Now, about that designated hitter...
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I pitched and batted 3rd or 4th. Most major leaguers pitchers if you look back were also the best hitters on their team in high school, hitting .400-.500.
Then the designated hitter rule became prevalent in every level of baseball. There should be NO designated hitter in Major League Baseball, only Little League so everyone can play.
Pitchers have plenty of time to learn to hit, and plenty of time not to be told to GIVE UP on hitting, if you play you hit, that's the way it's always been, and if the pitcher doesn't want to be pulled for a pinch hitter, he'll work on his hitting a lot more. I'll never understand why they don't work on hitting with a lot more of the National League pitchers, they have plenty of off days.
It used to be if you wanted a big, slow slugger on your team he had to play the field, he had to play BASEBALL, not HITBALL. Now you've got guys who've been DH's since they were 13 years old. Why doesn't Shaquille O'Neal have a designated free throw shooter?
It used to be a badge of honor to see an aging slugger out in the field limping, trying to play defense to get his at-bats. Guys used to be reduced to pinch hitting when they couldn't PLAY THE GAME anymore.
I could list another 100 reasons why there should be no DH, but MLB wants balls flying out of the park and runs scored, damn the old baseball they played for 150 years, the fans will forget about that. How many home runs would Babe Ruth had if he could DH? Mickey Mantle? Need I go on?
Baseball fell into the argument that baseball was "boring" by non-baseball fans and installed the DH, they also looked the other way for over 20 years when they KNEW tons of players were loaded up on all kinds of steroids, HGH, etc. FORCING borderline players to use or give up their dream. Now they're reaping what they sow with one of the biggest jerks to ever step on the field about to break the biggest record ever. They want to ignore it, THEY forced Bonds to use steroids, he could have chose not to don't get me wrong, but I believe the story that he was furious that lesser talents were getting all the accolades because they were cheating and he wasn't, he said "I'll show you how good I am if I cheat too", and he was right.
All of this talk about Bonds being possibly the best player ever is RIDICULOUS, he was a great player, a Hall-Of-Famer, BUTTTT!!!, at an age when about 98% of players stats start declining he artificially bought himself a brand new body, a better one that he EVER had and his stats became ridiculous instead of the normal decline. He would have been a no-brainer Hall-Of-Famer but NEVER in the discussion of the best of all time.
My friends and I who know a little about this stuff have been saying FOREVER how obvious the rampant steroid use is. I have a friend (former steroid user) who has done papers and studies with Harvard Medical School (with the ONE doctor there who's a hard-core conservative by the way, that's a WHOLE nother' story, lol).
Steroids in sports is a total joke, in the 50's and 60's college football players were taking the kind of steroids they gave HORSES! A couple of pro football players wrote about it in their biographies, etc.
If you know what to look for there are a number of tell tale signs you can see with the naked eye that are a dead give away, baggy uniform or not.
Some people treat Bonds like he's OJ Simpson, if there's no videotape of OJ you can't really say, if you don't catch Barry with a needle in his butt you can't really say, please.
If Barry Bonds did NOT use steroids it would be the greatest MEDICAL STORY IN THE HISTORY OF CIVILIZATION. Please tell the rest of the world how to stop muscle loss and gain bulk and muscle at a time when everyone else loses it. There are many cancer patients who could use this knowledge on how you transformed your body.
Don't tell me weight lifting, I've been an athlete and been there, lifting 6 days a week and eating all of the muscle building foods possible. You can only get as big or muscular as your NATURAL frame allows you, and I have a BIG frame, a LOT bigger than Barry Bonds' who was a pencil when he started playing. I never looked like a big musclehead ever, just in phenomenal shape, the only way to look like a monster is with the juice, there is no bodybuilder NOT on steroids.
Barry Bonds changing his frame from what he was to what he is without drugs is IMPOSSIBLE, IMPOSSIBLE, IMPOSSIBLE, sportswriters are such idiots, if they did a little research they would know this.
True stuff. The whole football/steroid issue is a huge joke as well, glad you referenced it. NFL steroid/HGH testing is the equivalent of setting a 17-beer limit to be considered a drunk driver. Keep it at about 15 beers guys, and you're fine. You can't see straight, but you've passed the test.
MLB has been riddled with juiceheads since the early 90's, when it started to get really rampant. Many of the current players have tried switching to HGH combined with other stuff to prevent detection, and neither MLB nor the Players Association makes any attempt whatsoever to bring about any meaningful testing for this stuff. It's funny to watch some of these players just hitting a wall physically, or from a performance standpoint over the past couple years, as they are forced to change their body chemistries to adjust to the new testing. Some of these guys are holding up, some are falling completely apart. Many of these clowns had no business being in the big leagues in the first place, but their steroid usage helped them take jobs away from guys who didn't cheat (and there are many). This is one of the stories that never gets told.