A-ROD'S 600th, Whenever, Being Disparaged By Many Observers! But He's A Steroider In Good Standing!
Palin'sHotHeinie
a) Which players today are using performance drugs?
b) How many steroiders will eventually get into the Hall?
Since the inception of the National League in 1876, baseball has
undergone some
major, records-affecting changes -- including moving the pitcher's
mound from home plate from 50 feet(!) to 60 ft. 6 inches; introduction
of the American League ca. 1901; going from the dead ball era to the
lively ball; and the evolution of better fielders' gloves, batters'
gloves, catchers' masks and pads, batting helmets, and body armor.
Each of these epochs were reflected in players' offensive and
defensive statistics -- some better, some worse.
So now, in Hall of Fame considerations, should we consider player
records in the steroid era separate from those before ca. 1990?
Remember, along with steroid use, MLB players over the past 25 or so
years have adopted better training methods, seen generally shorter
ballpark fence distances, smaller strike zones, and lower pitchers'
mounds -- factors in addition to 'roids that have contributed to a
decidedly power-driven game.
And many HOF voters today will be replaced when the likes of Bonds and
McGwire are still eligible for induction.
Stuff to think about as A-Rod staggers to 600 homers.
----------------------------
"Alex Rodriguez' 600th homer will be a milestone in a tarnished
legacy"
By John Feinstein
Tuesday, August 3, 2010; 1:45 PM
It may be time for Alex Rodriguez to put out a call for Denny McLain.
Thirty-two years ago, as his career was winding down, Mickey Mantle
was stuck in a tie with Jimmy Foxx on the career home run list at 534.
On a late September Thursday afternoon in Detroit, with McLain en
route to his 31st victory of the season, Mantle came to the plate in
the eighth inning with the Tigers leading 6-1. McLain told Mantle he
was going to groove a fastball. Gratefully, Mantle hit it into the
upper deck, then shook McLain's hand after he had crossed the plate.
McLain is 56 now, but surely he can get a pitch to home plate so A-Rod
can hit his 600th home run and bring an end to the national nightmare
that began July 22 - 43 at-bats ago entering Tuesday night's game
against the Toronto Blue Jays - when he hit his 599th home run against
the Kansas City Royals.
The Rodriguez home run watch has once again raised the issue about
where the steroid-era players, specifically those who have admitted to
using or have tested positive, fit into the baseball pantheon.
Mark McGwire, he of the 70 home runs in 1998 and 573 for his career,
has twice been turned away from the gates of the Hall of Fame. Needing
75 percent of the vote from members of the Baseball Writer's
Association of America, McGwire has yet to crack 25 percent.
Others with numbers comparable to McGwire's - Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa,
Rafael Palmeiro and Rodriguez - will be on the ballot in the future,
as will Roger Clemens. If the voters remain consistent, none will be
enshrined in Cooperstown. What would that say about the way baseball
has been led in the last 25 years?
Of course some or all of those players might end up getting enshrined,
perhaps with plaques that mention that their cheating. In the midst of
the A-Rod watch, the seamheads, who make up a large bloc of eligible
voters, are starting to line up the excuses.
They're the same sort of tired justifications often heard from fans,
ranging from "Babe Ruth never played against African-Americans, and no
one says his numbers are tainted" to "Hank Aaron and Willie Mays may
very well have popped greenies - what about their numbers?" to the
ever-popular "You know, there weren't any rules against steroids until
2003."
The final assertion is the most absurd, because Fay Vincent banned
performance-enhancing steroids from baseball in 1991 after they were
declared illegal by the government. The ban was completely toothless
because there was no testing until 2003. The only way a player could
get caught was to admit using, which the late Ken Caminiti, the 1996
National League MVP, did after retiring.
But let's not perpetuate the myth that the players weren't doing
anything wrong in the 1990s. If they didn't know they were breaking
the rules, why did so many of them blatantly lie when the subject came
up?
What's more, we likely will never know just how widespread the
epidemic really was. In 2007, just prior to the release of the
Mitchell report, Tom Glavine and Mike Mussina, two of the game's
brighter people who both had been heavily involved with the union
smack in the middle of the steroids era, estimated that steroid-use
was probably about 25 percent at its height.
In all likelihood, it was probably closer to 50 percent. Ron Darling,
who pitched for the Mets, Expos and Athletics, remembers getting to
Oakland in 1991 and being struck by what he saw in his new clubhouse.
"When I was with the Mets in the '80s, guys would sit around the
clubhouse after the game and eat," he said. "That's what you did. You
ate, you took a shower and you went out. When I got to Oakland, almost
no one ate the postgame food. Most of the guys put on a T-shirt and
shorts and went to the weight room. You can't - simply can't - work
out every single night that way and also during the day before the
games too without putting something in your body that allowed you to
recover. It just wasn't possible."
We now know it wasn't possible. Baseball remains in the steroids
abyss, which is why none of the cheaters should ever be allowed in the
Hall of Fame without buying a ticket. Rodriguez will probably play at
least five more seasons and finish with 800-plus home runs (or he
might finish with 599 if he can't track down McLain soon). In all
likelihood, his name won't appear on a Hall of Fame ballot for at
least 10 years.
By then a lot of time will have passed, and he will have charmed a lot
of people. McGwire, who has already been accepted again as a hero in
St. Louis after finally confessing (tearfully) this past winter, will
probably get more votes with each passing year. People will make the
defensible argument that Bonds and Clemens were Hall-of-Famers before
they took steroids.
In truth, none of those excuses wash. Cheating is cheating, and this
group and the less-talented players who also cheated have damaged the
game and are still damaging it because this discussion isn't going to
end for years. The easiest excuse in the world is "I wasn't the only
one."
That's not the issue right now. At this moment in time the issue is
what Alex Rodriguez's 600th home run means in terms of baseball
history. The answer is almost nothing. With or without Denny McLain,
he's a cheat who lied until he was outed.
He's not alone, but that doesn't make him any less guilty.
[For more from the author, read his blog at www.feinsteinonthebrink.com]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/03/AR2010080303624.html
Double-Aces
NissTech
cheat. I can only hope he NEVER makes it to the HOF,
Along with all the other Douche Bags that took it in the ass in the
ster-Rod... I mean Roid era.
for god sake man , get the guy some Tic Tac's
"Double-Aces" <fisherm...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:ef690a9d-8a89-41a9...@z10g2000yqb.googlegroups.com...
Double-Aces
on market conditions. Thus I am sure that he cares about your opinion
of who and what he is.
Really.
NissTech
I mean Really ?
"Double-Aces" <fisherm...@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:e0a8c48c-3d68-4d10...@e20g2000vbn.googlegroups.com...
Double-Aces
distractions, you may join their official moderated group here
http://groups.google.com/group/yankeesng?lnk=srg
However to answer your lame question, the $155,000.00 or so that the
Yankees pay A-Rod everyday and the baseball related endorsement income
that he earns, is clearly pertinent to baseball on this newsgroup. You
can understand that, can't you.........?
On the other hand, if I want to mention that Aretha Franklin, "the
Queen Of Soul" will not be attending tax cheat and general numbskull
Charlie Wrangel's birthday party next week, but that the Rikers Island
Alumni Association has accepted Charlies invitation (Charlie wants to
know what wing to request)............well I can discuss that as well
if I so choose.
The really interesting thing is that, you will only read this, if you
so choose to............As you just did.
So Chow.