Thursday, January 21, 2010
NY Times - Glanville: Seeing is Disbelieving
But then Mark McGwire strolled into town, carrying the Cardinals and the future of M.L.B. on his back, as the bitterness of the 1994-1995 strike finally dissipated. The excitement about McGwire dwarfed even my enthusiasm for “Godzilla,” which was relegated to my “to do in the off-season” list. McGwire was streaking toward a seemingly unbreakable record, not by merely hitting balls over the fence but by scraping tops of stadiums as the ball left the atmosphere. Major league baseball players were reduced to little boys, tasting our childhood once again as we craned our necks to figure out when he would launch another impossible shot. Never in my experience had so many players who should have been stretching stopped everything just to watch an opponent take batting practice.
I rarely talk about PEDs here, because frankly, I don’t care about them at all. But this is a very interesting look at the McGwire thing from the perspective of a former player, who just so happens to also be a very intelligent person and very good writer.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
So, Did You Hear About A-Rod?
I was out all day yesterday, away from TV or my computer or a radio, so I was unaware of the breaking news that Alex Rodriguez may have tested positive for steroids in 2003. So I’m at the Hawks/Clippers NBA game wearing a Chicago Bears sweatshirt, which prompted the guys sitting next to me to ask me if I was a Cubs fan too. I said no, I’m actually a Yankee fan. That led them to ask me “So, did you hear about A-Rod?”
I’ve been asked that question a few times over the years, and it’s never been followed by good news. However, this time it was worse. I don’t particularly care about players’ personal lives so Madonna-gate and all that other crap never really mattered to me.
Putting the steroid taint on Rodriguez is different. I really don’t have strong feelings about the steroid issue in baseball, because baseball has always had a history of people doing things to get an edge, be it stealing signs or using speed or whatever else. I’m also fairly certain that a lot more players were using PEDs than has been revealed.
Still, it sucks when the best players in the game are being revealed as cheaters, be it Bonds, Clemens, McGwire and now Rodriguez.
It’ll be interesting to see how Rodriguez handles this PR-wise.
I’d also be interested in learning how MLB defines the word “confidential.”
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
NY Times: A Voice of Skepticism on the Impact of Steroids
Walker contends that popular measures often used to demonstrate the baseballwide effects of so-called performance-enhancing drugs — like the rise in home runs per game and overall runs per game — are the wrong place to look. Since any added strength hitters get from steroids would not help them make solid contact with the ball, but only hit it farther when they do, Walker instead examined a more appropriate statistic: total bases per hit, also known as Power Factor.
youngjova asked me to link this article, which is a different look at the impact of steroids in baseball. I haven’t really talked about steroids that much here, because I’m of the opinion that just about every player was on something, but since we only have rats from a few places, certain people are being scapegoated. Do they help performance? Sure, but it’s not just hitters using it, so the net effect is probably not as large as some people make it out to be.
Friday, January 4, 2008
The Circus is coming to town! The circus! The circus!
In my day job, I get press releases from several congressional committees. Most of them - like this one - have nothing to do with my day job, but I thought I’d share this with you all…
Oversight Committee to Invite Major League Players to Testify on the Mitchell Report
WASHINGTON, DC — The House Oversight Committee announced today it will hold a hearing on Wednesday, January 16, 2008, to obtain additional information about the Report to the Commissioner of Baseball of an Independent Investigation into the Illegal Use of Steroids and Other Performance Enhancing Substances by Players in Major League Baseball, known as the “Mitchell Report.”
Witnesses will include:
- Mr. Brian McNamee
- Mr. Kirk Radomski
- Mr. Andy Pettitte
- Mr. Chuck Knoblauch
- Mr. Roger Clemens
Where: 2154 Rayburn House Office Building
When: 10 a.m. on Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Thursday, December 13, 2007
NorthJersey.com: Klapisch - Baseball holds its breath for The List to be released
According to one industry official, “several” prominent Yankees will be named by Mitchell in his 2 p.m. news conference in Manhattan. The official, who spoke to a third party who’d seen the final report, predicted, “It’s going to be a rough day in the Bronx” after the identities are made public.
No Mets from the current 40-man roster are named, according to the same source.
A report that was prepared by a director of the Red Sox is going to list several prominent Yankees? Shocking…
Ongoing Updates
Source says Clemens will be named in Mitchell report
In other news, according to Peter Abraham the Yankees have have non-tendered T.J. Beam, Matt DeSalvo and Darrell Rasner and all are now unrestricted free agents.
In otherer news, Rodriguez finalizes $275M deal with Yankees.
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