Posted on 01/21/2014 4:24:50 PM PST by rickmichaels
According to one baseball legend, Alex Rodriguez has “ruined the game.”
Tommy Lasorda, who managed the Los Angeles Dodgers from 1976-96 and guided the club to two World Series titles, was curt when asked by ESPN about A-Rod’s one-year suspension.
“He should have gotten more,” Lasorda said Tuesday. “What he's done? He's trying to ruin the game. You can't do that.”
Lasorda is of the opinion drug users shouldn’t be elected to the Hall of Fame and was upset by A-Rod after presuming the New York Yankees star was clean.
“I was thinking, ‘At least this guy is doing it legitimately,’ and then find out he wasn't,” Lasorda said. “That really turned my opinion of him.”
Lasorda went on to blast cheating.
“When someone breaks the rules, they don’t belong in there,” he said. “Would you have your son get A-Rod’s autograph? Would you like to have that?
“I’m disappointed in this game of ours, which is so great, that somebody has to do things to cheat. That’s not right. How about those pitchers that they hit all those home runs off of them? Nobody thinks about those guys. So, consequently, we’ve got to have this game where everybody is on the same level. We need that. Even my wife said, ‘Well, they had to hit the ball.’ I said, ‘Sure, they hit the ball. But those balls that were caught on the warning track are now in the seats.’ And that's the thing that makes the difference ...
“If I'm pitching and I know that guy up there is using that stuff, I’d hit him right in the mouth. I’d say, ‘Go in and take another shot of it.’ Why should they be allowed to do that and others not allowed? It’s not right. We’ve got to get this baseball game to where the fans can understand everything is on the same level – each guy has the same opportunities. That’s the way it should be. That’s the way it used to be. We never heard of steroids. Christ, half the guys couldn't even spell it.”
To be fair, some of the pitchers were ‘roided-up, also.
Why couldn’t he be a drunk womanizer like the BABE!
I blame Curt Flood.
"Tommy Lasorda ... was curt when asked...."
Uhhuh --
Let him take some responsibility on himself first. Let me tell a Tom Lasorda story. He drafts the son of his HS buddy in the late charity rounds of friends and relatives. This kid did nothing in HS or college, had a reputation for being fat and lazy. This kid goes to rookie ball and is overmatched. He just doesn’t belong. This kid comes back to Dodger minor league camp the next March looking like the Hulk. The kid proceeds to bash his way all the way to show. Despite his horrible case of back acne he has a great career and just misses out on the Hall of Fame. If Tom Lasorda wants to make a stand, let him start closer to home.
Name some.............
Who was that?
Roger Clemens, Andy Petite for starters.
Not into that sort of sports trivia, but off the top of my head, Clemens and Colon.
Mike Piazza
A-Rod, Mcguire, Sosa, Roger Clemons and a bunch of others ruined the game. Baseball’s stats are meaningless now. And my baseball cards aren’t worth jack! Ha!
A whole slew have accepted suspensions for PED use. Several in this same Bosch crackdown.
With the steroids thing I think of the minor league players who never got their fair chance because of the abusers.
Cheaters? I guess Tommy has forgotten all about his companions who threw spitballs, emery balls, (real)cutters, or used corked bats? Or placed cameras or spotters hidden behind the fences in centerfield or elsewhere to steal the catchers’ signs and relay them to their batters? Or showing up drunk or in a drugged state on game day?
But I sure agree with his assessment of A-roid being a detriment to the integrity of MLB.
Lew
Selig was guilty of looking the other way, but the PED problem started before he was commissioner. Before 1994 I can think of two teams that were loaded with steriod users. Anyone remember the Oakland A’s of Canseco and McGuire, and the Phillies of Dykstra and Darren Daulton. In looking back, if there is, to borrow from another field, a patient zero for PED’s in the MLB, i would nominate Darrell Porter.
Couldn’t agree more. Piazza was never a “natural” talent.
The players’ GREEDY AGENTS ruined baseball.
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