The impact of A-Rod’s admission

I’m certainly not the biggest A-Rod fan, in fact I am generally of the view that he is overrated but I must admit, I do admire him for admitting the use of steroids. He could have gone the route of Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire et al but he has done the manly thing and admitted it, granted he could have admitted it 14 months ago but claims he still didn’t know.

As for the effect that the steroids may have had on his figures, having looked at his stats for 2001-2003 and then 2004-2008, it is clear to see that there is actually very little difference. Many people are saying that Texas’ ballpark is much kinder to a rightey than Yankee Stadium and generally he isn’t too far off the figures he put up whilst using steroids. Some people are asking for the 150 odd HRs he hit in the period 2001-2003 to be expunged from his HR total and I can see why they are saying this, maybe it would remove the taint from A-Rod’s achievement in this category, especially if he makes it for the all time record. But the truth is that we cannot say for definite exactly how much of an effect it had on his performance. He has shown he is capable of hitting copious HRs without the steroids.

At the time A-Rod was taking the steroids, there was a culture of it being acceptable, how else could 104 players have tested positive?! This is in no way condoning what he did but he was young and did have a lot of pressure on him to perform. If he is to be believed, he has been clean for the last 5 seasons now and that could show a sign of maturity, on the other hand the fact that the use of steroids is now more frowned upon may have affected him too.

Overall, I admire A-Rod for being a man and admitting his mistakes. Whether he deserves to make Cooperstown is something that should be decided on the field. If necessary, expunge his stats for those 3 seasons and judge him on his “clean” years but for goodness sake, do NOT tar him with the same brush as those who continue to lie about their use of steroids. I would also like to mention Andy Pettite, he admitted to using banned substances, and things seem to have died down around him now. Just because this is A-Rod does not mean that he should be treated differently! He has admitted what he did and is asking for forgiveness. He has another 9 years on his contract with the Yankees and I think he should have the support that he deserves. He will now be under more scrutiny than ever and we will see if he truly does deserve a place in Cooperstown.

Here is an interesting article I found on MLB.com. Basically Marvin Miller take the whole situation to tasks and states, correctly that their has been no scientific proof that performance enhancing drugs actually helps performance, atleast in baseball. He says that players use it because they believe that it will help their performance but that does not actuall mean that it will help their performance. The first sound and rational thing I’ve heard on this controversy in a LONG time.

Here is the Article

http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090210&content_id=3816780&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp&c_id=mlb&partnerId=rss_mlb

I respectfully disagree. Come on! You know juicing up is cheating and is responsible for much of the on field performances that we saw in the era. Of course it helped! Get real please?

Chico with all do respect, what is an unsound and irrational view. I just found this sight that actually bothered to try and measure it and found that you can’t the power numbers. Here the website http://steroids-and-baseball.com/

He also take shots at the poeple who seem to be screaming the loudest but haven’t really bother to check to see if they have scientific proof to back up their claims, which would be ALL of ESPN, Mike Lupica, Jay Merrioti, Mike Francesca and virtually the entire American Sports Journalism establishment who seem behind the times when it comes to actually reporting the news. I realize this is a bit of a stretch but this entire hysteria over steriods and baseball is beginning to remind me of McCarthyism and the House Un-American Activities Committee’s anti communist which hunts. This is not to condone any drug use, but the hysteria has gotten insufferable.

It also reminds me to a certain degree of the Scopes Monkey Trail. For those of you not from the United States let me go off topic for a second, but I need to explain. The Scopes Monkey Trial involved a School Teacher from who rural Tenessee who was charged with violating a statue against teaching Darwin’s theory of Evolution in school. That Battle pitted those who would wrap themselves up in their own morality and those who believe science shouldn’t be censored. Although Scopes was convicted and find one Hundred bucks, The trail showed that Fundamentalists have no business in trying to run peoples lives. That my friends is what these sports writers have become. I bet if you polled them they would say that Darwinism is akin to communism. Bit of a Shame really.

Bonds, Mcguire, Clemens, Palmero, A-rod, (probably Sosa), etc. did it all in their mind. Amazing.

How are my comments irrational? If pointing out that their has been no credible scientific evidence is being irrational then call me irrational. If speaking out against a witch hunt is irrational then Yes I am irrational. I shall have you know that just because the majority of people would think that they world was made in seven days, it doesn’t necessarily follow that it actaully was made in seven days. If 65% of the population believed the moon was made of cream cheese, would that necessarily mean that the moon was made of cream cheese. No it would not.

All I am trying to do is defend against a witch hunt because somebody has to do it. I don’t need to tell you that steriods alone can not explain the explosion of offensive numbers in the mid to late 90’s. Several other factors contributed to the situation. Each of which probably had a greater impact on what was going on.

1. New Ball parks were built which were more hitter friendly than the parks they replaced.

2. Two expansions creating four new teams within a five year period which devastated the pitching pool.

3. The ever shrinking strikezone, where in the umpires stopped calling strikes above the belt.

All of these factors played a part in the increased offenses output that occured during this period. To simply disregard this and attribute it all to chemicals is simply nonsence and bad science.

In addition it doesn’t take into account how steriods may actually hinder ones performance by causing a player to break down and go on the disabled list. Yes steriods do help a player grow muscles but they are not all that flexible and are subject to injury a lot quicker. Just look at what happened to Ken Caminiti, Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire. All of them took steriods and suffered serious injuries which ultimately curtailed their performance.

How is any of that being irrational? As Casey Stengal once said, “You can look it Up.”

Please learn to spell also. Your grammar is a disgrace.

For the record I have done that, and have continued to write about it and send in email to places like ESPN and the what. One time I had my email, which explained what I just wrote, read on the air and one of the Commentators openly mocked it trying to attribute everything to “The Juice.” I would write more emails to ESPN but lately they’ve had a policy of not reading anything that goes against the company line. I used to write stuff like this in emails to my local talk radio host, but they don’t even listen. Tell me Chico, have you always been such a puritan?