Secrets of the City

That explains why Knoblauch was so good at stealing bases. He did so in a ‘roid frenzy.

If they were going to take roids, the least they could have done was hit some home runs.

In related news, flyweight hitter Jason Tyner was not re-signed by the Twins. Suspicions of his steroid use were heightened when he hit his first and only career homerun last year.

I wonder if the steroids caused Knobber to get The Yips while he was with the Yankees.

Didn’t he get to the point where he couldn’t throw to first base, so they put him out in left field?

That’s addressing the problem.

I remember reading that he was one some kind of New Age diet, too.

Knoblauch’s yips were actually a result of his trying to sneak a peek at Derek Jeter’s butt. They moved him to LF so that he wouldn’t have to avert his eyes.

I wonder if the steroids caused Knobber to get The Yips while he was with the Yankees.

No. Karma perhaps. You know, couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy. But this is also whats know as ‘Steve Blass Disease’, and its happened before

I remember Steve Sax going through it in the ’80’s.

Here’s the long form of the Mitchell Report. It’ll be interesting to see if Roger Clemons gets demonized like Barry Bonds has been.

Think it happned to Ron Cey, too.

better living thru chemistry….whats the big deal?

Denny Neagle? Say it ain’t so! As a young boy, all I wanted to be when I grew up was Denny Neagle. I dressed as Neagle for Halloween every year. His affable ways, quirky swing, and his beautiful tenor voice are the stuff of legend. Do you all remember our collective love affair with Denny Neagle?

DAMN! Anyone but Neagle. A dark day indeed.

I hope the sportswriters get together and decide not to let any of these guys into the hall.

What sucks about this report is that there are so many names that were left off because no players cooperated. I say Baseball gives everyone temporary amnesty to come clean. If they don’t do it within a month and they’re found later to have used, ban them for good Pete Rose style.

better living thru chemistry….whats the big deal?

Thats a good question. Isn’t practicing a performance enhancement? If these things were verifiably completelely safe, would it be alright? The moral line is ambiguaous.

“quirky swing“

Denny was a pitcher, nateek.

I think that would be a little extreme.

“The moral line is ambiguaous.”

Nah, I’d say it’s pretty clear. Rule of thumb: If Abner Doubleday couldn’t do it, neither can these guys. That’s the only way to maintain the integrity of a game that’s built on history and records.

Kent Herbeck used the same drug Babe Ruth took — beer.

Horseshit. Abner Doubleday didn’t have modern training facilities and didn’t understand core strength training.

Rule of thumb: If Abner Doubleday couldn’t do it, neither can these guys

Well, the scholarly work suggests Doubeldays involvement with baseball was minimal. But I get your point.

The steroids didn’t keep White off the disabled list.

They didn’t call him Ron DL White for nothing.

Local angle…this is actually a net gain for the Twins. They don’t have any players who will be affected by it, whereas many of their opponents will. You know, like half the Yankee roster.

Excuse me Matt. If anyone knows that Denny Neagle was a pitcher, it was me. Perhaps you didn’t read my whole comment?

And unless you ever saw that bastard swing a bat, you wouldn’t question my citation of his quirky swing as one the most endearing things about him.

[I see there's a "bold," "italics" and "link" command on the comment box. Where's "fac" for facetious?]

Hrbek, rather.

That’s the only way to maintain the integrity of a game that’s built on history and records

Well, we must hold baseball to a much higher standard that that other popular American game – football.

Baseball is a superior game though, and expectations are higher.

I think we should just take baseball back to its origins…like these guys.

Re vintage baseball – when I think of purity, and elysian fields, and whatnot – the mental picture I get is of postwar townball. I wish I could have experienced that instead of playing on surburban high school campuses.

you still can…go out to see one of these teams on a summer night.

There is obviously going to be a lot of ensuing talk about the “fallout” after this report. While I’m sure there will be a pocket of fans who will boycott baseball in some fashion, I’m guessing this report will have little or no effect on baseball writ large.

The most positive outcome will come from how the report informs decisions moving forward. The murky side of this will come in how baseball responds retroactively to this news. Records, Hall o’ Fame voting and other pieces will be up for grabs for a bit. Especially in the season ahead with players like Clemens, it will be interesting to see what (if any) punitive measures are taken.

The other side of this will be to see how race plays out. Or more importantly, how it perhaps won’t play out. Lots of folks think we go after black athletes (Vick, Bonds, etc.) differently than how we go after white athletes. This could certainly be a dirty little undercurrent to all of this.

