Bonds begins HOF campaign

That's the real problem. We're basically guessing when we talk about when a guy started using and in many case, I think we are guessing wrong.

Do I think the theory that Bonds started using after McGwire set the home run record in 1998? Yeah, I do. It fits that it would be his ego that pushed him to go there. But am I sure he didn't start before that? That he didn't start when he was with the Pirates? No, I'm not. Most people just assume it came later because he was still skinny when he played in Pittsburgh. Guess what, folks. There are skinny guys who used steroids, too.

And Alex Rodriguez? Anybody who believes his story about only starting when he went to the Rangers and then stopping when he left Texas is, at best, incredibly naive.

 

fair or not fair, people always wondered about griffey as well. i guess that's what will happen if you played in that era.

 

I think Griffey gets a pass for the most part, really. Same with Frank Thomas. Jeff Bagwell's candidacy has been saddled with unverified assumptions, though.

 

big frank sure as to shit didn't pass the eye test there for a few years, V. i mean shit, it wasn't difficult to tell what boone was up to during his monster season.
i hate being like that, but it's what the era does to the guys who played during that time. am i completely off the mark here?

 

I really don't see Bagwell getting in there. If he does, it won't be easy. He's easily in the Hall of very good.

 

I don't have a problem believing ARod started using PEDs when he arrived in Texas. My guess, however, is that he continued to use until he got caught. He hasn't hit more than 30 HRs in a season since then.

I favor the first option. As I have said in the past, just because you can't stop everyone, doesn't mean you shouldn't stop anyone. I do think the potential of being banned from the HOF would be a powerful deterrent to the stars, in much the same way I believe the lifetime bans of Rose and Joe Jackson have been an extremely effective deterrent to players who might consider getting involved in gambling. I'd almost guarantee that lifetime bans haven't prevented all players from gambling on baseball (or throwing games, or whatever), but there are very few who have risked it.

 

The thing about Frank Thomas is that he was that big as a teenager. He's just a big boy.

 

agreed V. thomas always was one of my favorites. i followed him quite closely. but in the mid-90s, that cat got huge, even by his standards.

 

Actually, I don't believe anything Rodriguez says on the subject. He was already busted when he admitted it and his claim that he only used in Texas doesn't hold up to logic. He said he did it because of the pressure of the contract. So going to the New York Yankees took the pressure off? Bullshit.

I think Rodriguez was juicing in high school, for reasons I won't get into here.

 

and some of the biggest defenders of hetero family values get caught tapping their toes in bathroom stalls in airports.
to be honest, a part of me thinks it's bullshit that i even raise the question concerning the guy ... but that's what bonds and the rest PED users did to the game. i think it's naive not to ask.