Posted on 08/02/2005 7:41:24 AM PDT by newgeezer
So future Hall of Famer Rafael Palmeiro is guilty of steroids abuse after all.
Steroids? Palmeiro? Who could have possibly imagined that?
You may recall that Palmeiro became indignant when career knucklehead Jose Canseco implicated him with his tell-all book. He insisted he never juiced up. He positioned himself as an anti-steroids zealot.
While Mark McGwire was damning himself with those mish-mash answers before Congress, Palmeiro was emphatic in his testimony on Capitol Hill.
... While the hapless McGwire came off like a fool, Palmeiro presented himself as a hero.
But a lot of us never bought into his act. When Jose asserted that he put Palmeiro onto the juice, I didn’t doubt him.
...Palmeiro was one type of hitter pre-Canseco, another type of hitter post-Canseco.
Coincidence? Don’t think so.
But I don’t see Palmeiro, Canseco, Big Mac or any other slugger as a villain in all this. These hitters were products of their time. Some players are honest about their training tactics; others, not so much.
Steroids and steroid-like substances were not banned from baseball during this era.
...What is surprising is that more players haven’t fessed up to their experimentation and led the clean-up campaign -– for their own good and the good of others.
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
One of many good points contained in this column.
All I needed to know was the number of libel suits brought against Canseco. Zip, zilch, nada!!!
I think it's silly the way that everyone craps on Canseco. They were just shooting the messenger, and it turns out that he was right.
and bonds, a slugger with a girlie voice and an annoyingly coy manner.
Bonds likely out for the season........Coincidence?????
Canseco is looking better and better all the time.
Ruth, Kirby Puckett, Pete Rose and Johnny Bench were also clearly overweight. Puckett looked like a bowling ball with legs.
I have lost all respect for all modern day baseball players. They either cheat or, if they are not "juicers," they tolerate "juicers." They have all corrupted the game and made every modern day baseball record suspect.
When modern day "juicers" get around to breaking all the records of Aaron, Mays, Mantle, Dimagio, Ted Williams I will never accept their legitimacy. When I see players, like Barry Bonds etc., start their career as 173 pound gifted athletes and then balloon up to bulging 245 pound muscle-bound freaks at the end of their careers I know something is not right. Their record breaking performances when they are in their 40's defies common sense and baseball should acknowledge the deceit.
I guess greed has completely corrupted the players and the owners. It is sad. I know there are fans that don't care but many old-time baseball fans think modern baseball has become a travesty of American's once glorious pasttime.
Let's be fair. The man was being crapped on long before he said anything, and with good reason.
I guess I don't know enough about his past, but when his book came out I thought it was obvious that he was telling the truth, and everyone was just ganging up on him.
He has a colorful criminal past, used drugs, was so broke that he was charging people to hang out with him...
There were plenty of reasons to doubt the story with that source, although everyone had to know steroids were being used.
LOL. I had no idea.
Now that I live in Texas, the team I follow the most is the Rangers. My original loyalties were to the Giants and A's, but I haven't lived near the Bay Area for over thirty years.
Willie Mays, my first sports hero, would have hit over 800 home runs if he had played today. I remember seeing him play at Candlestick Park, and I saw many of his drives to left center knocked down by the wind. In Arlington, those same shots would have landed about 30 rows in the stands.
The Texas Rangers are a joke of a franchise, with an addled owner, and a ROAD (Retired on Active Duty) GM. Although DFW is supposedly a top 5 media market, and they consistently draw 2.5 million plus, their payroll is in the bottom half. Can you imagine what Billy Beane could do with 2.5 million annual attendance?
This franchise will never win a World Series, but they will always have "financial flexibility." As much as I love baseball, today's major leagues have turned themselves into another form of entertainment, just like a movie or trip to a theme park. My store of loyalty to any professional team has been exhausted.
Thank God for college basketball!!! Go Zags!
That's short for Gonzaga Bulldogs, thankyouverymuch.
Just like Clinton! At least Jose telling the truth.
That's precisely the reason some -- including Palmeiro himself -- are saying we should believe him when he says he didn't knowingly take steroids. He had nothing to gain and everything to lose.
Well, I'm not buying the "nothing to gain" part. Palmeiro currently ranks 10th all-time in career HRs. Griffey, Jr. is only 50 behind. So, Palmeiro needs to take 9th place from Reggie Jackson to stay in the Top Ten for any length of time; to do so, Palmeiro needs 13 HRs. After that, he needs only 12 more to tie Harmon Killebrew for 8th. Then, 12 more would have him passing McGwire to tie Frank Robinson. Clearly, he has much to gain from hitting even only 13, 25, or 37 more HRs before he retires.
He had the stats to make it into the HOF with over 500 HR's and 3000 RBI's (including Bonds -- one of only 5 or 6 players with those numbers
Actually, it's 500 HRs and 3000 hits. Palmeiro this year joined Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, and Eddie Murray as the only players to have achieved that combination (not Bonds).
Not just BB, but all pro sports are tainted. I refuse to watch or give money in the form of buying products athletes endorse.
Take the money out of the sports and they will return to being games.
Look what our kids are doing, steroid use is on the rise in high schools so Johnny can get that big league contract and buy 3 Hummers. Incidents of rage are on the rise as well.
It will onyl get worse before it gets better. BB doesn't care and they only feign the strict testing and next year or the year after all we be back to normal.
For some reason someone sold the fans that a game must have lots of home runs or the football game must be 56-40 to be exciting. More is not always better. Give me a pitchers' duel or a defensive standoff of 14-10 anyday.
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