Looks like Sosa is a 'roid-monster

[SludgeFactory]

Originally posted by: DaveSohmer
Agree completely, however lets take a look at some other possibilities. 1993 was Sammy's first big home run year. What else happened that year. The national league expanded by two teams. This further diluted an already mediocre pitching pool. Two more teams were added in 1997. There was also a different baseball being used. Ballparks were also getting "smaller" to score more runs and attract more fans. This was Sosa's first full year in Wrigley. These things coupled with 1. Trying to hit homers 2. Improved training techniques and 3. Year round baseball for Sammy may in fact explain why the huge increase in power for the last ten years for Sammy and other players. Power numbers are up for everyone since 93. I am not naive enough to say no one is using steroids but lets not jump on a bandwagon started by a guy whose in so much trouble with the law he'd say anything (Caminiti)and another guy whose trying to sell a book(Canseco). There may other reasons for these power numbers. Personally, I think the lack of quality pitching is probably the biggest contributor. JMO


Dave

That's all very true. I would add the fact that pitching inside has become perceived as a threat on the batter's life, and is punishable by glaring, bat-waving, finger-pointing, and ultimately charging the mound. Ridiculous.

You can't just point at the guys on top and accuse them. There's a lot more guys hitting 30-40 homeruns that are probably using. Unfortunately, unless you catch a guy red-handed (which would require year round, random testing), you'll never know. And unfortunately, whatever damage there may be to the baseball records has already been done.

Bonds before and after pictures: 1997 and 2001

That article is trying to show evidence that he could have taken steroids. But if you can trust the table of Bonds' weight increases in that link, he gained 16 lbs from 97 to 98, then 4 the next year, then 10, and 8. Those are not eye popping weight gains. They're fairly realistic numbers for a natural bodybuilder, especially a beginner. I seriously doubt that Bonds was a beginner to weight training in 1997, but who can say for sure that he's not just genetically gifted? If he had gained 40 lbs during one winter, then there would be little doubt that he juiced. But according to those numbers, he didn't gain that quick. I'm not saying that he did or didn't use steroids, but you just can't know for sure without some real evidence.

Weight lifting was pretty much taboo in baseball until relatively recently, because of the perception that being muscle bound was detrimental. Some guys have no doubt used steroids, but others just got big by lifting and using legal supplements.

If there had been no expansion, no juiced baseballs, new ballparks with sane dimensions, and pitchers with the balls to throw inside pitches, I think you would be seeing a bunch of bulked up guys swinging and missing more often than teeing off on BP fastballs right down the middle.

 

[UltraQuiet]

I would add the fact that pitching inside has become perceived as a threat on the batter's life, and is punishable by glaring, bat-waving, finger-pointing, and ultimately charging the mound. Ridiculous.

That is what I would consider part of mediocre pitching. Not great stuff, mid 80's fastball, not enough control to throw anything but a fastball on 2-0, 2-1, 3-1 counts. Anyone can hit a fastball. You Braves fans have had it good, the rest of us have had to suffer.

Dave

 

[matmax]

and this surprises who?

 

[aphex]

I took sterioids yesterday, but it was it was an injection in my ASS. Damn strep throat....

 

[bonk102]

hmm, actually force drug tests like most every other industry in america, the nerve of baseball, not letting thier players do drugs like and fulfill their rights as americans (even though many of them are from other countries 🙂 ) to be druggies

 

[MrChicken]

I see this issue as a reporter trying to make name for himself by shaming and boxing in a well known athlete into a corner. It worked, Sammy got used and he knows it.

Would you take a medical test, say AIDS, just because some yahoo asked you to? At his lab? Knowing he would publish the results? For free?

Taking this test serves Sammy no purpose except to make him a biatch to the press.
"Sammy how about an ephedra test?
"How about a crack test?"
etc...

If he takes this one he will have to take every test ever asked of him or he will be convicted of every one he does not take. There is no winning for him.

Personally I think he should have said, "I make $32000 a game, which takes about 2.5 hours. You pay me by the hour, to be tested at my lab, 8 hour minimum. Out of your checking account. Charity gets my time free, you have to pay for it"

 

[Stark]

I see this issue as a reporter trying to make name for himself by shaming and boxing in a well known athlete into a corner. It worked, Sammy got used and he knows it.

Would you take a medical test, say AIDS, just because some yahoo asked you to? At his lab? Knowing he would publish the results? For free?

1. Reilly already has a name for himself and is well respected.
2. Sosa said he had no problem getting tested, that he would be the first in line. Then Reilly suggested he put his money where is mouth is. Sosa refused.

 

[MrChicken]

"1. Reilly already has a name for himself and is well respected."

Media types NEVER have a big enough name.

"2. Sosa said he had no problem getting tested, that he would be the first in line. Then Reilly suggested he put his money where is mouth is. Sosa refused"

Sosa said when the league, the people that govern his workplace, asks for players to be tested, he would be first in line. That's a huge difference. He didnt say that he would take a test anytime, for anybody.

 

[Pr0Hawk]

why would he go piss in a cup just because some big mouth reporter wants him to?

 

[FrogDog]

Originally posted by: Stark

your thread title jumps to conclusions based on that article and the references to his reluctance to take a test.

Hey, I said "looks like," implying speculation. 😛

Sosa: I'll be the first in line to take 'roids test.
Reilly: Here's the address.
Sosa: [flies off handle] Are you trying to get me in trouble? [/flies off handle]

It would be a shame if the players walked out and killed the game once and for all, but maybe it won't be entirely bad. The owners could make a completely new league with no 'roids, a salary cap and regain some of the integrity the sport once had.

I would imagine what he meant by "Are you trying to get me in trouble?" is that by taking the test he would be breaking the union.

 

[spanky]

Originally posted by: Pr0Hawk
why would he go piss in a cup just because some big mouth reporter wants him to?

werd up.

 

[HiveMaster]

The owners could make a completely new league with no 'roids, a salary cap and regain some of the integrity the sport once had.

Actually that is a damn good idea. Get the fun back into the game. Oh and while they are at it, the owners can open up their books and show us exactly how much money they make despite paying these roid monsters all that money. To get decent seats at a MLB game, for a family of four, the outing will cost almost a hundred bucks. Even when you make 75-80k that is still a lot of money.

Let the owners hire scabs, then have free admission. Charge for the food and collect revenue for the tv rights but let the regular Joes in for free, and you will see a resurgence in interest in baseball.

Oh, and if these fscking idiots want to eat roids all day, who are we to say no? Let them have their shriveled testicles and shortened life spans. Idiots.

And for you Barry Bonds apologists: I heard on the radio today that his hat grew 2 sizes in just one year--a sure sign of roids.

 

[Squisher]

Although I think he is on the Juice, I'll have to go with Mr. Sosa on this one.