He already has the job: he’s the Cardinals’ batting coach. But yes, he needed to address this or people would have asked him all season.
This is a slippery slope. What about Catfish Hunter throwing that perfect no hitter will ripped to the gills on acid? Huh, you want to invalidate that accomplishment too?
That was Doc Ellis, and it was just a no-hitter, not a perfect game.
Invalidate Ellis’s no-hitter? The guy deserves a medal–do you have any idea how distracting an acid trip can be? It’s like winning a marathon with your legs in a potato sack.
I don’t think any human being could reasonably contend that LSD is a performance enhancing drug in sports. As an experiment I propose we dose the Washington Nationals and New Jersey Nets before games and see what happens.
Check out the boxscore from Ellis’ no hitter. Eight walks, six strikeouts and a hit batter.
But you’d have to leave in Dock Ellis’ (not Doc) game where he got totally wasted first, and thought it would be fun to just drill every Reds hitter. Now THAT was a fun one to listen to on the radio. 
First, you have a** statistics **issue:
If the statistics were recorded, and the game was complete, and the season, etc, then you have statistics to report on. Since all the games, at bats and seasons are done/recorded/official, the stats get recorded, too.
Easy enough.
Next issue: Hall of Fame (HOF)
The Hall of Fame, its own entity apart from MLB, has guidelines, one being that MLB banned players are not going to be inducted into the Hall. Baseball bans Rose, and the HOF won’t induct him, even if Rose got 100% of the sports writers’ to actually write-in votes for him.
Then you have all sorts of players, like the Macs, Bonds, spit-ballers, meth users, drinkers, gamblers, racists, and a host of others who have already been judged, and will be judged going forward, by the baseball writers of America. Guess what? It’s subjective, and there are a host of issues about guys they did/didn’t induct. Subjectively, steroids are just real bad karma right now, so the writers are staying away. 'round and 'round we go, because the writers of yore had no problems with all sorts of characters, including drug users. Their are some players with stats that don’t scream “HOF” that are in there, and some guys with better ones not in there. Not perfect is the process.
Maybe the HOF will figure out better ways to induct players, but right now it’s left to a very finicky and subjective vote by the writers.
It’s not a personal character thing, it’s a cheating thing. The other drugs are not PED’s. Even amphetamines do not alter one’s physical body or give an individual abilities he does not already possess. They don’t make anybody faster or stronger. Steroids and other PED’s like HGH are a completely different animal.
Asfar as I’m concerned, the records are still 61 (and I know Roger Maris allegedly used amphetamines. I don’t care, for the reasons I’ve already stated) and 755.
PED = Performance Enhancing Drug. Amphetamines are drugs that enhance performance. Ergo …
You think they were taking them for the taste? Of course they enhanced performance. Baseball has a long grueling season. Adding some energy and focus could make a major difference in ones ability to hit a little ball traveling 100 miles an hour.
Know what drug doesn’t appear to have any scientific evidence of helping? HGH.
Amphetamines do not enhance performance.
Then why did they take them?
The same reason that people drink whiskey to “warm up” in the cold. Amphetamines give people an illusion of increased sharpness, alertness, reflex and energy that doesn’t really exist, in the same way that alcohol gives a false sense of warmth in the cold.
I do believe you are talking out of your ass.
Ah, the placebo argument. It’s false. In addition to that, your argument is demonstrably false considering that amphetamines are medically prescribed for things like ADD, epilepsy and Parkinson’s. If all they did was give “an illusion” of increased focus, they’d be no better than an OTC homeopathic “remedy”.
If you get a chance, check out “The Juice” by Will Carroll. Has an extensive section on amphetamine use in baseball and its effects on the field.
I suppose when I smoke pot I just *think *I’m high too.
I am working from the premise that amphetamines act on the body to increase awareness and reduce fatigue. If anyone needs to understand (denies) how this is performance enhancing, then they don’t know enough about sport to even chime in.
Cocaine isn’t ‘‘performance enhancing’’ either, but I wouldn’t want to play against Lawrence Taylor on cocaine when he was a pass rusher. I would much rather have played against a straight LT.
It’s worth noting, in case we’re losing sight of the subject of the thread, that McGwire’s “apology” was fucking pathetic. He apologized for everyone being hurt but, when pressed, wouldn’t admit that what he was doing was cheating.
I’ll be impressed by the first HoF candidate who actually apologizes. Who says “I took steroids because it made me stronger so I could hit more home runs. I was cheating. What I did was underhanded and dishonest.” So far I can’t think of anyone who’s had the sack to actually say that except… Jose Canseco.
Well, fuck Mark McGwire. It’s not going to break my heart if he doesn’t get into the Hall of Fame.
This, however, I think is just a silly (if common) sentiment (no offense, Oak.) A record is a fact, not a matter of moral opinion. Mark McGwire hit 70 home runs during regular season championship games during the National League’s 1998 season. That is a matter of historical record. Excising it from the record book would be nothing more than denying reality. You can’t pretend the Cardinals didn’t havea first baseman that year or that the team somehow magically hit 70 homers more than the combined home run counts of all the players you’re willing to acknowledge existed.
Giambi and Pettitte? I can’t think off-hand what their wording was.