Perspective by Ed Stern
Marty; It’s not difficult to resist the temptation to weigh in with many words of purported wisdom. The New York Times carried the Barry story on it’s front pages today, the sports section had a story with the caption “They Don’t Make Heroes the Way They Used To”, another story recounted once again the disaster the Yankees have encountered in Giambi and the 82 million still owing to him.
The Chronicle, which obtained the leaked grand jury transcript and proceeded to fill it’s pages with thousands of words, including nine different comments today from papers all over the country, has had a publisher’s orgasm. This is not surprisng from a paper which has difficulty in keeping up with the news emanating from Iraq.
Has anything changed since the invasion of the grand jury’s deserved sanctity? Not really. Any ordinarily perceptive individual knew before this outpouring that Giambi had taken steroids, which probably accounted for his physical breakdown last year. Bonds’ relationship with his close friend, Anderson, left small doubt that he was a user at some time in the past. We could go on and on, but will not.
There doesn’t seem to be much point in pursuing this any longer on this page which generously offers us the privilege of writing about the baseball scene. If the performance of players is affected as a result of all this it may be appropriate to reflect on it. Otherwise, let the press furies rage. We will try to keep this in proper perspective.
Ed Stern
0 comments
Ed,
Most of the comments now devalue the prior accomplishments of Barry Bonds, do you agree with this attitude? How should we view the records Bonds has set as he gets closer to Babe Ruth’s 714?
Bonds didn’t look physically smaller to me last season (like Giambi, Sosa, and Klesko), yet he still had a dominating year, with all the hoopala going on around him about steroids I’m assuming he didn’t use the supplements in 2003, so maybe he just can hit better than anyone else with or without steroids?
Marty
Actually, I meant 2004, the years go by so quickly.
Marty
The authorities started investigating Balco a while ago. My question is, did Bonds continue using “the cream” and “the clear” after he found out that his trainer may have gotten those substances from Balco? Also, did Bonds use any steroids this last season?
I had a friend that I didn’t see for a few months, and he was able to add substantial bulk to himself in those few months by using Creatine. However, when he stopped using it, he lost a lot of that bulk. I wonder if these Balco steroids work the same way. Do you have to continue taking them in order to continue to stay big and strong?
If Bonds didn’t use the steroids last season, maybe he’s able to sustain his strength on his own. Maybe he’s just hitting better from experience.
He’d be stupid if he’s still taking the steroids. Why not let him continue to play another season and see what he can really do when we know for sure he’s not taking any performance enhancing drugs? Then we can compare next season with how he did last season or the season before. If he performs similarly, which I think he will, then maybe he’s just that good on his own. If not, then we can blame his lack of ability to his not taking steroids any more.
Ed you are very right about it.
Remember this is the same National
Media(i.e. NY Times)that couldn’t
believe that Kerry has lost, because
they traditionally live inside the
bubbles of the East and West
Coast and forgot that there
is a whole country in between.
The National Media
is lazy and just waiting
for scandals and the sensational
stories to sell papers and recently they
can’t even make a correct
prediction on elections.
So nobody
should be surprised by those
“pillars of Journalism”like the
New York Times when they go
overboard with the steroids
story.
Not to mention CBS who
cannot report anything
right these days. Edward
R. Morrow must be turning
in his grave !
in between.
Saludos,
Amaury
Marty; It would be interesting to compare Bonds 2001 year when he hit 73 homers with the past two years accomplishments. I don’t have the statistics in front of me so will make some gut assumptions. Having in mind the number of walks Bonds received in 2003 and 2004 compare that with the number of walks he had in 2001. Then look at his hitting record in these three years. My gut feeling is that such a comparison would reveal that Bonds record these past two years was comparable to his record in 2001 even though he may not have hit as many homers. His batting average hadn’t suffered; his slugging record was comparable. He may simply have had the one greatest year players have over a long career but the other years were sufficient to earn him MVP awards. We are assuming that he wasn’t on steroids these past two years which is a pretty safe assumption to make. There may still be questions left unanswered. I don’t know enough about the effect of steroid use to know whether it continues to affect performance after it’s disuse for a period of time. We do know that we aren’t talking about Giambi, Sosa, Caminetti and the ilk. Bonds continues to perform at levels no one else has ever matched. As you point out, maybe he is just a better hitter than anyone else, with or without steroids. Let’s see what a 40 year old hitter does this year when no one expects him to be benefitting from drug use. How many homers will he hit given the number of chances he gets to swing the bat? What will his slugging % be? How quickly will he greet the Babe on the way up? Should Aaron be worried?
If he continues to hit as he has recently, forget about steroids when talking about all time records. Give him the credit that is his due.
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