Baseball’s Most Unbreakable Records

Merriman is a proven steroid user. Why is there no public outcry to have him banned from football?

In the NFL, players caught juicing get suspended 4 games and return to action. Football fans continue to embrace the player and seem to forget overnight that he was caught breaking the rules. The NBA doesn’t even test for steroids. I have no doubt that there are past and present players in that league that have used an illegal performance enhancer at one point or another. Especially when they are re-habbing an injury. Basketball fans don’t seem to care much about the juice. So this begs the question……Why do people get so angry about steroids in baseball?

Some people are just plain idiots. However the main reason people get hot about steroids in baseball is the numbers. I understand that. Other sports do have important records. But no other sport perceives numbers to be sacred like baseball. So many people get pissed off when they find out many recent sluggers were possibly artificially enhancing their home run totals. If you’ve read any of my other posts then you would know that I believe most steroid bashers to be illogical hypocrites. But I’m not pro-PED. I wish the era of illegal substance use in baseball never happened. But no matter what we do it will always be there. Erasing history, tainted or not, just isn’t right. Nazis burn books and totalitarian regimes try to hide and manipulate history. I’d like to believe that here in the US we are better than that.

Altering the public's perception of history is what Nazis do.

So let’s keep all the records set by alleged juicers. No asterisks, erasing their totals from the record book or denying them the Hall of Fame. In the future we’ll tell their story and make sure that no one ever forgets that PEDs likely enhanced their numbers. You may be saying “but Barry Bonds doesn’t deserve to be the home-run king”. Yes he was an arrogant piece of trash that used illegal substances but he is the All-Time Home Run king. You can’t blame him for MLB’s lack of effort to eliminate PEDs from the game. You don’t like it tough. Maybe you should try embracing Josh Gibson as the all-time leader. Or better yet, embrace Sadaharu Oh’s 868 HR’s he hit in Japan. Maybe that will hold you over until Albert Pujols breaks the record or you decide to stop acting like a child about the HR list.

Don't want to embrace the US HR champ? No problem embrace Oh!

Moving along, if you’re pissed about the tainted HR totals then it’s time to start embracing other records. Chicks dig the long ball but there’s much more to baseball than HRs.  For example look at the list below.

Single Season

Triples: Chief Wilson 36 in 1912

Batting Average: Nap Lajoie .426 in 1901

Wins: Jack Chesbro 41 in 1904

Hitting Streak: 56 Joe Dimaggio 1941

Doubles: Earl Webb 67 1931

Extra Base Hits: Babe Ruth 1921 119

Runs: Babe Ruth 177 1921

Total Bases: 457 Babe Ruth 1921

Career

Triples: Sam Crawford 309

Wins: Cy Young 511

ERA: 1.82 Ed Walsh

Doubles:792 Tris Speaker

AVG: .366 Ty Cobb

Wahoo Sam's Triple record is more impressive than the HR record

These are some absolutely insane numbers. Isn’t batting .426 for a season more impressive than 72 HRs? How about 36 triples in a season? If we as fans held these numbers to the same high regard as HRs then players would strive to break these records.

Steroids in Baseball: The Great Hypocrisy

With McGwire’s recent steroid admission this blog experienced a dramatic increase in traffic. SO I thought it’d be a good time to republish a piece that summarizes my thoughts on steroids in baseball.

Of course he juiced but why deny him the Hall of Fame?

Sammy Sosa recently said “I will calmly wait for my induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Don’t I have the numbers to be inducted?”  However it looks as if Slammin Sammy will be the latest casualty of the steroid era not to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds all have the necessary numbers to reach the Hall of Fame but they likely will never receive a spot in Cooperstown. Why? Here’s the reasons why voters say they are not worthy.

1. They are Cheaters: They cheated themselves and the game. They broke the rules and cheaters just don’t belong in Cooperstown.

2. They gained an Extra Edge:The substances they took were illegal and gave them an extra boost that led to inflated numbers that they likely would not have achieved naturally.

3. It’s a matter of Integrity: We just can’t forever enshrine people like that in baseball’s sacred Hall of Fame.

Those are three most common reasons why people believe anyone that juiced isn’t Hall of Fame worthy. Right now, I want you to honestly think about why you do not believe that these players belong in the HOF. More likely than not your reason(s) fall into one of these categories. If that is the case then guess what?

