I not quite sure where to start on this one. It is freakin huge! Overall, I'm not totally surprised. The most surprising aspect of this whole story, boy, Jose Canseco was actually right.
Major League Baseball is the overall biggest loser. In a way, they condone this and and play a major part of creating this "steroid era."
Think about it. MLB was destroyed with the 1994 strike which canceled the postseason. MLB turned their head as players were putting up superhuman numbers, but the ballparks were full and the money was coming in at a record pace.
MLB didn't test for steroids. Steroids weren't banned by the league even though they are illegal in the United States.
And now, they even failed to cover up their poster boy, savior of the steroid era in Alex Rodriquez.
I know, the players are as much to blame as the commissioner and MLB. But hey, if everyone else was juicing, why not, right? MLB wasn't testing. So the playing field was even.
What I don't understand is these players-Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, Clemens, A-Rod-were already great players and certain locks for the Hall of Fame with out PED's. All the PED's did for them was up their slugging percentage and blossom their homeruns, the latter what everyone pays money for.
Back to Canseco, he is considered the "Godfather" of steroids, ushering in the drug to the game and forever putting a cloud over this era. And lately, since Canseco went down, he's taken everyone down with him and of course profiting from this.
But hell, like I said before, the guy was actually right. And he claims that around 75% of MLB was juiced. That means about 18 of 25 players on every roster were using PED's. And rumor has it, Canseco has more juicy tales to come.
And so in 2003, MLB randomly and anonymously tested players and 104, about 5% tested positive, including A-Rod. That's like saying each roster had at least 3 guys juicing. How is A-Rod the only name which was leaked? Someone obviously had it out for him.
Think about it. Supposedly (I mean honestly, what the hell can we believe anymore) the tests were kept in Vegas with only a number on it. The names were kept separately in Southern California. That's a lot of work, sneaking around, whatever you will to put these two together.
So in all fairness, to A-Rod, the media, MLB it's fans and players who were clean, th the rest of these 103 players should be named and I believe they will be be revealed.
I'm not here to defend A-Rod. As everyone knows, I always lashed out on Barry Bonds. In fact, I was Barry Bonds fan back in his day with the Pirates. When he hit over .300, 30 homeruns and 100+ RBI's.
Like I said before, these players were already great hitters. All steroids did was help them hit the ball farther.
What separates A-Rod apart from Bonds, McGwire, Clemens, Sosa, Palmero. is the fact he confessed and apologized. That was the smartest thing for A-Rod to do, and to have Peter Gammons conduct the interview.
Also, these other guys were busted at the end of their careers. A-Rod has many years left to define his legacy. And since 2003, A-Rod claims to have been tested 8-10 times and blood tested for the World Baseball Classic.
Another big question from A-Rod's apology was his lashing out against Sports Illustrated writer Selena Roberts. A-Rod referred to Roberts as "this lady" and claims that she was stalking him. A-Rod than says she's been arrested for trespassing on his property and said he had a paper to prove it. Why did Peter Gammons not immediately ask to see the document?
If Roberts is coming out with a book on A-Rod and it seems she's been covering him for the last few years, I'm sure A-Rod knows exactly who she is and doesn't need to refer to her as "this lady."
What is the actual relationship between Roberts and A-Rod.
Like I said before, great ballplayers like A-Rod, Bonds, etc. never needed PED's to hit the ball or be the best, they already were.
A-Rod's numbers have been consistent throughout his entire career. In 1996, just his second season, A-Rod led MLB with a .358 average.
Lets look deeper into his numbers.
From 2001-03, the alleged steroid years for A-Rod:
161.7 games, .305 batting average, 52 homeruns, 131.7 RBI, .615 slugging %.
All other seasons:
149.2 games, .308 batting average, 39.2 homeruns, 119 RBI, .574 slugging %.
The batting average remained nearly the same, actually slightly better than his "Roid Years."
But what's another thing A-Rod, Sosa, Bonds and Palmero have in common-No Rings!
Of course Clemens picked up his two jumping on the ship for final 2 World Series Championships of the 90's dynasty.
And Big Mac got his only ring when he was just breaking in the league with Bash Brother Canseco.
Being a Yankees fan, I get a lot of "Your team's all on roids.", "Your team cheated." "Drugs are all over the Yankees' clubhouse.", etc.
Let's remember this. So far A-Rod was juicing with the Texas Rangers, supposedly not with the Yankees. Clemens started juicing with the Blue Jays. Giambi started with the A's, probably with Miguel Tejada.
So if you're gonna shout out the NY Yankees as juicers, you're a hypocrite. Whoever your team is, I'm sure their locker room was full of illegal drugs too.
So what does A-Rod do now? Have the best season of his career. That's the only way he can win back his fans, teammates, baseball and himself.
A-Rod has another 10 years to prove he's still one of the best. If he can't be in the Hall Of Fame, he really needs to start winning championships more than ever.
Yeah I feel cheated and am greatly upset about A-Rod. But I felt cheated befor this week.
Another look at the "Steroid Era."
By decade, here is the average number of total homeruns hit by overall MLB leader:
1970's - 43.5 homeruns
1980's - 41.9 homeruns
1990's - 52 homeruns
2000's - 54 homeruns
So yeah, steroids allowed players to hit more homeruns.
What else is amazing about this stat? In 1981, 4 players led the AL with 22 homeruns!
And Mike Schmidt was the most dominant homerun hitter of his era.
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