"It became clear that baseball remains in denial about the scope of the problem and the defects in its deeply flawed testing policy. 'Trust baseball' isn't going to work anymore." Rep. Henry Waxman, ranking Democrat on the House Committee for Government Reform
" What If " (Part 2) Steroids and Baseball
By Jose Reyes
In my first article "Steroids + Baseball = Cheating" concerning Steroids and the cheaters that are administering them in Baseball, I used numbers to prove my point of how in a short time, these players achieved these extraordinary feats. I was very upset when I wrote that article and I'm still very upset. How dare these cruel Individuals try to place themselves in front of the Baseball greats. In front of these great "Hall of Famers", who struggled so hard, making a minute fraction of the income these "Phonies" are making now and playing their hearts out, day after day, year after year, with all sorts of injuries. The passion they brought to the field and the passion they gave to the fans were immeasurable. I wish I had a way to go back to those days, when Clemente and Rose, Mantle and Mays, Robinson and Aaron, Williams and DiMaggio, The Babe and The Yankee Clipper played and see them play. Oh yes, What if I could build a "Time Machine" and travel back in time and see these great Baseball Stars like Cobb and Foxx play in their prime, What If? Yeah, What if I could build an enormous "Time Machine" like the size of the "Enterprise". Yeah, how about a gigantic "Time Machine" with a payload of Steroids. Yeah, that's right, lets give these Baseball greats a couple of doses of steroids. No, no, no, that's just not right, but let's pretend, just for fun, lets pretend that these players had access to these performance drugs, Wow! Imagine the incredible numbers they would put up? These Clowns playing now would be considered "Bums". Well, that's why I named this article, "What If " Just for fun, lets imagine. This will show how "Great' these guys in the past were and at the same time it will prove how important Stats are to the game of Baseball and to achieving the ultimate goal, "The Hall Fame". This will prove how serious steroids really are to every sport but most significantly, to baseball.
"Harmon Killebrew" "Harmon Killebrew"
"The Sluggers"
I will start with the "Sluggers", oh yeah, this is going to be a lot of fun. If you still think steroids doesn't make a difference, then you should just stop reading the rest of this article, because you will really feel very embarrassed after you finished reading it. For the true "Baseball Fans", let's take a look at the list of the top "Homerun Hitters" in Baseball history: (This list will exclude the "Cheaters")
1. Hank Aaron (6'0", 180 LB) 755 Homeruns, 2,297 RBI's
2. Babe Ruth (6'2", 215 LB) 714 Homeruns, 2,213 RBI's
3. Willie Mays (5'11", 180 LB) 660 Homeruns, 1,903 RBI's
4. Frank Robinson (6'1", 195LB) 586 Homeruns, 1,812 RBI's
5. Harmon Killebrew (5'11", 213 LB) 573 Homeruns, 1,584 RBI's
6. Reggie Jackson (6'0", 200 LB) 563 Homeruns, 1,702 RBI's
7. Rafael Palmeiro (6'0", 188 LB) 551 Homeruns, 1,775 RBI's
8. Mike Schmidt (6'2", 203 LB) 548 Homeruns, 1,595 RBI's
9. Mickey Mantle (5'11", 198 LB) 536 Homeruns, 1,509 RBI's
10. Jimmie Foxx (6'0", 195 LB) 534 Homeruns, 1,922 RBI's
11. Willie McCovey (6'4", 210 LB) 521 Homeruns, 1,555 RBI's
12. Ted Williams (6'3", 205 LB) 521 Homeruns, 1,839 RBI's
13. Ernie Banks (6'1", 180 LB) 512 Homeruns, 1,636RBI's
14. Eddie Mathews (6'1", 200LB) 512 Homeruns, 1,453 RBI's
15. Mel Ott (5'9", 170 Lbs) 511 Homeruns, 1,860 RBI's
16. Eddie Murray (6'2", 200 LB) 504 Homeruns, 1,917 RBI's
17. Ken Griffey, Jr. (6'3", 205 LB) 501 Homeruns, 1,444 RBI's
Let's pretend these true baseball greats had access to the new technology of steroids and were able to inject themselves with human growth hormones, may I say anything else? Their numbers would be astronomical! What about the players who came close to making the Hall of Fame they would be there now and the ones that are cheating now, would not even get close. Since steroids helps one heal faster, what about those players who had knee problems or back problems or shoulder problems, they would play longer and add more to their number totals. Hitting the ball harder is not the only benefit, throwing the ball harder is very significant also and I'm sure many pitchers in the majors are and have taken steroids also.
I feel that I don't really have to compare any more stats in this article anymore. I know that players cheated before, by either corking the bat or cutting the ball, but Steroids is a completely different animal, your talking about making yourself bigger and of course, stronger. The players from before never made themselves physically bigger, just take a look at the weight of these real "Hall of Famers". This just shows how great these guys were and this is the main reason why I'm writing these articles. I'm writing these articles for them.
"Part 3" Coming soon............
