Look at the Mariners walking-corpse of an offense and raise your hand if you'd rather have the 2005 Adrian Beltre, even if you knew he was on the juice? Who wouldn't like to see Popeye-armed Bret Boone, circa 2001, hitting in the Mariners' 3 slot?
I think lots of people have a difficult time talking about steroids, aka, "the juice." It gets in the way of us focusing on, and enjoying without distractions, the games, the results, the standings, and, of course, the statistics.
I love stats. I know more useless sports stats than I know anything else. I'm not proud of this, it's just who I am. Stats are like a big bowl of cookie dough ice dream to me. Sports junk food at its best. Growing up, I'd spend hours, face pressed to the Seattle PI (RIP!) sports page, looking through every box score, starting with the Mariners and then moving on to my other favorite teams, most of them smaller market teams in the Senior Circuit -- the Pirates, Expos, Brewers and Reds. (I've always like the Twins too. What can I say? I'm a sucker for the underdog.)
And baseball's the best, because it's new stats daily, like a little Christmas present waiting for you every morning -- or now, in the internet age, whenever you want them. (I just looked up Edgar's yearly stats and started to cry).
I deeply lament the fact that steroids has completely perverted our view of statistics. (RIP baseball's ability to compare players of different eras!)
It's not a stretch, or in any way blasphemous for me to say that I believe a majority of big leaguers were or are currently using performance enhancing drugs. Forget about Manny, Rocket, Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, I could have guessed about those guys. (Though I seriously believed Manny wasn't smart enough or was too lazy to even try steroids. I guess Scott Boras is more persuasive and devious than we could have ever imagined. Snap.)
But what really blew my mind was looking on an ESPN ticker one night and seeing Ryan Franklin suspended. Ryan Franklin? Seriously? Busted? Are you sure it wasn't for walking too slowly off the mound every inning? If Ryan Franklin was juicing to be a solid, but admittedly overachieving fifth starter, then anything was possible.
So what now? Our kinds and our grunts have been busted. What are we to think about the stats? What do we think about our beloved hometown heroes who may been taking testosterone or HGH or The Clear or feminine fertility drugs? Why can't I stop ending every sentence with a question mark?
The reason I can't answer any of those questions is because they just lead to more questions. There's no easy answers. It makes my head hurt just thinking about it. It makes my love of sports die just a little every time I'm forced to think about it. (Luckily, our Local sports writers have Griffey around to put a positive spin on all negative implications whatever the most recent revelation brings about.)
But we have to talk about it, we've been talking around it for at least 15 years. We've avoided the conversation for so long we can't even wrap our brains around it.
In my brain, there were two camps among fans in baseball: those who took a technical approach to answering the questions andd those who went with their gut and their eyesight.
The technical people will tell you that you can't assume someone's been using roids unless they test positive. Back in 2003/4, loads of fans, especially those in the Bay (the technical approach is always easier when talking about your hometown players), said to themselves and other haters, "Sure Barry went from never hitting 40 bombs in a year to destroying the single-season home run record while being intentionally walked every other at-bat, looks like Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler and his head appears on the verge of explosion." But he's never tested positive. Hogwarts, I say. Everyone knew it, some just just chose to ignore it. Basically, what I'm saying is that whatever approach you took, you knew. Some just to chose to ignore it.
Others, like me, just kept on rolling with the punches. It's still just a game. And as that wise sage Omar from The Wire would say: It's all part of the game.
I remember watching Boonie in 2001, his arms looking like they were filled with cantaloupes, his legs a pair of short Redwoods. Everything he hit literally jumped off his bat -- into gaps, over fences. He went from a decent to mediocre hitter to a monster. He turned in the greatest season a second baseman probably will ever have. It was my favorite time following the team since 1995.
We watched and cheered and never questioned why, at 32, Bret Boone had instantly turned into one of the most dangerous mashers in the game. We loved the bat flip, the inside out back pockets, the fact he danced on tables with 19-year-old chicks at Tiki Bob's.
But more than that, we loved that the Mariners team and the fact they won more games in a season than all but one other team in more than a century of major league baseball. And Boone was the straw that stirred the drink.
