Where is Bonds conviction from steroids?

EricPWJohnson on August 8, 2007 at 2:05 PM

As someone pointed out earlier, steroids were not specifically banned in baseball until 2002, and I am not aware of any states that filed criminal charges against athletes for taking performance enhancing drugs.

Dude, you are all twisted in a pretzel apologizing for this horse’s ass, aren’t you? Still trying to get some site traffic? C’mon man, it’s just a game.

Major League Baseball had an established steroid policy which was created in 2002. Under this old policy, a first time offense would only result in treatment for the player. Not one player was ever suspended.

Baseball Almanac

A couple of questions for you and Faraway Eyes, and the Kaptain and Tenille, and the other BB Apologists:

- how would Bob Gibson have pitched to BB, back in the day?

- since crowding (standing on) the plate and wearing body armor were not widely accepted practices back then, how would BB have fared against Gibson, Drysdale, et al?

Kaptain Amerika on August 8, 2007 at 10:26 PM

Hey, clown … learn how to spell.

subtract 8 ft. from each of Bonds’ homeruns and very few would be called back.

mcra99 on August 8, 2007 at 9:24 AM

In a blizzard of stupid comments, this one stood out, along with everything faraway and Eric have said yet. Bonds hit two in Wrigley last week; one landed in the basket. 2 feet shorter and it’s an out.

He doesn’t hit them all in the bay…

The record is his, and it will remain his until someone exceeds it. But if your dinner was this tainted, you’d die in the middle of calling 911.

It isn’t simply a matter of weight gain. I grew up around bodybuilders in the mid-to-late 60′s, and it took no time at all to tell the difference between lifters who were natural and those who weren’t. Once you became acquainted with a certain bodybuilder, you’d know when he was preparing to “cycle”, and when he’d actually begin juicing. Now, those were hardcore anabolics, aimed purely at muscle mass increase. But every form of steroids has its side-effects.

When Barry showed up for Spring Training one year needing a much larger hat size, and having far less of a neck, far more of a back, and tree trunks for legs instead of drumsticks, well, you can deny all you want but he didn’t gain those 40 pounds naturally. Weight training by itself doesn’t expand your skull, thankyouverymuch. And weight training by itself doesn’t give you vastly improved muscle reaction times. But there are chemicals that do exactly that combination of things.

Baseball turned a blind eye during a series of years where they were afraid of huge dropoffs in fan interest, spurred in large part by the more recent of two player strikes. It was precisely the McGwire-Sosa homerun chase that began to turn that around. In spite of all the allegations surrounding McGwire that season (and by the way, the stuff he was using had not been on a ban list prior to then), the Commissioner’s office refused to even talk about it. Getting fans to the stadiums was more important than the truth, and still is. Heck, they let Steve Howe keep returning after seven suspentions for substance abuse violations, including a LIFETIME BAN that was later rescinded. He was known variously as the Coke Machine or the Snow Man. Darryl Strawberry was another major-league junkie who was given second, third, and fourth chances in spite of a long history of domestic battery, alcohol and cocaine problems.

Baseball itself shares blame for the circumstances that allowed a Barry Bonds to become what he has become, and that’s a shame. So it’s long past time that baseball began to clean up its act instead of pretending, but celebrating a cheater’s achievement will prove harmful to that cause.

756*.

(It wasn’t spinach that mutated Bond’s frame.)

As for Maris’ record, 1961 was an anomaly in more ways than one. The AL had added two teams that years so with expansion team pitchers, hitters had some advantage. Norm Cash of the Tigers won the batting title, hitting .361, and he never again batted better than .283.

In 1961 I was six years old. The Tigers won 101 games and came in second to the Yankees – and this was years before divisional play and post season playoffs. Do I need any better reason to hate the Yankees?

you calling me a liar? cuz I have 6’3″ and 250lbs of TRUTH for you…

you want photos?

You seem to forget that the year Maris made his assault on Ruth’s single season record, his TEAMMATE Mickey Mantle was also on pace to break it until an injury sidelined him.
Let us also not forget that Maris NEVER had a season anywhere close to that one again either.
Was he on “the juice”?

wecoyote6969 on August 8, 2007 at 10:04 AM

I did not forget that. The major difference is that Maris only barely broke the record (and came short in equal games). Barely. Mantle didn’t. But Sosa and McGwire CRUSHED the long-standing record, and then Bonds ripped that to shreds right after.

The statistics say all one needs to know. Sports records don’t stand for decades and then suddenly get blown away by a whole bunch of people without anything funny going on.

It took long jumping decades to get to the mark that Bob Beamon set, and it crawled up there, inch by inch by inch. What happened in baseball is just in total defiance of common sense.

At least that’s how I’ve felt about it.

You’re missing my point. I wasn’t pointing to just the speed of the ball, I was pointing to the fact pitchers are pitching faster today because of steroids.

Barry Bonds is probably the greatest player to ever play the game.

BUT, I sadly admit I will always remember the asterisk.
So when I tell my grandchildren about when I met Bonds, had beers with him, watched him play, how he hated the media ( so did I actually), how good a player he was….and then I’ll mention the asterisk, what it means.

Damn him for that!

in the article you posted you failed to mention that there was no evidence that

A: He used a performance enhancing steroid

B: That Bonds knew he was given steroids

C: That it was anything other than an arthritis cream

Again

Where is Bonds conviction from steroids?

GOLF-only pure sport left. You are taught young to respect the game and your opponents. GOLF

riccangolf on August 8, 2007 at 9:36 AM

So you say.

franksalterego on August 8, 2007 at 10:29 AM

You probably know, but cortisone and other corticosteroids do not have the anabolic effects of testosterone et al.

For those seeking present day ballplayers to admire – I recommend Derek Jeter, Curt Schilling (and I’m a Yanks fan), and I’m sure many others.

I thought you shrank when you came off steroids.

faraway on August 8, 2007 at 12:14 PM

Perhaps you are thinking of creatine or any other substances that increase bulk partially by increasing water retention.

Do we watch because we like the sport of tennis, or because of the buff young women in short skirts?
;)

Lawrence on August 8, 2007 at 9:27 AM

No! It is not just the skirts! Some of them wear shorts.

- The Cat

P.S. Plus most of them have names that are fun to say.

I say take Barry’s arm guard away and see if his HR production falls off.

csdeven on August 8, 2007 at 2:38 AM

Really too late for that since his production is already dropping off pretty rapidly due to age, just like Hank.

I was lucky enough to see McGwire in person his rookie season, before any chemical enhancement when he was still “slim”, and I’ll tell you he hit the ball harder than anyone I had ever seen even then. 49 homers as a rookie. That was impressive.

Skinny Bonds…Fat Bonds…

YOU make the call!

CyberCipher on August 8, 2007 at 12:08 PM

Genius, why would Bonds still be big? I thought you shrank when you came off steroids.

For all you doubters:
1. Prove he cheated.
faraway on August 8, 2007 at 1:06 AM

I think Allah did with the picture posted, D’uh!

&

I weighed 175 to 180 until I was about 27… now I weigh 250 at 33… no steroids, no wieght lifting and very little fat…

Kaptain Amerika on August 8, 2007 at 3:39 AM

Bullsh*t.

Skinny Bonds…Fat Bonds…

YOU make the call!

Why don’t they just start a Steroid League and be done with it?

Drtuddle on August 8, 2007 at 11:54 AM

It was called MLB until a few years ago.