I went to get my oil changed late last night and I read the June edition of Sports Illustrated while I waited.
How did I not hear of this? In this issue Ken Caminiti talks unabashedly about how he used steroids since 1996. The article goes on to say that *at least* 40-50% of players are doing either steroids, HGH or both. Most players are doing greenies (amphetemines).
I've only been a lukewarm fan for a while now, so this is pretty much the final nail in the coffin for me. As far as I'm concerned, Roger Maris still has the HR record until Bonds, McGuire and Sosa get tested.
In the meantime, I have no desire to watch a bunch of cheating assholes.*
*YES, steroids and HGH makes a huge difference in case you're going to counter about how it's still mostly a "hand-eye" coordination game. Just look at Caminiti's numbers before and after.
Quick note - I accidentally said Ted Williams instead of Roger Maris originally. I edited this post to correct my mistake.
Since when did Ted Williams hold any HR records? Before McGuire, Maris held the single season record of 61 and Aaron still holds the lifetime HR record of 715 (?I believe).
Williams hit a lot of Home Runs, no doubt, and he does still hold the highest average for a year at over .400, but I don't know of any HR records held by Ted Williams. I'm not trying to take anything away from Williams. He was perhaps the greatest hitter of all time, hitting for power and average.
Re:Ted Williams?
djberg96 on 2002-07-10T14:55:40
Oops - In a huff, I confused myself. I'm going to edit my post.Re:Ted Williams?
pudge on 2002-07-10T15:31:32
Williams does not have the highest average for a season ever. He was the last to hit over .400, but it wasn't the highest. He doesn't hold any league records that I can think of except for the highest career on-base percentage: .482, which has only been surpassed *for a single season* twice in the last 50 years. Pretty amazing. But despite a lack of records, he was indeed the best overall hitter of all time, and he might have more records had he not missed those 4 and a half seasons to the wars.
