Tainted Titles?

[Don]

I found this rather funny looking back over the last decade or so. Look at the winning teams and players that have been linked in one way or another to prohibited performance enhancing drugs.

http://www.platoonadvantage.com/2011/04 ... itles.html

[Tenth Inning]

I found this rather funny looking back over the last decade or so. Look at the winning teams and players that have been linked in one way or another to prohibited performance enhancing drugs.

http://www.platoonadvantage.com/2011/04 ... itles.html

Yes, this would certainly be interesting if the current list was reliable in anyway. Unfortunately, this list is both partially based on evidence that wouldn't hold up in court and also laughably incomplete.

Don, you are connected and have experience with the game at the professional level, so let me put you on the spot How widespread do you think the use of enhancement drugs was/is? Do you believe in the "bad apple" theory that is keeping select users out of the hall of fame and leads us to try to find meaning in lists like the above is accurate, or do you think usage permeated the game in a more substantial way?

Of course, if you don't feel comfortable answering that question it would be completely understandable.

[Don]

I do not agree with the late Ken Caminiti or Jose with the high number saying 50% to 75% were on steriods. I think there were certain teams, certain organization that looked the other way, my organization did not turn to deaf ears with any issues. We once had "heavy" coffee thrown out by my manager during a pre-game morning session. He read us the riot act about playing the game right, but he was old school and clean cut flat top type. This buisness is not dirty, but simply everyone would do anything to get an edge. If it means cutting off the head of live chicken to win tomorrows game, half of the staff would have a knife in hand. It was the nature of the beast.

I played in the era where weight training was starting to take shape and people started to tinker with manipulating thier bodies. Guys were starting to get bigger, faster and "cut up". It would not surprise me one bit if a player went to these lenghts simply to justify the means to the end.

My organization was better than most, in retrospect. There was accountability in that clubhouse and too many rah-rah guys to think anything. There were some that would not even touch a weightroom and others that you could see them trying to work off a bit of the beer belly in the spring. It was an clean environment. Guys simply were in shape, but not vien popping bodybuiling types.

I threw against Oakland in a spring game. I simply looked like a twig next to most of them and I was a big guy for my era. These guys were massive and you thought they ate Pop eye. So maybe Jose was right about his locker room, but the overall landscape was not bad at that point.

I am glad I never had the choice placed in front of me. I was sitting in the mid 90's and maybe steriods would have pushed it up a tick or at least maintain that speed even on days when I was not 100%. It would be a tough question to ask any player, but at 20 to 25 years of age you do not see the world as you do at this time.

As for the cartoon era of 1994-2002, I do not care how big you were ther is no way in the world that you can be 230, 240, and 250 lbs with a six pack for months at a time without being on the up and up. (This includes all sports). So I have a funny feeling that the one or two per clubhouse is too low and the 12-15 guys per team is too high. Some maybe bigger than others, but all have scarlet letters in the clubhouse.

[A_K]

I have three close friends who played baseball at high levels. Two at Towson and another at University of Maryland. All three went on to play in the minors, and all are still of playing age but are no longer playing. All three said they used steroids and that the majority of every team they played on from high school on was using as well. That's second-hand and even I take it with a grain of salt, but I'll still never forget the pitch of their laughter when I asked whether people at the college and low-minor levels were using steroids. They stopped just short of patting me on the head and calling me sport.