Looking at Kirk Gibson’s career stats I see how in a 17 year major league career he only played 150 or more games twice (a couple of those seasons were cut short by strikes though).
I opened this thread because I was confused why being on the “down low” would harm someone’s athletic career. Sorry.
“Down Low” Wikipedia entry. As I live in Baltimore and work in an urban hospital, it pretty much only means the one thing to me: being secretly gay while in a straight relationship.
“DL” means “Disabled List,” not “Down Low.” Sheesh.
Same thing, I thought we were talking about switch-hitters.
I don’t know if Jr. is lactose intolerant, but his problem wasn’t brittle bones (if that is what your mom is implying). IIRC, he had recurrent muscle and tendon problems, which wouldn’t be fixed by more calcium.
BTW, there are ways to get calcium in your diet besides drinking milk. I think mom was pulling your leg.
A few years back the talk was that Griffey would be the one to break the all-time home run record. He had the skill, the youth, the demeanor and the intangibles all in his favor.
It’s relevant to this discussion that the alleged (very widely believed but alleged, nonetheless) Barry Bonds chemical enhancement isn’t so much about added strength but more about giving him the ability to recover faster (both from games and workouts) and avoid injury.
I disagree with Rex Grossman. I doubt he would ever have been great. I suppose he might’ve been better, just not much.
I definitely agree with Terrell Davis. That guy averaged over 1,600 yards per season in his first four years. If he continued that average during the final three years of his career he would have racked up over 11,000 yards. That would put him in some elite company.
Eddie George probably could have had a few more good years if not for nagging injuries.
I’ve always been disappointed that Derrick Thomas died when he did. I was just really starting to get in to pro football.
Wioth regards to Griffey, however, his injuries probably wouldn’t have been that much helped by steroids. He just kept getting hurt. It happens. A lot of players have been set at age 30 to challenge the 700-homer mark and just got hurt, or petered out, or what have you.
Griffey has lost the rough equiovalent of 2.5 seasons to injury since he started having injury problems in 2001, which at his level of skill, and given that all occurred in his 30s when you would expect him to not be quite as good, has probably cost him approximately 100 home runs; I base that estimate on the fact that for the most part he’s hit homers at the rate of 38-40 per full season since joining the Reds. Given that he’s now 37 and still playing very well - he’s having a very good year this year and has stayed healthy - it’s quite reasonable to guess that without recurring injuries he would be around 700 dingers and would be positioned to challenge 800. If he moved to the AL and DHs he might have 500 games left in him and could easily swat 100 or more additional homers, so maybe her’s missed a chance at 800, 850 homers.
However, the thing is in the case of Griffey that he’s actually had a really long career. Griffey has played 2348 games, which is the 86th highest total ever, and will finish the season several places higher. By the time he’s done he’ll probably be in the top 40 if he wants to be. The amount of time he’s missed to injury is not really THAT unusual for a 19-year, 2400-game career. It would be weird for a guy to play from age 19 to 37 without missing some time to injury, that’s the nature of sports. Lots of Hall of Famers - hell, MOST of them - have missed hundreds or games due to injury or had their careers end much younger than Griffey is now due to injury. So while I think he did miss a chance at the record, this isn’t a case like Bobby Orr or Tony Oliva where a Hall of Fame/near HoF career was severely shortened by exceptionally bad luck; this is a case where a guy who’d already played 2000 games started breaking down after establishing clear-cut Hall of Fame credentials, and even then he can still hit.
If Don Mattingly hadn’t had back problems, he’d be an obvious hall of famer, based on his years in the mid 1980s.
ETA: On another note, it’s worth remembering how much WWII deprived some of baseball’s greatest stars prime years of their career. For all of the stunning accomplishments of Joe Dimaggio or Ted Williams, imagine if they hadn’t missed a good chunk of the 40s to the service.
That’s a great point.
Donovan McNabb jumps to my mind. He’s been hurt a lot.
Or even sober.
There are a few yahoos in Boston who think Tony Conigliaro should be in the Hall based on what he would have done if not for his beaning.
Williams also served in Korea. IIRC, he lost 3.5 years to the Marines, which likely cost him 100 to 150 homers.
DiMaggio lost three full years.
Cecil Travis was a star shortstop whose probably lost his chance at the Hall of Fame due to the war; when he returned he was 31, losing three prime years, and just didn’t get back into the swing. (It is often said his troubles were due to some injury he suffered during the war, which is not true.)
Willie Mays missed most the 1952 and all of the 1953 seasons to military service. Were it not for that, it’s likely he would’ve gotten to Ruth’s 714 homers before Aaron did (even though Aaron probably would’ve edged past Mays in the end).
George Best. Pretty much out of the game as a real force by 26 due to booze and being hacked to bits. One of the greatest players of all time.
I’d second Seles. She was on her way to being the greatest ever imho.
Jim McMahon for the Bears might have done a lot more but for injuries.
And Willie Mays hit 660 HRs, and spent two years in the US Army. Give him another 50 HRs, and someone would have certainly kept him around to break Ruth’s record.
Christian Okoye went to tiny Azusa Pacific Univeristy in Azusa, CA (NAIA), and set the athletic field on fire: “Growing up in Nigeria, Christian played soccer until he was 17, and was a sprinter and thrower on his high school track team. When he arrived to Azusa Pacific University in 1982, Christian won seven National Titles in shot put, discus and the hammer and amassed 17 All American honors in track & field and football.” He was then drafted in the second round by the Chiefs, and led the league in rushing in 1989. A knee injury ended his career. I think he could at least have been Hershel Walker if not for the injury. I just like the guy because I got my teaching credential from Azusa, and he’s reported to be one of the nicest pro athletes you could ever meet. http://www.okoye.com/Christian+Okoye.php?PHPSESSID=1e49e607409f3b2f0ff07bcbcd84f98a
The Mick was a switch-hitter. But not the way you mean. 
If I were in a conversation with someone about the “best player ever” and they brought up Barry Bonds’ name, I would find the quickest way possible to politely end that conversation and make damn sure it stayed ended.
I agree. I was going to post this myself.
I also agree with Ricky Jay about Kerry Wood and Mark Prior, but I disagree about Ken Griffey.
I disagree about Rex Grossman, though it’s too early to really tell. My friend is a huge Bears fan, going to training camps and all the pre-season games. He says that Rex looks better than ever.
Fred Taylor, RB for the Jaguars looks great when he’s healthy, but he’s not always there.
Ki-jana Carter really never had a chance.
William ‘Bar None’ Floyd also blew out his knee after looking pretty lights out his first few seasons and never quite got back.
I was surprised it took this long to mention him.