Maddux, Glavine, Thomas elected to Baseball Hall of Fame; Biggio just misses

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

Lance Parrish as well around the same era. He was consistently discouraged from weight training as adding muscle/bulk was considered bad form in baseball - tightened you up too much to swing freely.

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

Right, and this is why it isn't accurate to assign the start of the PED era in baseball with the start of it in sports at large. Even in high school, we were well aware in the hallways of guys on the football team who used. But none of us on the baseball team ever even mentioned using PEDs. It wouldn't have crossed our minds. I'm not even sure anybody lifted weights.

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released



Back in 2005, former major league pitcher & pitching coach Tom House admitted he used anabolic steroids when he pitch in the majors in the '70s. He even claims performance-enhancing drugs were widespread in baseball in the 1960s and 1970s.

http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/2005-05-03-steroids-house_x.htm



In Ken Burns' Baseball: The Tenth inning Tom Boswell claimed a player who is now in the Baseball HOF told him he was "drinking a Jose Canseco milkshake".

http://ethicsalarms.com/2010/09/30/tom-boswells-outrageous-ethical-breach/

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

I don't doubt that some guys messed with them. Thousands of baseball players have come and gone over the decades. But a few exceptions do not a Steroid Era make.

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

Tom House may be exaggerating but "6 or 7 pitchers per team" sounds like a possible start to an era to me.

Like I asked earlier, what's the minimum percentage of MLB players experimenting/using PEDs that Ken Gurnick and his defenders consider reasonable to eliminate any player who's never been found or suspected of PEDs from being considered for the HOF just because they played the game at the same time.

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

Doesn't matter. They were being used then, so if you are going to refuse to vote for anybody from the steroid ERA, it is inconsistent to vote for anybody from any of the time that they have been used in the majors.

Keith Olberman did a tremendous job tearing Gurnick's vote apart on his show tonight. (Not even a show I regularly watch, but I flipped by in the middle of it). He disagreed with the entire premise, but said it would have been reasonable if he hadn't voted for Morris because Morris absolutely played in the steroid era. Even if Gurnick wants to claim that the era started in the '90s, which is ridiculous, Morris was still pitching in the '90s. He also brought up Tom House's admission.

More importantly, he asked when the steroid era ends, pointing to the players suspended in 2013 and the Twins prospect who was suspended within the last week. Apparently, Gurnick would have to wait a very long time to ever vote for anybody again if he wants to insist on this ridiculous approach.

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

Yeah, Downing is the guy I was talking about. And for the record, I knew his name, but didn't think it was necessary to bring it up.

Also, Tom House is an idiot. He's the guy who once said Mark Prior had "perfect mechanics" (a stupid-ass assertion parroted by Peter Gammons, Tim Kurkjian, Tom Verducci and every other influential baseball reporter in the country), when it was obvious to anyone with two eyes that Prior's delivery was all arm. House recently re-surfaced making similar claims about Tim Tebow in the Trent Dilfer puff piece that recently ran on ESPN.

I don't believe, nor do I give a shit, about anything Tom House has to say about anything. He caught Hank Aaron's 715th home run ball and ran to home plate and gave it to him. That's the extent of his contributions to baseball.

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

Nolan Ryan would probably disagree with you as in his HOF induction speech, Ryan thanked and credited Tom House for his work in extending Ryan's pitching career by several years:

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

Ryan was a great pitcher (and a great old pitcher) before he got to the Rangers.

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

Keith Olbermann posted the video of his "sports worst person of the day" bit/rant on his YouTube channel. The Gurnick part starts at 1:50:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3LDlVXAzgo

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

Thank you. Much better to hear it in Olbermann's words than to read my paraphrasing.

 

Re: 2014 BBWAA Baseball Hall of Fame ballot released

Heh heh. Keith said, "Felix Fernandez." Heh.