135 Comments

I still think it's completely absurd at this point and what's actually needed is honesty here.

One of these guys needs to be honest. Should probably be Bonds. Because the ACTUAL answer to "why did you do it" is simple. Because everyone else was and that's what it took to be the best in that era.

Bonds seemingly began using after getting angry watching the Sosa v McGwire race. Once a ton of guys started using it becomes insane to expect these hyper competitive athletes to willingly give up an advantage to someone like Brady Andersen.

Those guys used because everyone else was using. If Kevin Brown was going to do it you can bet everything you have that Clemens wasn't going to let himself fall behind.

We should let anybody in who tells the truth, the actual truth about that era. Then make note of that truth on their plaques.

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I didn’t know that steroids were legal in the USA unless legally prescribed.

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This nonsense all was dealt with years ago--see the web site "Steroids and Baseball" (https://steroids-and-baseball.com/). Joe reviewed the site some years back. The upshot is that the medical evidence is clear that so-called "performance-enhancing drugs" have about zero to do with hitting home runs. Read the site for details. Those men's careers would have been the same without the PEDs (if they indeed did take them).

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They have nothing to do with hitting home runs, but a guy whose head grew about 2 hat sizes goes from hitting a HR every 13.55 AB from ages 25 to 34 then starts hitting homers every 9.06 at bats from 35 to 42 when most guys are falling off a cliff? Yeah, ok.

Steroids alone won't make you hit homers; you also need talent. But to pretend like Sosa, McGwire, and Bonds and others weren't greatly aided by using steroids is, to borrow your word, nonsense.

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Very obviously you have not looked at the linked web site. To pretend--your choice of word--that you know all about the topic just from reading donkeys like Buster Olney, as opposed to a tidal wave of medical experts, is more than a little presumptuous.

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Ok, so steroids don't help, but everyone started taking them and their home run totals jumped through the roof, right? Just a wild coincidence. Got it.

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RIP Rickey Henderson. Only 65, way too young.

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More relevant.

Where does Myles Garrett go next?

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The Hall of Fame is confounding to me. It must be an incredible place to visit, but the criteria to get in sure seems unclear and not quite fair. The older I get (61 and counting) the less I see the need for post-season or post-career awards. I totally understand the need to celebrate a team or player's season/career, but why does there need to be a label attached to it? "Hey, great season! You are the MOST VALUABLE of all of us!" Why is there such a need to assign someone as the G.O.A.T.? Especially when there are so many variables attached to every single athlete's career. Dave Parker gets into the H.O.F. with a pretty hefty variable, and Roger Clemens stays out with a pretty hefty variable. Ty Cobb gets in with a pretty hefty variable, and Pete Rose stays out with a pretty hefty variable. And there are so many other, and probably better, comparisons like that. Hmmmm, it's pretty dang clear that I am definitely heading for the Curmudgeon HOF :) Happy Holidays Everyone!

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Why did Sosa have to vaguely admit steroid use to be invited back? Shouldn’t management admit that they encouraged steroid use, enjoying the revenue from the Sosa and McGwire HR chase?

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“We know nothing. We don’t know who used, who didn’t, how much, how little or what impact it actually had on their careers. It’s all speculation. ”

Love ya but … no. That’s untrue. And sounds like white washing. By someone who covered baseball. But didn’t ask. Or didn’t want to ask. Others did. So world learned about it. From them.

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Ah, nothing like the steroid era but bring people together. What's next? The Middle East? Toilet paper roll over or under? Consensus!

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One of these is not like the other. The over/under question for toilet paper does actually have an answer. Unfortunately, the correct answer is wrong. The right way to do it... the way <insert favorite deity here> intended it, is over. Of that, there is absolutely no debate. However, practically speaking, under solves the problem of cats/kids swatting at it and unrolling it all. The fallen nature of our world and bad karma from whatever happened generations ago when leaves were all we had has left us living in a world of irony and suffering and soft-*** rear ends that used to only belong to the richest of kings.

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Is anyone else tired of this topic?

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If I were a Dodger fan, I would absolutely, positively have that on my back windshield.

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Well, this article woke us up! After that post-mortem on the AL west. Whew! Is it me or does the unsigned free agent listing seem longer every year? Last night I clicked on the unsigned free agent listing, and Shades of Charlie Finley's "Let them all be free agents, at the end of each year" reverberated in my mind. Not just the amount of them, but how many were ages 31-40!

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What, you're not excited about the Gators playing some school named after a type of road in the Buc-ee's Memorial Mr. Pibbs Bowl tonight? Can't imagine why.

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oh, amphetamines are definitely performance-enhancing, no doubt about it- and some of the greatest names IN the HoF were munching them like candy...

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No they weren't. It's like drinking a few Red Bulls before a game, which I'm guessing most people probably do not equate with PEDs.

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obviously you've never done amphetamine...

there's a ton of difference between uppers and drinking a couple of energy drinks

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I believe you may have accidentally left Andy Pettitte off your list.

Nearly identical regular season stat line as CC Sabathia, whom you expect has a good shot at being a first-ballot Hall of Famer (if not first ballot then election following shortly thereafter.) Add in Pettitte's stellar post season accomplishments and he should be a shoo-in based on the Sabathia comparison.

.

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Why do we keep bringing up Dave Parker's cocaine abuse when we've already welcomed into the HoF great players like Dennis Eckersley and Paul Molitor, who had ties to cocaine?

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First I’ve heard of Eck and coke.

Parker testified at the Pittsburgh Drug Trials in ‘85. He’s a little different.

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Yeah I can clearly see a difference ... maybe it's as clear as black and white

https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1985-08-21-sp-1176-story.html

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Well I’d say it’s that clear, for sure.

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