Say Anything Blog

I don’t pay much attention to MLB any more...haven’t since the strike.  But, frankly I think this whole thing about steroids is every bit as overdone as the nonsense about marijuana use.

There are substances that I think should be banned, notably EPO, but simply because they are a proven danger to the athelete.

If it’s otherwise legal to proscribe the drug, as with HGH and AAS steroids, in my opinion it should be allowed for use in sports.

Guess that makes me a bit of a social libertarian?

The Babe’s contribution to MLB went way beyond numbers.  No one will ever match him, in an overall sense.  The Babe is the reason Bonds has a game to play and millions to spend.

James Bond?

I agree, I was hoping that he would break his leg rounding first and wouldn’t be able to make it.

Babe Ruth got his record on Beer and Hot Dogs...Hank Aaron got his on class...and Barry Bonds tied the Babe’s record on steroids.

Anyone read Hank Aaron’s book.  Bitter man.

maybe it was all the death threats?

Carrick, you hit it. My problem with steroid use is those who are denying it. We are supposed to believe an athlete’s major change of muscularture is due to eating his Wheaties? Get real. Admit it and move on. Bonds was a good ball player, then out of the blue he became SuperPlayer. And we, the public, are expected to believe it is all natural. Please.

I was hoping every pitcher he faced would walk him.

If you’re a baseball fan, a real baseball fan, the number 714 is sacred.  It is bigger than 61, 755, 4,192, .406, 56 or 73.

Time will sort this out.  Is is signifigant that Barry Bonds has hit 714+ home runs.  Yes… steroids or not.  It is signifigant and impressive.  Bonds numbers all the way around are very good.  Batting average above .300, more than 500 stolen bases and 68 games with 2 or more home runs… 4 behind Babe Ruth.

I’m not a Bonds apologist, I’m just putting some context behind the numbers.  Baseball is all about numbers.

I am a real baseball fan.  Baseball is much more than just numbers.  I’ve done everythng in baseball except actually play and I haven’t sung the national anthem.  I’ve got so many memories of sitting beside my Dad at the ball games watching my heros play.  If you were a real baseball fan you would understand.

Carol, that’s kind of a given.  There’s nothing better than spending a few hours at the ballpark, enjoying the weather and the game.  I was just trying to point out that baseball is the only professional sport where the numbers are almost as important as the properties of the game.

Tell me how many yards Emitt Smith ran for or how many goals Wayne Gretzky has (894, I’m a hockey freak).  There just isn’t the same connection.

I guess I am a tradition baseball snob.  Another horrible character defect and these defects seem to be piling up.  Argh.

Whatever records Bonds sets will come with a big ‘ol asterisk behind it.

There will be two sets of baseball records: steroid records, and non-steroid records.

docdave—Look back to pre-1993 when Bonds was with Pittsburgh.  He was a skinny man.  But, he was good.  He had a good batting average, was getting noticed for the number of doubles hit, he had some power and hit quite a few home runs and he was stealing a lot of bases.  Barry Bonds is good.

Now, skip ahead to 1998/1999.  Bonds starts hitting a butt-load of home runs.  Then he breaks McGwire’s mark (notice my distinction).  Steriods did not make Bonds or McGwire for that matter, a better player, they were already good.  Steroids allowed for those warning track pop-ups to go over the wall.

Oh, yeah… Bonds is one of the best left-fielders in baseball… ever.  Again, I’m sounding like a Bonds apologist, but I’m not.  I’m just saying.

Doc,

Steroid use is not going to improve hand-eye coordination one bit, so a hitter will be no better and no worse than before.  But by bulking up as Bonds and others have done, a lot of balls which would have been fly ball outs to the outfield are now home runs over the fence.

It is entirely likely that at least half the home runs hit by Bonds in the last 10 years would have been routine outs without the “better hitting through chemistry” he has clearly indulged in.  We’ll never really know… and that’s a shame.

docdave—your thesis that there are more homeruns being hit is sort of false.  Reference these numbers. 

There is a trend that athletes in all sports are getting faster and stronger.  In baseball, there is an uptick in the numbers of homeruns hit as a total, but individually we’re lucky if there is one or two players that hit 50 or more long balls.

Pujols’ home run totals since coming into the league in 2001… 37, 34, 43, 46, 41.  And he has 21 so far this year.  On pace to hit over 80.  Pujols is averaging 40.2 home runs a season.  Let’s assume he hits 50 this year and plays 15 years, averaging 40 homers through his 10th season and then 25 in his 11th and 12th seasons and 20 home runs for the last 3 seasons of his hypothetical 15 year career.  Pujols would hit 521 home runs and average 34+ a year.  Hall of Fame numbers certainly, but not Ruthian.

