After checking the stats I absolutely stand corrected.

Paul Lo Duca is the poster boy for PED’s.

Well said Richard, all of it. And I wholeheartedly agree on Barry Bonds.

Marginal describes Paul LoDuca, who juiced to stay on a major league roster. At age 29 he went from a guy who had 5 career homers and was at best a reserve catcher to a .320 hitting 25 homer slugging guy who was supposed to make LA forget Mike Piazza. Then it appears LoDuca cut back on the juice, and he never hit more than 13 homers again. But that one year made him such a part of the public perception of quality that he got four all star appearances despite never having a OPS+ above 102, aside from that one year.

The reason there was no steroid testing after it was ruled illegal by the commissioner in 1990 was that the player’s association fought testing tooth and nail until finally they realized that public opinion was so much against them (and there were enough liability issues, like Roger Clemens throwing bats) that they yielded, grudgingly. And most ballplayers stopped juicing, and look at how many guys are setting all kinds of home run records any more?

Like I said above, the tragedy of juicing is Barry Bonds. Because, domestic violence complaints (possibly attributable to steroids) aside, we know from testing that he was *probably* clean the last two years. Yes, drugs can be developed in advance of testing, but his major source had been shut down by the Feds (we can find steroid labs but not Osama Bin Laden: mission accomplished!) and I think he is mostly clean. Plus he gets so much rest (usually 2 days off a week) so he can lift during the season and maintain a high level of performance without steroids. So the tragedy is that *maybe* Bonds really is the best hitter of all time, and deserves to keep on playing, but he won’t be given the chance. I’d be a *lot* happier if Bonds were DHing somewhere, batted .220, and were cut, than with him having one of the best final seasons in history and wanting to come back, but not being given the chance.

For what it’s worth, Kluszewski completely conforms to James’s 28-32 standards except he started one year late. From age 29-33 he had his best four years, and then fell apart, never having more than 301 at bats in a season. Sosa had his four best years starting at the year he turned 30, then his 5th best year, then two more years that were also excellent, before deteriorating, completely coincidentally, the year they started testing for steroids. Oh, and Kluszewski went from being a good home run hitter to a great home run hitter, whereas Sosa went from being a good home run hitter (in context of the times) to hitting 60 homers in a season more times than EVERYBODY IN THE HISTORY OF BASEBALL COMBINED BEFORE THE YEAR HE FIRST HIT SIXTY.

Or, to put it another way, in the entire history of baseball, there have been exactly six seasons where a player hit more than 62 homers in a season, and all six happened in those few years when steroids were pretty well known to help weight training, hitters had learned the muscles helped them hit better, and players were not yet subject to discipline and testing for steroids. And then they started testing for steroids and all the enormous home run totals disappeared. Yet to you, that’s pure coincidence?

Look, I’m not opposed to steroid use. Steroids don’t make you a better hitter. Steroids plus lots and lots of hard work might make you a better hitter. Steroids enable more effective muscle growth and quicker healing times after weight training, so players can put in more time lifting weights and improve their strength. But they still have to put in the time. From what I know, steroids also help in that you can keep on lifting during the season (faster healing time) without having tired arms at the plate. Athletes have known for a *long* time that weight lifting helped build muscle mass and reduced injuries. Baseball resisted weight training (or at least heavy weight training) because over the long season you’d have to sit out 2-3 days a week if you were lifting during the season. Before steroids.

Medical science has always improved players and always will. Maybe Babe Ruth wouldn’t have cared that what he ate and drank hurt his ability to stay in shape and play well, but these days nutrition is pretty well known. The best ballplayers stay in shape year round. We have contact lenses and laser surgery: are those illegal? We have arthroscopic surgeries and Tommy John replacement surgeries. Should Greg Gagne give back all his saves because medicine enabled a surgery that kept him pitching? I’d say no. Should he give them back because he took steroids? I still say no. There are hundreds of athletes who are playing many sports with bits of titanium in their bones. Nothing natural about titanium rods. They should all keep on playing.

I remain of the opinion that there is no moral difference between using some forms of medicine (say, antibiotics) and not using others. I argue that if a ballplayer uses laser surgery to improve his eyesight so he can sustain a career, then so should he use steroids. But I argue that steroids should be regulated and monitored so that players don’t harm themselves by taking too many or continuing to take them if they are starting to cause health issues.