Baseball has always been a seedy little game. The rogues and rascals that play it, mange it and own it it are what makes it what it is. I don’t know if this is any worse than other scandals.

In order to be a baseball manager you used to need one of two key qualifications: either be a heavy drinker or a card player.

Pro sports players using steroids?

Shocking.

The one good thing that could come from this is an outside authority to conduct drug testing in baseball and, perhaps, other US sports leagues. I have my doubts that the MLBPA will allow that to happen, though.

The way I remember baseball, pumped-up sluggers didn’t carry teams to championships, but pitch placement, ball striking, and fielding were all critical qualities of a winner. So far they don’t seem to have drugs for that.

None of this really explains why there is steroid abuse in baseball, so I have to wonder if this is a case of baseball statisticitis, where gaudy individual stats against left handed pitchers with one or three (but not two!) Es in their name rule.

The way I remember baseball, pumped-up sluggers didn’t carry teams to championships, but pitch placement, ball striking, and fielding were all critical qualities of a winner.

But the chicks dig the long ball.

Black ball players? White ball players? It’s the Swedes in the majors that really get me all hot and bothered.

I didnt know there were any Swedes in the majors. They strike me a lacking the necessary aggression. Maybe Travis Hafner is nominally Swedish. Mauer is a German, I would think Neshek is as well. Darin Erstad I suppose.

The way I remember baseball, pumped-up sluggers didn’t carry teams to championships

I don’t think Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Carl Yastrzemski, Willie Mays, Harmon Killebrew and a few dozen others remember it that way. Even Kirby and Kent used the big bat to bring home championships. When I was in Little League, everybody wanted to be the big hitter.

Or Jim Kaat.

This is like finding two drug dealers in north Minneapolis, rounding up their clients and saying “Oooh, look, we cleaned up north Minneapolis.” This outs some players involved in one steroids ring. It doesn’t put the issue to bed, not for me at least. But nothing ever really will because instead of aggressively going after the problem when it first popped up, baseball tried to beat it in a war of attrition and ultimately, baseball lost.

I am shocked — shocked! — to find that there’s steroids going on here.

“Your injection, sir….”

(If anyone needed human growth hormones, it was Claude Raines)

This is the final nail in the coffin for professional baseball!! Between the Twins Stadium Controversy here in Minnesota to the epidemic drug abuse by the union players, to the gambling addictions of the Pete Rose’s of the world, yet, baseball is no more an American icon, but a corrupt political institution like the Vatican!

Grab your lifejackets everyone! The S.S. MLB Titanic is listing from the stern! Bud Seling is going down as the captain of the ship!

Between the Twins Stadium Controversy here in Minnesota

Is there a controversy?

Big G…wake up and smell the incinerator. Like Americans care about cheating.

They’ll be some repercussions, but if I were a player, I’d damn well want to have my say.

There’s no telling how from our perspective how true all of these allegations are. There’s a good chance that innocent players are going to get swept up in some purge.

I say they have to prove them all, and not just with what one guy said about another guy.

Selig’s MO all along has been sitting on his hands and doing nothing…this will not change. The owners will use this as a bargaining tool to beat down the union for the next few years, but there’s nothing punitive that will come of it from MLB. The punsihment will be meted out by the HOF voters. I just don’t see how they can keep out Bonds or Clemens based on their body of work…adjust for steroids and bonds still hits 650 HR and Clemens still gets 300 wins…both plenty good enough for HOF consideration. If for the next 10 years the HOF committee takes a hard line and only elects guys who are squeaky clean and above suspicion, based on the way the voting works, you’re going to have a watered down HOF.

John Thorn said it best, “This whole thing about McGwire simply permits sportswriters to imagine themselves to be Woodward and Bernstein, people who see themselves as guardians of a sacred portal, the last best hope for truth and justice – and it’s all hogwash and baloney.”

Well, Gaylord Perry is in the Hall. Inducted in ‘91. The guy proudly scuffed baseballs and threw spitballs his whole career. Seems to me that’s cheating.

Baseball is full of cheatin’ bastards. Always has been.

It ain’t no daisy farm.

It absolutely kills me that people are so surprised to find out these guys are on the juice. Good god, they all are! The athletes who aren’t are few and far between. I hear it from “siblings” of certain ball players that everyone does it -”except our brother.” Of course! I’ve been a trainer for years, and there are guys who use steroids just to get bigger; with no payoff other than looking huge.

I’m with Bode Miller; I think we should just let the jocks do what ever they want and level the playing field. There’ll always be someone looking for the new undetectable substance that will enhance their performance, so let it be out in the open.