YOU ARE A HYPOCRITE!

Don’t believe me? Take 5 minutes of your time to read the the remainder of this posting and think about it unbiasedly.

1. They are Cheaters

Would Perry be in Cooperstown without cheating?

So in your opinion, even though there was absolutely no penalties in baseball for what they did, they are cheaters and don’t belong in the Hall of Fame. Okay. I respect you for taking such a strong stance against cheaters. Then again, what about Gaylord Perry? Or even George Brett? Perry was a notorious cheater that would not have had HOF worthy numbers without doctoring the ball and sneaking substances under the bill of his cap or throwing the occasional spit ball. Yet he’s in the Hall. George Brett was busted in the notorious pine tar incident. He’s a very minor example of cheating and I chose him for a reason. He cheated and was caught. Doesn’t that make him a cheater and put him in the same category as Perry? Should we ban everyone that has ever cheated? Baseball has a long history of cheating. Players have always tried bending and breaking the rules in order to gain an edge over their opponent. Baseball culture has always lived by the adage that “if you ain’t cheatin you ain’t tryin.” But now all of the sudden we don’t like cheaters? Okay I can respect that but only as long as every player that has ever cheated in one shape or another is removed from the hall as well. After all, we wouldn’t want lil Timmy to get the wrong idea about right and wrong.

2. They gained an extra Edge

Even the great Willie Mays has been linked to PEDs.

They say: Players that use illegal substances to gain an edge have no place in baseball or Cooperstown.  If that’s so then why is there already at least 2 decade’s worth of amphetamine users in the Hall? Amphetamine use was rampant and accepted in baseball during the late 60’s well into the 80’s. Willie Mays, Pete Rose and Willie Stargell are just 3 of literally hundreds if not thousands of players that used amphetamines. Why is there no media outrage about the “greenie” era of baseball? Players were popping those illegal little green pills like candy. Amphetamines boost a player’s energy level and enhance focus. They are a Performance Enhancing Drug. They may not directly lead to increased muscle but they did allow players to do much more despite fatigue. They without a doubt enhanced players numbers in some way shape or form. The media likes to make everyone think that baseball was pure before the Bash Brothers but that’s nothing more than a fairy tale. Amazingly, amphetamines were not banned in baseball until 2006! Yet another incident of MLB ignoring and profiting off of a PED. Could you imagine what it would have been like if the media was everywhere 35yrs ago like they are today? Perhaps Mays and Stargell would have been blackballed from the HOF and Rose would have 2 wrongs to account for. Steroids likely enhance numbers more significantly than the greenies but all I’m saying is they both are wrong and enhance performance. Yet, one is accepted/ignored and the other one isn’t. That makes absolutely no sense.

3. It’s a matter of Integrity

Cobb was a great player but was he a man of integrity?

This is my personal favorite. “These juicers are low down pieces of garbage and don’t belong there.” So you want your Hall of Famers to be “Men of Integrity”? The definition of integrity is: Steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code. Sounds great doesn’t it. We don’t want immoral or unethical people in the HOF. Right? If that’s the case then why do we have so many unethical people in the HOF? Racists, Drunks, Abusers of Women, Cheaters on the field and in Marriage guess what they are there. For example take Ty Cobb, a man of little integrity. He intentionally spiked opponents, drank too much and was definitely a racist. Cobb did one thing well. And that one thing was baseball. He was one of the greatest players of all time despite not being much of a likable character. On his plaque all of his phenomenal baseball achievements are listed. We remember him as one of the best players of his era but we don’t forget that he is not a role model for our children. It’s fine if you want to view all the alleged juicers as poor people of no integrity. Just don’t overlook the fact that in an era of juicers they were still the best of the best.

In conclusion, this is just another product of today’s oversensitive society. Generation after generation of baseball player has watched their elders bend and break the rules to gain an edge. It was only a matter of time before players turned to steroids. The fans and the media had always turned a blind eye or even embraced the things that players did to gain an edge. Yet all of the sudden, some people got their feelings hurt when they realized that players were achieving historic numbers unnaturally. The over politically correctness of today then labeled this latest edge as something that harms and corrupts the youth. The witch-hunt soon followed. All I’ve got to say is where was baseball at? Where was the media when writers were making money writing about the historic homerun chase of 1998? Where were the fans? Baseball should have started testing 20+ years ago. The media and fans should have voiced more concern over the unnatural bulking up players. No one did anything. Now people are fabricating reasons for keeping the best of players of the era out of the Cooperstown. We don’t have to accept or like what they did but the best players of an era deserve to be in the HOF. Especially, when there were no penalties for what they did.

