I deemed Hall-worthy. The combination of a glut of strong candidates the last two years and the Hall’s inexplicable insistence on limiting voters to selecting 10 players each year has kept them on the outside.

I initially planned to continue that course this year as I pared down the 32 players on the ballot for the Class of 2016. Setting Bonds and Clemens aside for the time being, I ended up with a list of nine players to include on my ballot.

Ken Griffey Jr. was the greatest player I covered during my time as a baseball beat writer, though the seasons I spent chronicling his exploits in Cincinnati were far from the greatest in his career. Junior is the one lock in the Class of 2016 and could challenge Tom Seaver’s record of being included on 98.84 percent of ballots in his first year.

Mike Piazza, the best-hitting catcher ever, has been on my ballot every year and it seems likely he’ll get over the 75 percent hump this time after coming in at 69.9 percent of the vote in 2015.

Jeff Bagwell had remarkable numbers and should get in within the next few years (55.7 percent last year), though the clock is starting to tick a bit louder for the Astros great.

Curt Schilling, Edgar Martinez and Alan Trammell also are on my ballot for the fourth consecutive year — though this unfortunately will be the last for the Tigers shortstop, whose only chance to rightfully join contemporaries Ozzie Smith and Barry Larkin will be via future veterans committees.

I checked Tim Raines’ name again after a two-year absence. The second-best leadoff man of all-time had a relatively short window of greatness, but his body of work is Cooperstown-worthy.

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That’s seven names, with my next two spots going to Larry Walker and first-year candidate Trevor Hoffman.

Though voters traditionally have had a fickle relationship with closers, there’s no question in my mind that Hoffman, second only to Mariano Rivera with 601 saves, is worthy. It’s just a question of when he makes it. He’ll get strong support in his inaugural year, but I doubt he’ll make it in on the first ballot.

Walker, meanwhile, has been on my ballot two of the last three years. His overall numbers are remarkable, though others have quibbled with two aspects of his candidacy: injuries that limited him to an average of 123 games in his 16 full big-league seasons and the advantage he gained by playing nearly a third of his games at Coors Field. I’m not as hung up on those issues as some seem to be, especially considering Walker’s impressive stolen base totals early in his career and his outstanding defense throughout. He was more than just a hitter enhanced by a friendly park.

That rundown brings me back to Bonds and Clemens. In my mind, they have to be considered a package deal — you can’t go for one and not the other. Were they better players than Hoffman and Walker? No question. Of the players on this year’s ballot, even Griffey’s numbers pale in comparison.

Having spent so much time around Griffey, I feel as confident about him being clean as any superstar from that era, but of course there are no guarantees. Take Piazza and Bagwell, two players I have previously deemed worthy but who clearly have been dragged down by some voters invoking the Potter Stewart test.

With that in mind, I believe it’s time for me to stop attempting to read decades-old tea leaves when it comes to who cheated and who didn’t. Bonds and Clemens will be on my ballot this year.

Of course, the collateral damage there is that someone will have to come off, thanks to the Hall’s 10-player cap. As much as I’d like to help ensure I can vote for Walker in a future election by doing my part to keep him above the 5 percent threshold to remain on the ballot, I’ll just have to hope others do that work for me. Forced to choose between the two, Hoffman will get the last spot on my ballot.

The Baseball Writers’ Association of America has tried to get the Hall to ease the 10-player limit, even by just bumping it up to 12, but there has been no movement in that direction. As long as that artificial restraint remains in place, voters will have to compare sluggers vs. speedsters vs. starters vs. closers on each year’s ballot rather than each player’s individual worthiness based on historical standards, and that’s a shame.

Whatever their process, voters should be trusted to know a Hall of Famer when they see one — and be allowed to check all the necessary boxes.

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Marc Lancaster’s 2016 Hall of Fame ballot

Jeff Bagwell

Barry Bonds

Roger Clemens

Ken Griffey Jr.

Trevor Hoffman

Edgar Martinez

Mike Piazza

Tim Raines

Alan Trammell

Curt Schilling