Oh, Pujols is considered in the baseball world as one of the more clean cut and hardest working players in the game.  He is always in gym and always in the cage.  That is why Bonds made the comment he did yesterday, telling America and the reporters to concentrate on him because he is clean and he is THAT good.

I have read a number of accounts where Ruth had the bat boys run up to the concessions to get hot dogs, sometimes 2 or 3 times a game.  It’s also known that Ruth would slug back a beer or two during games, especially if he was out late the night before.  Mickey Mantle used bite the hair of the dog before games as well.  I for one would not be opposed to having those kind of ballplayers back.

The memories of the beer leagues.  I looked like a ballplayer and played like one… at least that’s what the beer told me.

Then there is the"placebo" effect. Just your believe that something will help you has an effect. Confidence. Though confidence does not make you suddenly look like Charles Atlas when the year before you looked like Catfish Hunter.

My only problem with steroids in baseball is that they’re a gray area.  Either they should be explicitly allowed so that all players have equal access and thus are competing on a level playing field or they should be explicitly banned.

Personally, I want a hard and firmly enforced ban.  I want to see athletes at the top of the game, not the people who have the best chemistry set.

And no, I’m not taking anything away from Bonds.  He is a tremendous player, but the only reason he is at the level he’s at now is steroids.  For anyone who has followed his career that is all the proof that is needed.  Bonds would have gone down as one of the all-time greats.  An asshole, but something of a legend.  That being said, his name wouldn’t be mentioned in the same breath as Ruth’s if he wasn’t chemically enhanced.

Not that he deserves to be mentioned with Ruth even now.  No one has ever dominated the game like Ruth did, who hit more home runs than entire teams in his day.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

When Ruth Hit 50 for the first time, he hit more than every team combined!

Exactly my point.

Bonds is no Babe Ruth.

And let’s nor forget the other aspects of Ruth’s game.  He was an excellent right fielder and began his career (was actually called to the majors because of it) as an excellent pitcher.  He only quit pitching so that they could have his bat in the lineup every day.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

Yeah, that is the saddest thing about the Bonds legacy.

He was and is a great all-around player, even when he isn’t doped up, but now his entire career is in speculation because he took the juice.

If he hadn’t shot up or applied that cream or whatever, he no doubt would have ended up in the Hall of Fame as a legend.

Now, its all in doubt.

But then again, I think Pete Rose should be in.

This just came across my Google Alert.

Calling Barry no better than a scab.

“Since the steroid scandal, the numbers have dropped. Guys have retired because they couldn’t handle the pressure and the flak they were taking. Heard Sammy Sosa’s name lately? Rafael Palmeiro? Sammy didn’t do (anything) in Baltimore. Obviously, he was guilty as charged, but he didn’t get caught. To me, if you’ve cheated as a player, that’s as bad as being a scab.”

Ouch!

Rob:

Either they should be explicitly allowed so that all players have equal access and thus are competing on a level playing field or they should be explicitly banned.

It’s already the case that people who have better trainers will perform better.  Rules can’t stop some inequality from creeping in.  Money does buy you somethings that you can’t get another way.  That’s just life.

I just think personally that they’ve gone overboard on this denial of the use of steroids.  If it doesn’t harm the athlete, and has been permitted for use in normal medicine, it should be allowed.

Then you can use the life-time bans on people who want to dope up on EPO or other hazardous chemicals.

It’s already the case that people who have better trainers will perform better. Rules can’t stop some inequality from creeping in. Money does buy you somethings that you can’t get another way. That’s just life.

I just think personally that they’ve gone overboard on this denial of the use of steroids. If it doesn’t harm the athlete, and has been permitted for use in normal medicine, it should be allowed.

I agree with what you’re saying, but in reality this isn’t how things are being done.  I’m not against the use of some of these subtances per se, I’m just against the idea that it’s all “under the table.” Some players take them because they aren’t afraid of being caught, other players refrain.  It creates an atmosphere where some players claim a competitive advantage that others can’t.

When the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.

-- Thomas Jefferson

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

And don’t forget about the player that is the superstar who has the ability to sidestep the tests.

Rob:

I agree with what you’re saying, but in reality this isn’t how things are being done. I’m not against the use of some of these subtances per se, I’m just against the idea that it’s all “under the table.”

As usual we agree.  I’m just saying no problem to otherwise legal drugs.

This non-steroids use is every bit as retarded as “political correctness”.

Here I was hoping he’d break his leg before he tied him and never be able to play again.

whatever? You consider athletes heros?

Bonds is the supreme athlete of all time. Rob wishes for him to fail. If we can deny the concept of greatness in sports, we can deny it everywhere--the celebration of mediocrity will return, which anticipates the end of the capitalist system.