Like I said before, if your reasoning for keeping steroid users out of the hall is one of the 3 points above then you my friend, are a Hypocrite.

Steroids in Baseball: The Great Hypocrisy

Of course he juiced but why deny him the Hall of Fame?

Sammy Sosa recently said “I will calmly wait for my induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Don’t I have the numbers to be inducted?”  However it looks as if Slammin Sammy will be the latest casualty of the steroid era not to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds all have the necessary numbers to reach the Hall of Fame but they likely will never receive a spot in Cooperstown. Why? Here’s the reasons why voters say they are not worthy.

1. They are Cheaters: They cheated themselves and the game. They broke the rules and cheaters just don’t belong in Cooperstown.

2. They gained an Extra Edge:The substances they took were illegal and gave them an extra boost that led to inflated numbers that they likely would not have achieved naturally.

3. It’s a matter of Integrity: We just can’t forever enshrine people like that in baseball’s sacred Hall of Fame.

Those are three most common reasons why people believe anyone that juiced isn’t Hall of Fame worthy. Right now, I want you to honestly think about why you do not believe that these players belong in the HOF. More likely than not your reason(s) fall into one of these categories. If that is the case then guess what?

YOU ARE A HYPOCRITE!

Don’t believe me? Take 5 minutes of your time to read the the remainder of this posting and think about it unbiasedly.

1. They are Cheaters

Would Perry be in Cooperstown without cheating?

So in your opinion, even though there was absolutely no penalties in baseball for what they did, they are cheaters and don’t belong in the Hall of Fame. Okay. I respect you for taking such a strong stance against cheaters. Then again, what about Gaylord Perry? Or even George Brett? Perry was a notorious cheater that would not have had HOF worthy numbers without doctoring the ball and sneaking substances under the bill of his cap or throwing the occasional spit ball. Yet he’s in the Hall. George Brett was busted in the notorious pine tar incident. He’s a very minor example of cheating and I chose him for a reason. He cheated and was caught. Doesn’t that make him a cheater and put him in the same category as Perry? Should we ban everyone that has ever cheated? Baseball has a long history of cheating. Players have always tried bending and breaking the rules in order to gain an edge over their opponent. Baseball culture has always lived by the adage that “if you ain’t cheatin you ain’t tryin.” But now all of the sudden we don’t like cheaters? Okay I can respect that but only as long as every player that has ever cheated in one shape or another is removed from the hall as well. After all, we wouldn’t want lil Timmy to get the wrong idea about right and wrong.

2. They gained an extra Edge

Even the great Willie Mays has been linked to PEDs.

They say: Players that use illegal substances to gain an edge have no place in baseball or Cooperstown.  If that’s so then why is there already at least 2 decade’s worth of amphetamine users in the Hall? Amphetamine use was rampant and accepted in baseball during the late 60’s well into the 80’s. Willie Mays, Pete Rose and Willie Stargell are just 3 of literally hundreds if not thousands of players that used amphetamines. Why is there no media outrage about the “greenie” era of baseball? Players were popping those illegal little green pills like candy. Amphetamines boost a player’s energy level and enhance focus. They are a Performance Enhancing Drug. They may not directly lead to increased muscle but they did allow players to do much more despite fatigue. They without a doubt enhanced players numbers in some way shape or form. The media likes to make everyone think that baseball was pure before the Bash Brothers but that’s nothing more than a fairy tale. Amazingly, amphetamines were not banned in baseball until 2006! Yet another incident of MLB ignoring and profiting off of a PED. Could you imagine what it would have been like if the media was everywhere 35yrs ago like they are today? Perhaps Mays and Stargell would have been blackballed from the HOF and Rose would have 2 wrongs to account for. Steroids likely enhance numbers more significantly than the greenies but all I’m saying is they both are wrong and enhance performance. Yet, one is accepted/ignored and the other one isn’t. That makes absolutely no sense.

