McGwire, Sosa, Clemens, ARod, Manny, Papi: Can it get any worse?
(If Canseco sez it wasn’t Rickey, then which HOFer is on 2003 steroid list?)
Based on what Jose Canseco said Thursday, probably.
Everyone’s favorite circus side show guested on ESPN 950AM in Philly to talk about the latest steroid revelation, which implicated David Ortiz via a 2003 test of 103 MLBers.
During the visit with Mike Missanelli, Canseco strongly suggested twice that as many as two baseball Hall of Famers could be found on the same 2003 positive steroid result list that ensnared the aforementioned five players.
Canseco:
“What if there were some athletes who’ve been inducted into the Hall of Fame that are on that 100-player (2003) list?”
Later in the interview, Canseco also brings up the possibility of “one or two” current Hall of Famers who were on the 2003 list.
OK, so if that’s the case, it should be pretty easy to figure out who Canseco is talking about. Among baseball Hall of Famers, there is only one MLBer who was active in 2003: Rickey Henderson.
So Henderson is the guy, right Jose?
Actually, probably not. Canseco denied during the interview having any knowledge that Henderson juiced.
Okay then, who does that leave as possibilities?
Baseball’s 2007 HOF induction featured the impeccable class of Tony Gwynn and baseball’s iron man, Cal Ripken, Jr.
Now if steroids were derived from Outback Bloomin’ Onions, then I’d be all over Gwynn in this instance. But based on the longtime Padre’s alarmingly wide waistline and lack of power, I think it’s safe to assume he wasn’t juicing.
Ripken though? *Uncomfortable squirm*
Canseco is off with his claim that any other current Hall of Famer besides Henderson could’ve shown up on the 2003 list. But he did have some now-HOF MLB contemporaries who retired in the late ’90s and early ’00s - with Ripken being the most prominent (and latest) of the bunch.
To be clear, by no means am I accusing Ripken or any other MLBer of juicing. But if Ripken is somehow, someway found to have done steroids, it would be like dropping a nuclear bomb on the HOF - and the accompanying, Costas-kept record books.
I’m a cynical dude, but in this case, I really, honest to god, hope it isn’t true.
1:55 am on July 31st, 2009
Believe me, if steroids had been around in the old days everybody from Babe Ruth to Mickey Mantle to Reggie Jackson would have done them.
2:08 am on July 31st, 2009
No disagreement whatsoever.
3:07 am on July 31st, 2009
In ‘99 as a 38-year-old, Ripken (albeit in a season cut short by injury) had career-highs in BA and SLG. For anyone who has any doubts that steroids/PEDs were widespread, look at some of the HOF inductees of the past 10 years and glance at their stats during their mid-and-late 30’s and even early 40’s. Remember, PEDs were not banned or illegal, readily available, and for many in the last phase of their career, made a difference between receiving a 7-figure deal or an 8-figure deal. In a profession renowned for being a cutthroat, cheating culture since its origins, how can anyone be exempt from suspicion?
As much grief and indignation as some of the “old-school” players have given the PEDs/steroids era, I would like to see some of them exposed for their hypocrisy. And don’t discount Gwynn because he was a fatty … he had some great seasons after age 35 and as we all know, not all PED users have ripped, Bondseque physiques.
8:47 am on July 31st, 2009
It’s a game people. You better get comfortable with that concept. At the end of the day, your 401k is still in the toilet, if you even have one.
9:12 am on July 31st, 2009
For the brain that says ruth mantle would have done a-roids thats what makes those guys the best because they did not use the cheater way,,So stop trying to justify these guys for cheating.
9:30 am on July 31st, 2009
Why does Canseco choose to not tell? He’s teasing us…that asshole.
9:38 am on July 31st, 2009
Tony Gwynn did hit 43 HR, 31% of his career total between 1997 and 1999. So……………….idk.
10:18 am on July 31st, 2009
I think Ripken used steroids. All those years, and no injuries?
12:00 pm on July 31st, 2009
There’s no way Ripken could be the guy Canseco is talking about. Ripken retired in 2001. I’m not saying he didn’t do it (nothing would surprise me) but he can’t be on the 2003 list.
5:16 pm on July 31st, 2009
Brooks - Not sure that the quote you’ve pulled and what Canseco is saying are necessarily linked … that is, having listened to the interview a couple of times, I got the sense he’s referring to “players on the list” in a hypothetical sense looking forward — that it’s possible some persons from the list may end up in the HOF.
That is, seeing as how we don’t know who’s on the list, but that Jose and other players know a large % of all players were using, then it’s possible some players from that list may become HOFers.
“Let’s assume that there are one or two players in the HOF who are on the list,” he says, in order to set up his statement that there may be a problem baseball will have later: That the writers, et. al., who are refusing to vote for alleged steroid users may find that they are voting for others who will later be found to have been on said list
It didn’t sound, to me, that he was really meaning the someone from that 2003 list is already there.
5:20 pm on July 31st, 2009
I did a bad editing job above, but to finish the thought, Canseco’s main message points of warning now are:
- I’m not naming names.
- It’s ludicrous to vote “against” players who have taken PEDs, because you are likely voting FOR players who have taken PEDs.
- Baseball is going to have a problem when some stars who took PEDs - but were never accused of doing so - end up in the HOF.
6:48 pm on July 31st, 2009
If pitchers like Roger Clemens took steroids to get a higher percentage of batters out and hitters took them to help their teams score more runs, then it seems to me that the playing field was leveled out.
The players that were hurt were the ones who weren’t juicing, but if steroids were widely used then either the players who excelled were a.) either better than the other guys (who were also juicing) or b.) they learned to use steroids better.
I remember Jeff Bagwell said one time that he worked out hard and used whatever was available and he still wasn’t hitting 60 HR’s a year.
I believe competitiveness, pride and greed led them to cheat. The owners and commissioner are smart people and must have noticed that half the league’s players were developing superhuman bodies.
I say the writers should vote players into the Hall of Fame that were having monster careers before they started doping and leave the other ones out.
3:14 am on August 3rd, 2009
One final thought: Imagine how many home runs Babe Ruth would have hit if he was on steroids. I say 85-100 in a good year. Maybe more.
1:13 pm on August 3rd, 2009
Nothing would surprise me but at the same token I don’t care anymore!!!!!!!!!!!! Just put the whole list out so ESPN and everyone can do nothing but cover it for a month or two and get it over with. Releasing one person at a time means that it’s going to cover every athlete for a month
Mommy, make this story go away. I’m tired of steroid talk
4:58 pm on January 18th, 2010
imagine how many home runs Ruth would have hit if he hadn’t been drinking every night and being so overweight. There’re a million things that could have changed someone’s stats. What about the pitchers? If they’re on steroids, would’ve been unfair if the hitters weren’t also, right? So maybe that balances out the field. Otherwise, we could’ve said, “Well, Ruth wasn’t batting against ‘roided up pitchers, so then maybe he would’ve hit only 500 home runs.”