Thursday, August 04, 2005

Never. Ever. Period.

Speak Raffy…please speak.

I’m just sitting here on the edge of my seat waiting to hear what this once ‘Sure-fire’ first ballot Hall of Famer is going to say. It better be good, because quite frankly I feel like he’s been lying to us and now I want some answers.

Remember when Rafael Palmeiro looked at the Congressional committee and pointed his finger that he had never taken steroids? I also remember that he kept saying for several weeks after Jose Canseco’s book came out that he was looking into legal action against his former Texas teammate. HaHa – somebody not only cracked the egg they dropped all of the yoke on his quaff.

The Orioles slugger tested positive for stanozolol, a person with knowledge of the sport's drug-testing program told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity. This irritates me too. The sport prohibits disclosure of test results without authorization and we all know that Raffy didn’t authorize this…stanozolol is strong stuff – it’s the same stuff that sprinter Ben Johnson was on when he beat Carl Lewis in the 1988 Olympics and then handed over his Gold Medal when he was busted. So if Major League Baseball officials can’t keep their mouths shut then they should hire an outside organization to do the testing.

The positive test came a little more than three months after Raffy sat in front of Congress but before he recorded his 3,000th hit in early July. This is very interesting to me because it means that he reached the 3,000 hit milestone after he knew that he had tested positive for steroids the source said. Only Henry Aaron, Willie Mays and Eddie Murray have also had careers of 3,000+ hits and 500+ homeruns…and now Palmeiro.

In my first blog column I wrote about steroids and how it was effecting baseball. I aslo outlined several players that Canseco said he knew used them. Here’s my little piece of that column talking about Palmeiro’s homerun surge after becoming a teammate of Jose:

Rafael Palmeiro had seasons of 8, 8, 14, 26 and 22 before the 1993 season when he hit 37…then in a strike shortened season he hit 23 and then in 95 & 96 he hit 39 in each. Followed in 97 with 38 and then these: 98:43 99:47 00:39 01:47 02:43 03:38 04:23
Pretty funny how when all the talk of roids came out his numbers fell back down…?


"I am ready and willing to answer each and every one of them." -Rafael Palmeiro referring to questions about his positive testing

People are now debating about whether or not he should be a Hall of Famer…I don’t know, I really don’t. I wouldn’t vote for him the first year, no way. I’m not even sure that I would vote for him in his first three chances. His career and statistics were boosted and padded by the juice. I read Canseco’s book and I believe him – why would he put his neck out there if it wasn’t true? And how come none of the guys he says in the book never sued him? Because they all did it. Juan Gone, Pudge, Raffy, Big Mac…all of them. Canseco even pointed the finger at Bret Boone. I believed it then and believe it so much more now that Boone in the last season and a half has been terrible.

I’m not asking all of these guys to start raising their hands or sit in a circle and say, “Hi, I’m Jason Giambi and I’ve used steroids.” What good is it going to do now? If you get busted part of your punishment should be to speak to teens and minor leaguers about the dangers of steroids and how it has negatively impacted their careers with a black cloud.

I’m pleading with these guys to be clean now – stay off of them and play the game like Frank Robinson, Mike Schmidt, Tom Seaver and all of the greats that ran across the white stripes.

7 Comments:

At 8/04/2005 1:36 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Several Certainties/Truths
1-Giambi and many others (ESPECIALLY PITCHERS) juicing right now.
2-The mental reliance is WAY to often overlooked.
3-Steroids make a decent player great.
4-Canseco is a jerk but not a liar.
5-Pete Rose (and others) should DEFINITLY go in since all these steroid clowns will.
6-Baseball is a mess......AGAIN
7-NOBODY should be suprised.
8-We should honor,appreciate,and value the old-timers even more.
9-Raffy could be a lawyer.
10-LIFE GOES ON
-Ell

 
At 8/04/2005 1:39 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

If you are going to disqualify Raf from the hall, then you also have to disqualify Bonds and Sheff - maybe McGuire and Sosa too. Honestly, I could care less about players taking the juice. The public has an oversimplified knee-jerk reaction when it comes to steroids. My opinion: if someone wants to put their health in danger to excel athletically, then good for them. A lot of smart people will tell you that steroids aren't dangerous if taken correctly. I don't know if I buy that, but who am I to judge? If you're going to blame roids for inflating numbers, than blame ball parks too. Some of the stats put up by players in Colorado are completely out of whack. If Aaron played his career as a Rockie he'd have about 1,200 hrs

Click on my name

 
At 8/04/2005 1:40 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Giambi haters can eat deez

 
At 8/04/2005 2:25 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Betting on baseball and possibly throwing games is way worse than using nutritional supplements.

 
At 8/04/2005 4:50 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

If MLB is going to put an asterisk by Roger Maris' name just because his 61-homer season ran eight games longer than Ruth's, then MLB better put a string of asterisks next to the names Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, and Palmeiro (to name a few). Cheaters, all of them.

But you know who the worst cheaters are? Those sissies who run MLB and the players' union. They didn't take a firm stance on steroids until it was too late.

At least the bozos mentioned above have either been caught or had their accomplishments (and intelligence) called into question. Um, hello, Raffy? If you're going to testify before Congress that you've never used steroids, make sure your next test comes up negative, okay?

MLB allowed--even implicitly encouraged--the honest accomplishments of men like Ruth, Maris, Mays, Aaron, and Murray to be tainted by a bunch of cheating punks.

 
At 8/05/2005 3:02 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

BLOOPERSTOWN, N.Y. -- Town officials have announced the formation of a new sports hall of fame facility to honor all those great athletes who somehow didn't get appropriate recognition during their careers.
The new facility will be called The Hall of Shame. It will be located on a lake in a small, turn-of-the-century town in upstate New York. The building itself will be modeled after Philadephia's former Veterans Stadium ("It was a toilet, but it was our toilet").
"We want to honor all those athletes who excelled in their respective sports, but who were denied access into their 'Halls' because of 'extenuating circumstances.'" said former football great O.J. Simpson, the president of the Hall of Shame.
Simpson also announced that the first five inductees into the Hall of Shame will be Pete Rose, Shoeless Joe Jackson, Tonya Harding, Mike Tyson and Lyle Alzado.
He also announced that under certain circumstances, athletes who have already attained Hall of Fame status in their respective sports might also become candidates for Hall of Shame induction. He said he is currently going over lists of potential candidates for that honor.
Many of the residents of Blooperstown greeted the news of the Hall of Shame with far less enthusiasm than Simpson and his backers had expected.
"Does this mean we'll finally be getting indoor plumbing?" one long-time resident asked.

 
At 8/10/2005 11:23 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Steriods have been around for 20+ years, its not like the utilization of them is anything new to the game of baseball.

 

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