If you want to believe in Santa Claus, in the Easter Bunny, that Sammy Sosa didn’t take steroids and that Osama Bin Ladin was the reason we invaded Iraq, go ahead. That won’t get you committed as a danger to yourself or others. But I can put two (steroids became effectively perfected) plus two (skinny ballplayers like Sosa and Bonds and McGwire suddenly became Popeye and showing more power than any players in history at an age when most players are deteriorating, not improving) together and get four. I can understand McGwire using steroids: he’d had a lot of injuries, and started lifting to try and stay healthy. I am sorry Sosa turned to steroids: he was an excellent multidimensional player who quite possibly would have made it into the HOF if he had stayed clean. And Bonds is a tragedy: he was a sure HOFer before he took steroids, and now, well, we’ll never know. I know what it is to feel dismay that your favorite ballplayer might have been using drugs to become that good. We’ve had season seats forever, and the glee my mother showed when Gagne came into the game during his peak was only exceeded by seeing Koufax pitch. Now I *believe* that Gagne was using steroids the whole time, and that enabled him to go from a hittable starting power pitcher with average control to a somewhat wild closer who was throwing so strong that he didn’t really need much control. So I share your pain. But what’s done is done: move on, or stay in your fantasy land. I will cheerfully root for the Cubs to win the World Series if that will help you accept that Sosa was juiced.

@Richard Aronson– GREAT post/analysis on Sammy.
@Man In Black – You’re Devil comment was very amusing and frighteningly spot on.

And as for Bob R… Here is my truth. The fact that Sammy Sosa has three of the 8 60+ home run seasons in the entire history of the game is nauseating to me. Sammy – I suddenly can’t speak English – Sosa. 3 of the 8. Ever. 1 of 2 people to ever do it twice and the only player in baseball history to have done it 3 times. The only player in the history of the game. Sammy Sosa. Only. Player. Ever.

In my world Sosa doesn’t do it without steroids. In my world Sammy Sosa is a mediocre hitter. He doesn’t do it with greenies, or speed in any form, or heroin or weed or blow or Jack Daniels or voodoo dolls or whatever the heck you can think of. The only way he does it is with Jose Canseco telling him exactly how to inject it in his arse. I mean please.

We can argue the vagaries of truth all we want. But that is my truth. I didn’t intend for it to offend anyone. But if it did, all intellectual masturbation aside, deal with it. It is my opinion.

And anyone who can even attempt to argue that steroids, when used properly under ‘professional’ guidance cannot positively affect endurance, recovery time and strength is just not being intellectually honest. No matter how many words are ‘cleverly’ typed.

Player B: .205/.288/.274

Player C: .278/.377/.490

Player A is Billy Butler before being sent to Triple-A, Player B is Alex Gordon against lefties, and Player C is Alex Gordon against righties.

If Gordon can figure out how to hit lefties decently he will be a perenniel all-star, because he already is a borderline all-star against righties.

I don’t think that means what you think that means- Inigo Montoya

In our discussion here, you have used words like ‘moral, immoral, illicit, recreational’ and I am not sure they mean what you think they mean. The way that I am understanding all your comments from above, there is no such thing as cheating, that recreational drugs (again I think that means not alcohol and caffiene and nicotine, but illegal drugs) should not be illegal, you don’t particularly care what your children and now probably grandchildren think about sports and the people who play them or whether said kids/grandkids use drugs or cheat when they can get away with it.
I really don’t mean to simplify and take out of context your statements, but these are the points that stick with me. So, either I am misunderstanding what you are saying, or you are the devil and trying your best to corrupt the earth one kid/grandkid/blog at a time. On a side note, you fit the devil description very well, a little bit older, well read, with an outstanding vocabulary, and a certain wit and tenaciousness that resonates.

Maybe even DROP a current player and ad a Bo Jackson or another member of the Royals Hall of Fame (Willie Wilson, Hal McCrae) I wonder WHY we didnt have McCrae as a bobblehead giveaway when the Cards were in town? That would of been awesome and you would ASSUME that they will do McCrae next year to finish the Royals Hall of Fame Collection wouldnt you?

What about Soria or even DeJesus?

Maybe next year for bobbleheads, just like we say for the ROYALS.