McGwire, Roid Freak

[Benjamin Grimm]

I know it may not pass the "verified" criteria, but what year was it when Lenny Dykstra showed up in Port St. Lucie all buffed up like the Hulk?

[metirish]

Just curious here for opinions.....

In twenty years will these players that have had HOF careers but have "juiced" be in the HOF?

"JUICED".....suspected of , caught , knowen to have done, admitted it...have admitted etc.

I think those who have admitted to it will be , but guys like Clemens and Bonds who say they have not won't be in....

[smg58]

I know it may not pass the "verified" criteria, but what year was it when Lenny Dykstra showed up in Port St. Lucie all buffed up like the Hulk?[/quote:2khe74ps]

I'm pretty sure it was 1993, his career year.

[Benjamin Grimm]

No, it was definitely when he was a Met. I'm thinking 1987, or maybe 1988.

[nymr83]

Just curious here for opinions.....

In twenty years will these players that have had HOF careers but have "juiced" be in the HOF?

"JUICED".....suspected of , caught , knowen to have done, admitted it...have admitted etc.

I think those who have admitted to it will be , but guys like Clemens and Bonds who say they have not won't be in....[/quote:2r6n6s9v]

I think there is going to be a much higher bar for power hitters from this era, which is appropriate anyway because stats should be put into historical perspective to begin with. fair or not (and its probably not) i don't see any pitchers getting a "cloud of suspicion" over them the way hitters do unless they actually become linked to steroids (like Clemens)

[Frayed Knot]

No, it was definitely when he was a Met. I'm thinking 1987, or maybe 1988.[/quote:19r4sf43]

Definitely. "Vitamins" was his explanation.

Prior to that, the first guy I remember as coming back from an off-season all bulked-up was Brian Downing, then with Anaheim, and I'm thinking that was '85 or so. Not that that alone makes him a 'verified' roids user.

[Guest LeiterWagnerFasterStrongr]

1987, then 1993. IIRC, he had two stages of buffery-- late Mets, then late (and superinflated) Phils.

[Centerfield]

Jack Clark (the guy is talkative of late!) chimes in an calls McGwire a "creep".

Article:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4828816

After a rough tally, I think I hate everyone mentioned in that article.

[Guest attgig]

he's right, and nobody else man's up to say it like it is. McGwire is pretty much insulting everyone in baseball by giving all of his excuses, and everyone in baseball that's vouching for him by saying he's doing a good thing by telling the "truth" (when all he's really doing is confirming things people knows and giving piss poor excuses for it) is insulting everyone else in baseball.

blah.

[metirish]

"Fakes and phonies"......hard to argue with that.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I hope his Hall of Fame vote count goes down by at least half next year.

[Guest Edgy DC]

At least he's on the ballot.

Pete Rose, who also took the path of own-up-not-because-it's-noble-but-only-when-it's-the-best-path-left-to-Cooperstown, still isn't.

[metirish]

This is best read in a hoity-toity voice

The highly orchestrated apology by and on behalf of Mark McGwire has reached a point that tests one's tolerance. I suspect I am not alone in my disappointment at McGwire's recent "clarification" on his use of illegal steroids. But, has no one noticed? McGwire is not apologizing for his deceit, only for the embarrassment that came from his admission of having previously lied. The timing of his announcement at the start of a new baseball season has allowed him to hide behind the frenzy of a new Cardinal season and the blinding faith of Cardinal loyalists. Mark McGuire chose to take performance-enhancing drugs 9 of his 18 years in professional baseball. He was paid millions while perpetrating a fraud. So how is it MLB Commissioner Bud Selig gives him a pass and welcomes McGwire back to the very game he betrayed? Christine Brennan of USA Today was accurate in describing Mark McGwire as professional baseball's infamous "Good Cheater." What can we now expect from Major League Baseball for Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens and Sammy Sosa? Bottom-line...Mark McGwire made a "personal" decision to use illegal drugs. He deliberately cheated the game and stole its most coveted records along the way. He stonewalled Congress. He even lied to the Cardinal fans and the media by his now infamous quote of February 2005, "Once and for all, I did not take steroids or any other illegal substances". McGuire has chosen to come out of the closet at the perfect time -- Alongside a manager who also refuses to be honest, to the fans or to the game itself. After all, why would Tony La Russa hire a hitting coach whose lifetime batting average was only .263? Bill McClellan of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch probably stated it best in his recent assessment of McGwire's remarks. "I took steroids for my health, never to enhance my performance," stated McGwire. But according to McClellan, "That's like apologizing for eating vegetables." McClellan further points to McGwire's playing himself as the "victim." He even wishes there had been drug testing when he started playing. Maybe someone would have stopped him. Huh? "Isn't' that sort of like Bernie Madoff lamenting the lack of government regulation to justify his swindling investors," points out McClellan. Will the time ever arrive when professional baseball recognizes the severity of McGwire's actions? When will Bud Selig realize that former Players' Association president, Donald Fehr, manipulated him and baseball by keeping drug monitoring off the table during years of negotiations? Fehr and Selig made a mockery of their responsibilities to protect the integrity of the game. Adolphus A. Busch, IV. St. Louis, MO