3. It’s a matter of Integrity

Cobb was a great player but was he a man of integrity?

This is my personal favorite. “These juicers are low down pieces of garbage and don’t belong there.” So you want your Hall of Famers to be “Men of Integrity”? The definition of integrity is: Steadfast adherence to a strict moral or ethical code. Sounds great doesn’t it. We don’t want immoral or unethical people in the HOF. Right? If that’s the case then why do we have so many unethical people in the HOF? Racists, Drunks, Abusers of Women, Cheaters on the field and in Marriage guess what they are there. For example take Ty Cobb, a man of little integrity. He intentionally spiked opponents, drank too much and was definitely a racist. Cobb did one thing well. And that one thing was baseball. He was one of the greatest players of all time despite not being much of a likable character. On his plaque all of his phenomenal baseball achievements are listed. We remember him as one of the best players of his era but we don’t forget that he is not a role model for our children. It’s fine if you want to view all the alleged juicers as poor people of no integrity. Just don’t overlook the fact that in an era of juicers they were still the best of the best.

In conclusion, this is just another product of today’s oversensitive society. Generation after generation of baseball player has watched their elders bend and break the rules to gain an edge. It was only a matter of time before players turned to steroids. The fans and the media had always turned a blind eye or even embraced the things that players did to gain an edge. Yet all of the sudden, some people got their feelings hurt when they realized that players were achieving historic numbers unnaturally. The over politically correctness of today then labeled this latest edge as something that harms and corrupts the youth. The witch-hunt soon followed. All I’ve got to say is where was baseball at? Where was the media when writers were making money writing about the historic homerun chase of 1998? Where were the fans? Baseball should have started testing 20+ years ago. The media and fans should have voiced more concern over the unnatural bulking up players. No one did anything. Now people are fabricating reasons for keeping the best of players of the era out of the Cooperstown. We don’t have to accept or like what they did but the best players of an era deserve to be in the HOF. Especially, when there were no penalties for what they did.

Like I said before, if your reasoning for keeping steroid users out of the hall is one of the 3 points above then you my friend, are a Hypocrite.

PEDs: What MLB should do

I hate talking about Performance Enhancers in baseball. It seems like every time I think I can just enjoy baseball another big name player is linked to steroids. So I’m going to reflect on what I’d do to solve this problem if I was in Bud Selig’s shoes.

Steroids & MLB: Earth to Bud Selig

Spring training is just a few weeks away and once again steroids is the top story in baseball. I’m sick of talking about already but in case you missed it. Over the weekend it was leaked that A-Rod was one of 104 players that tested positive for steroids in 2003.

So now many people are calling for the other names to be released. Curt Schilling is all for it. Saying something to the degree that releasing those names will clear the cloud of suspicion from the players who didn’t test positive.

I say fine release it. But really what does it prove? Who cares those guys didn’t break the league rules. All because Bud Selig didn’t do his job and enact a steroid policy. And those tests were so basic. They didn’t test for the big drug HGH. As far as we know guys are still doping. Baseball still doesn’t test for it. How ridiculous. So while I admire Schilling for wanting to clear the names of those who didn’t test positive, releasing the names proves absolutely nothing.

Hell for all we know A-Rod is still doping. So even if he comes clean about using anabolic steroids in ’03, that does not clear him now. He’s already lied to the public once about juicing. So I expect he’ll eventually release a statement admitting guilt. He’ll say he’s sorry and it was a mistake. He’ll probably also say it was an isolated event. I say bullshit. Until MLB gets tough about testing we can’t believe anyone.

We have baseball itself to blame. Not McGwire, Bonds, Clemens, Sosa, Canseco or Palmeiro. Bud Selig and all the suits profited off roids. It was the steroid era because of the suits. They ignored the cancer when it was a small isolated problem that could have easily been stopped. Then when the cancer spread everywhere and caused them discomfort they tried to stop it by wishing it away. Well Bud Selig, I’ve got news for you it’s time for you to either step down or man up and enact Olympic style drug testing. How can we possibly believe that players aren’t still doping when they can still easily get away with it.

