Betrayal in the Sports World (Done with baseball!) (1 Viewer)

[Lew Crippen]

For those who can hit the curve, additional strength will definitely help him jerk the ball out of the park.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

...and also turns above-average hitters into record-breaking home run hitters. To have Hank Aaron, Roger Maris and Babe Ruth's records wiped out by a chemically-enhanced Barry Bonds and others is a damn shame and an embarrassment to the sport.

 

[BrianB]

Why has it taken so long for this to be a big deal in the US? In Europe, steriods (and a whole bunch of other stuff) are banned in most (I'd say all, but can't say for sure ) professional sports with regular, and random, drug testing going on. Why has it not been okay for atheletes & soccer players to take steriods, but it is okay for baseball players (up till now)?

 

[Lew Crippen]

As implied (and I think, directly stated), baseball is the only sport that did no steroid testing (until very recently). The rest of our major sports test regularly and randomly.

Europe may be ahead of the States in this, though as I think about the Festina incident a few years ago, it is clear that not all has been perfect in major Euorpean sports either.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

IMO, the major league baseball establishment (owners and players) chose to ignore the issue because they needed to get fans back to the game after the '94 strike/lockout fiasco. They saw these home run record chases as a way to help do that.

 

[BrianB]

Oh don't get me wrong, Lew, I know European sports are far from perfect on the issues of steriods & other drug use, but generally, and I'm speaking of football in particular, they have strong policies against it & strong drug testing policies.

I always presumed the NFL etc had similiar policies, and after reading this thread, I was suprised how much of a "blind eye" steriods appear to have been given in US sports.

 

[Brian Perry]

Also, human growth hormone has probably been the preferred drug among the elite players because there has been no reliable test for it. And the cutting-edge steroids are so well masked that they become unstable (and break up) before hitting the tests. For those reasons it's really amazing that 5-7% of players STILL tested positive, especially when you consider they knew when the tests would take place.

Having said that and being one of the people who say wipe the record books clean of all players from 1992 through 2003, I think there are issues with what can or should be banned. Obviously from Ruth's era to today we have seen a lot of improvement in conditioning and nutrition. And steroids are definitely bad. But what about creatine and other GNC-type products? I see caffeine being banned in the Olympics and wonder if it's really necessary to go that far. How do we decide what is a natural, acceptable enhancement and what should be prohibited?

 

[MarkHastings]

Agreed, but maybe that's because your a Cubs fan and I'm a Red Sox fan.

 

[Lew Crippen]

Kenny Rogers, the once and future Rangers’ pitcher, was quoted in the Dallas Morning News as saying that, a player would have to be an idiot to be suspended’. He is a player who has been outspoken about the use of steroids by players.

In a related news item, players have been warned by the association to not comment as to steroid use. When asked why that advice was given, a representative said it was because of the possibility of a subpoena. Clearly there is a fear that anyone who might know something could be forced to get on the stand and name names.

We will see.

 

[Brian Perry]

I think we'd have to wipe the books clean going back to around 1909!

 

[Phil L]

I find it funny that the players who say steroids are a huge problem are mostly pitchers.

 

[Malcolm R]

Why? They're the ones whose stats and performance are most directly affected by having to face these gorillas.

 

[Jed M]

The worst thing about all of MLB's troubles is you have to listen to some j*ck*ss like Gammons tell us all that, "Hey, but at least people are talking about Baseball".

They do have similar policies to Europe, but lets be honest, the cheaters will always be ahead of the tests available. You do what you can and try to catch as many cheaters as possible but you will never completely eradicate steroid use when millions of dollars are at stake (in any country or sport). The problem with MLB is they don't seem to care at all, or at very best, until last year.

 

[MarkHastings]

Yeah, controsversial baseball doesn't attract people to the ball park like controversial films attract people to theaters.

That whole "Bad news is still news" only works in entertainment (i.e. singers, actors and actresses).

 

[Jeremiah]

Steroids don't always make you bigger, if your goal is not to gain a lot of size, they will still make you very, very strong and quick which helps a player get the bat around faster and make contact. A natural batter would be fouling balls off that the same guy would be driving to the opposite field if on the juice. If you don't want to get huge you just don't need to eat as much and you don't have to go super heavy at the gym.

Also, there is pretty much zero need to only take 1 Cycle of Steroids unless you are the average Joe at the local gym wanting to gain the few extra pounds and bust through your plataeu, or recovering from an injury and want the process sped up a little. Atheletes that take steroids take them for the entire season.

 

[Casey Trowbridg]

Some good points made in this thread and as seems to happen the most lately, I'm going to quote Scott
Bingo, notice that this didn't even become an issue until the season after Bonds hit 73 home runs, and nobody got tested until last season.

I'm not entirely sure what that comment about only the pitchers complaining was supposed to imply, but as was stated they're the ones whom are directly affected by this. I would suspect though I don't know this for a fact that steroids would do more for the guy with the bat than the guy throwing the fastball.

As for the European sports discussion, again this is only MLB that is behind the times, the NFL actually suspends people for doing steroids and other drugs. I'm sure that the NHL and NBA probably have systems closer to the NFL when dealing with steroids but I don't know that for 100 percent certainty.

 

[MarkHastings]

I can't imagine bulking up on steroids would be a good thing for a pitcher to do. Too big of an arm would seem like it would make it harder to throw the ball precisely?

 

[Phil L]

I mean that most pitchers are whiners. Most would scream that David Eckstein is on steroids if he hit a homer off them.

 

[SethH]

I definitely understand your point. I also realize that Nolan Ryan is the exception and not the rule, but Nolan Ryan even at his age now could probably beat the hell out of any of the 'roided up players today.

 

[Jeremiah]

You don't have to get big while on Steroids, if your training doesn't have you lifting real heavy than you will still be able to stay semi-light and get quite strong.

I do agree with kidney problems and the like with 8 months of abuse(if done throughout a career), they are doing more than 1 Cycle though, probably 3. I kept thinking a MLB season was like the NFL's.