2013 MLB Hall of Fame Screechfest

Another difference maker in how amphetamines are publicly perceived relative to steroids/hGH.

 

Sure, but the voters need to wring their hands over something.

 

What is your stance on amphetamines? There is no way in hell some players could have played without them.

A hell of a lot more did them then didn't. It is naive as hell to believe differently.

 

First, not sure who from the "greenies" era used or which of them I ever voted for. But your claim that there's "no way in hell" some guys could have played without them, what do you mean? For a day, as in Sunday afternoons after their late Saturday night boozefests? Or could not have stayed employed in and performed at major league levels? I never heard that latter contention before, ever.

Second, I consider it unacceptable to justify bad behavior by citing other bad behavior. Some guys did something illegal and got away with it, so there's no use in holding accountable for their actions anyone who follows? Crock.

 

Bad behavior?

Ever voted for a guy with a DUI or drug problem?

 

Would you agree then that greenie users were cheaters who shouldn't have been elected to the HOF in the first place?

 

MLB didn't test for amphetamines until 2006.

They were in wide general use in baseball by the mid-1960s. They were only illegal without a prescription.

What if the team doctor is the one handing them out?

 

What seems to be in the air is whether players would think of what they were doing as cheating. They didn't think of amphetamines as cheating. But a lot of people have a hard time believing they wouldn't think of steroids as cheating. But, well, a lot of people think of steroids as cheating.

 

Do you think Ken Caminiti was considered a cheater or a gamer within the Padres' clubhouse?

 

What about by players in other clubhouses?

 

And - just to let you know where I'm coming from - I'm not necessarily insinuating by my questions a particular belief here. I just want to ask the questions. I think the answers will help me sort this all out. I'm admittedly firmly on the fence, and will be there for quite a while.

 

I think pretty much everyone in baseball considered him a gamer.