|
Post by Allen Wiener on Oct 14, 2011 12:49:03 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Bill Yowell on Nov 4, 2011 9:34:23 GMT -5
Not really keeping up with any teams other than the "Rangers", I was somewhat surprised to see Mark Mcguire as the hitting coach for the "Cards". While I understand that, with or without "juice" he was outstanding , I guess I just thought that all the negativity brought on baseball by the steroid era would not be rewarded by hiring those so envolved in any capacity in MLB, especially considering the stern stance against Pete Rose for all these years. Did Petes' gambling hurt MLB image any more than all the juicing.
|
|
|
Post by Allen Wiener on Nov 4, 2011 9:57:07 GMT -5
I never liked Pete Rose, but I doubt many people liked Ty Cobb either. Both were among the greatest players of their era and possibly of any era. What Rose did was wrong, but it was mostly stupid. It had no impact on his playing years of the achievements he made on the field. The juicing does; and it still does, despite all the eyewash about cracking down. It goes on and everyone knows it. If baseball were serious about elminating the negative impact of this cheating (and that's what it is), the records of those who were caught cheating with steroids would be expunged from the books or, at a minimum, listed separately with caveats about why they are not regarded as definitive records. Roger Maris gets an asterisk, but these guys get a pass? Will the juicers be barred from the Hall of Fame, as Rose has been?
I was offended by McGuire's presense on the Cards' bench too. The use of illegal substances is one of the ugliest things in pro sports today and baseball should get serious about outlawing it and punishing those who knowingly broke the rules.
|
|
|
Post by gtj222 on Nov 4, 2011 19:31:07 GMT -5
Baseball is the only real sport that is driven by records and for the baseball record books to be tarnished by jucing is very very wrong. In my opinion, Roger Maris holds the record for most home runs in a season, not a jucier with a fat head. Pete Rose all time hits should be there with an explanation of why, after his records, he was banned.
|
|
|
Post by loucapitano on Nov 6, 2011 13:38:55 GMT -5
Good discussion about juicing. I think it has gotten swept under the rug because it's so inconvenient to revive the record books. I'll be interested to see which proven juicers actually get into the Hall. I'm sure some are already there. I'm also sure MLB wants this problem to just go away and be forgotten. But, that's not gonna happen with baseball purists.
Ditto on Roger Maris. He got the most homeruns in a season (even if the season was a few games shorter in Ruth's day.) I'm waiting for the current crop of sluggers to break 61 without juicing. I think it can be done and we may have seen one of them during these playoffs. PS: Only 101 days til Pitchers and Catchers. But who's counting!
|
|
|
Post by Allen Wiener on Nov 6, 2011 16:56:02 GMT -5
I always thought Lou Gehrig's consecutive game streak or maybe Dimaggio's 56-game hitting streak were the hardest to break. No one's broken the latter, but Ripken topped the former and I don't think he's ever been accused of juicing, nor do I think that stuff would help you break a record like that. Also, no one's hit .400 since Teddy Baseball.
|
|
|
Post by Paul Sylvain on Nov 6, 2011 17:15:51 GMT -5
And Teddy didn't juice AND he chose to lay the second game of the season ending doubleheader when he already had the batting average secure and could have lost it by not hitting in the second game. The fact that he opted to play in it, even when his manager offered to take him out of he lineup says a ton about Ted and ball players of that era. That's integrity my friends.
|
|
|
Post by gtj222 on Nov 6, 2011 20:04:25 GMT -5
Ted Williams....Last at bat....HOMERUN!!!!! It doesn't get any better than that. Also, he lost a lot of playing time to the US Military!!!
|
|
|
Post by Allen Wiener on Nov 6, 2011 20:22:03 GMT -5
All true; the kind of player the Hall of Fame was originally intended for, but that's been watered down too. Lots of guys there who I really loved, like Pee Wee and Scooter, but do they really fall into the Ruth-Cobb-Gehrig-Young-Johnson category?
|
|
|
Post by loucapitano on Nov 7, 2011 18:04:11 GMT -5
Don't get me started on Pee Wee and the Scooter. Just Kidding even though I'm Brooklyn born. I suppose only the player's stats should be the determining factor for the Hall of Fame. We could go on forever about who made it and shouldn't have and who didn't make it and should have. That's what call-in sports radio is all about. But having a flair for the dramatic, I feel there is an intangible factor that goes into many Hall of Famers. Of course, Ted .400 had both stats and character that put him in a very small class of "Super Famers" (my term) There are a number of players over the last 20 years who have slightly less than typical Hall of Fame stats that will make it because of the intangibles they brought to their careers. Maybe they played great but never got a World Series ring. Or maybe sickness or injury shortened an otherwise stellar career. At the same time, extraordinary player compensation seems to have taken some of the spark from players who once only played for love of the game and for them, the Hall of Fame was the ultimate prize and honor. Buy the way, I think the Giants are for real after yesterday's win in Foxboro! PS: Only 100 days til Pitchers and Catchers!
|
|