Boone put up two more almost as impressive seasons, then fell off in 2004 and then jumped off a cliff wearing concrete boots in 2005 and that was it.
Toward the excruciatingly painful end, my friends and I half-jokingly remarked after every warning track fly ball: "Obviously, Boonie needs to get back on the juice."
And by half-joking, I mean we were dead serious. Just don't get caught.
I'd rather steroids were not part of the equation, but since they are, that's how I feel about them right now. I can't help it. I still love following the Mariners and baseball. Nothing fazes me any more.
Yo Adrian, I know this guy at my gym. Call me.
Probably the best article written at this blog to date.
ReplyDeleteSteriods are like a nuclear umbrella. If we don't have one, we want one anyway -- no matter how dangerous they are.
It's laughable that the M's have been caught as a ballclub more than any other MLB team. Frankly (or "Franklin"), there is no evidence to suggest that Griffey never took them. The huge contingent of pitchers and middle infielders never got huge heads/biceps. All we have is hope and conjecture that Griffey would never do such a thing. With his vanity and bloodlines/experience and obvious desire to hit HRs, he would seemingly be an obvious candidate to try them. No one can say for sure.
The one I fear MLB catching is The Edgar. Now that would shatter our fragile Mariners psyches.
I don't want a nuclear umbrella.
ReplyDeleteHowever, it's time we all got over this taboo discussion of steroids. I hate the term to begin with -- I prefer Performance Enhancing Drugs.
The traditional sense of the steroids term -- building obscene amounts of muscle mass ala Lattimer from "The Program" is not why big leaguers take them. It's about maintenance. Keeping your body together so you can get up nearly every day for seven months straight and perform like you're worth the millions you've been paid or don't want to lose your job to a kid ten years younger itching to get into the show. And you know what? If I was in that position where a "level playing field" was taking some form of PED 5-6 years ago, I'd take them too.
I've played with guys that have played in the minors. I was told an estimated 80-90% players took something when PEDs were running rampant from one particular source.
Baseball isn't the pure game it used to be, period. So all comparisons to Mantle, Mays, Williams or Aaron can be thrown out. When those guys played, there was truly a level playing field. And those guys weren't being asked to live up to contracts in the hundreds of millions of dollars. And mass media didn't further fuel those obligations. And you didn't have guys from every corner of the Earth traveling to the U.S. to play professional baseball. In other words, it wasn't this global business enterprise it is now, it was more of just a game.
Some forms of HGH are night and day in terms of risks and benefits to traditional anabolic steroids. Heck, there are scores of doctors that will go on record and say they're completely safe if taken properly.
Baseball is the only game in professional sports where you're expected to perform night in and night out 162 times. Nothing else even comes close. Basketball? Try half that. Football? One game a week for four months. And if you think baseball is easy on the body in relative comparison to those sports, try playing ballgames three, four days in a row and see how you feel, let alone 5-6 days a week for an entire spring/summer. Would I be shocked if something surfaced about Cal Ripken Jr.? Absolutely not, so I wouldn't if the same came out about Gar or Junior. And I wouldn't chastise them either if it did if they owned up to it -- which to me is the real issue...how the player responds to the situation if caught.
The Mariners aren't performing poorly because they have a steroid-free clubhouse, or even a lower-than-average percentage of users. The Mariners are performing poorly because they have an inferior collection of players.
Beyond Ichiro, the Mariners field ZERO perennial all-stars. How many other teams can say that? Even the worst teams have at least two in their lineup. Jose Lopez is the next closest. Felix is potentially there, but he impacts the team every fifth day. That's it.
PEDs aren't going to make Yuni be more selective at the plate, or prevent tanking a pivotal throw. They're not going to keep the bullpen from walking guys at key times in the game. Sure, Betre might be able to go yard a few times more. But the Mariners offensive struggles extend way beyond their ability to hit for power. They just can't flat-out hit right now. Or stay in a game if their starters actually keep them in it.
Update: I also don't think steroids will help Morrow locate his breaking ball so he can throw additional pitches aside from his straight heat right down the pipe that gets pissed on.
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