Thanks for the mess Bud Selig. We have an entire era of juiced baseball. With the exception of a select few, the stars of baseball were all juicing. And guess what? They didn’t break any rules because baseball did nothing to stop it. So to the sportswriters of the nation, don’t punish McGwire, Bonds, Sosa and company for baseball’s failure to enact a drug policy.

I say put them in the hall and include all the accusations on their plaque. Then when kids ask their dad how’d Bonds get away with that? Their father can look to their child and say, “Because baseball didn’t do anything to stop him”.

McGwire, the Steroid Era & the Future

Deadspin.com put Mark McGwire back in the news today. Reportedly Big Mac’s little brother, Jay McGwire, has been trying to sell his tell-all book to publishers. According to Jay he introduced his older brother to performance enhancing drugs in 1994. That of course contradicts Jose Canseco’s account of McGwire’s steroid use. That’s the only new revelation that seems to have come out of this. Not surprisingly no publishers have picked up Jay’s book.

Jay and Mark reportedly have no relationship anymore. Jay claims he wrote this book to help Mac come clean.

What a load of BS!

First of all what kind of brother, estranged or not,  throws his family under the bus to make a profit? Jay is an ex professional bodybuilder who got hooked on roids. His life ended up falling apart and he found himself broke. Remind you of anyone? Hmm. Could it be another brother of McGwire’s? Perhaps a Bash Brother?

I really don’t care whose account is accurate. McGwire did without a doubt use performance enhancing drugs. But so did 90% of the league during the “Steroid Era”. The strange thing is those performance enhancers were not banned by baseball. Many of them were illegal by law. But anything from smoking weed to beating on your wife is illegal. And there are still many players in professional sports who do something that is illegal to some degree every day. Hell most ordinary people do too. If you’re reading this thinking what is this crackpot talking about? If this is you answer this. Have you gone faster than the posted speed limit, failed to come to a complete stop at a stop sign or failed to wear your seatbelt? Odds are you answered yes. So you too have broken the law most likely without getting caught.

But back to the point, I hate that players were/are juicing. But I blame the MLB. It’s their mess and they chose not to deal with it. Chicks and fans do dig the long ball. A historic homerun race would probably be great for baseball after a strike wouldn’t it?

The HR race that saved baseball

Baseball execs let the drug problem baseball grow and grow because it was good for them. It wasn’t until Barry Bonds II (the giant headed Bonds with the Schwarzenegger body) started breaking every homerun record that the public started to realize that there was something wrong. DC then decided to get involved and we all know the story from there.

BondsI on the left BondsII on the right

So what can be done?

MLB wants to just act like it never happened. They think that if you just don’t acknowledge the players of that era that it’ll go away. They obviously couldn’t be more wrong.

Here’s what they need to do.

Baseball is made up of eras. The most recent era will forever be remembered as the Steroid Era. So why not acknowledge the greats of the era? Here are the stipulations that I believe should be imposed.

1. Players that are obviously lying about their steroid use (Clemens, Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, Palmeiro) must come clean to the public.

2. They must volunteer time to a MLB ran anti-steroid program that operates throughout the US and Latin America to educate kids and prospects about the dangers of performance enhancers.

If a player completes these steps then the writers shouldn’t leave these guysoff their Hall of Fame ballots. And their accounts of drug use and what they’ve done to help the youth should be forever enshrined in Cooperstown on their plaque.

the road to cooperstown should be difficult but achievable

I know many people will disagree with this but just think about for a little bit before you write it off as a stupid idea. It takes a great deal of time and effort to work in these programs so these guys won’t be getting off easily. And at the same time an entire era superstars will not just be simply ignored. They may have been juicing during some of their historic milestones but they were still the superstars of a league where the majority of players were doing the same thing. So they were the best of their era.

In conclusion, I believe Big Mac out of all these guys is perhaps the best person on the inside. He was always a team player and he didn’t have the huge ego of Bonds and Clemens. If McGwire decides baseball is something he wants in his life again he can have it if he comes clean. The other guys want back in but no one wants them. I believe that if they come clean and dedicate time to educating the youth about steroids they should be allowed back in baseball and in the Hall of Fame. I have a hard time believing that Bonds or Clemens would ever do what I propose. But Sosa, McGwire and perhaps others would be great candidates to go through the program and be positive role models once again.