The impressive thing about Raffy is not that a lot of steroids gave him huge hitting numbers in any given year, rather that he was able to take modest amounts of steroids so consistently over the course of his career.
One thing about this story for which we can all be thankful is the massive amount of hilarious "performance enhancing drugs-Viagra" jokes that are flooding the internet right now.
Also, on a more serious note, I do not take back my pro-Raffy HOF arguments. Sure he was dumb enough to get caught, but come on. Everyone's on the juice, and he's put up better numbers than most.
Curious that Barry announces he's shutting it down for the season on the same day, though, no?
Frankly, I'm not sure I would wave Sosa in. His numbers jumps, physical appearance changes, and insane decline lead even the most naive cub reporter to conclude that he is juiced to the gills. Ditto McGwire. If I were a HOF voter, I think I would at the very least hold off on their first years of eligibility. Raffy, on the other hand, was dumb enough to stare people down and lie to them, under oath, in a new era where there was actually testing, and he got caught. History will not be kind fo McGwire and Sosa, but it will be unkinder still to Raffy, who made us all believe for a brief minute that some players in the Roid Era were actually clean. For this he gets no quarter from this non-HOF voter. And while I'm on the subject, can someone please, please tell me why no one is angry at Gary Sheffield, who publicly admitted to the exact same crime Bonds admitted to (the old "I didn't know what was in that stuff" defense), and who got off scott-free?
8/02/2005 1:26 PM
USA Today is reporting that Raffy Palmeiro has been suspended for steroids.
If true, please disregard all of my pro-Hall of Fame arguments below.
4 Comments
Close this window Jump to comment formThe impressive thing about Raffy is not that a lot of steroids gave him huge hitting numbers in any given year, rather that he was able to take modest amounts of steroids so consistently over the course of his career.
8/01/2005 5:12 PM
One thing about this story for which we can all be thankful is the massive amount of hilarious "performance enhancing drugs-Viagra" jokes that are flooding the internet right now.
8/01/2005 11:01 PM
Also, on a more serious note, I do not take back my pro-Raffy HOF arguments. Sure he was dumb enough to get caught, but come on. Everyone's on the juice, and he's put up better numbers than most.
Curious that Barry announces he's shutting it down for the season on the same day, though, no?
8/01/2005 11:38 PM
Frankly, I'm not sure I would wave Sosa in. His numbers jumps, physical appearance changes, and insane decline lead even the most naive cub reporter to conclude that he is juiced to the gills. Ditto McGwire. If I were a HOF voter, I think I would at the very least hold off on their first years of eligibility. Raffy, on the other hand, was dumb enough to stare people down and lie to them, under oath, in a new era where there was actually testing, and he got caught. History will not be kind fo McGwire and Sosa, but it will be unkinder still to Raffy, who made us all believe for a brief minute that some players in the Roid Era were actually clean. For this he gets no quarter from this non-HOF voter. And while I'm on the subject, can someone please, please tell me why no one is angry at Gary Sheffield, who publicly admitted to the exact same crime Bonds admitted to (the old "I didn't know what was in that stuff" defense), and who got off scott-free?
8/02/2005 1:26 PM