"Steroids + Baseball = Cheating"
By Jose Reyes 12/5/04 "Baseball Fan"
This is the lethal formula for the destruction of the sport of Baseball. If you
don't feel it is, then you are not a real "Baseball Fan". Numeric
statistics are so important in the sport of Baseball, that is why the use of
Steroids can be so damaging. 
Steroids can significantly disrupt and even destroy
the game completely if Major League Baseball doesn't react swiftly.
Statistics are how we measure
greatness in Baseball and how we judge if a player belongs in the Hall of Fame
or not. I say "Let them play, let them smash all the records", but
when they are finished with their careers and they are legible to join the Hall
of Fame, then Baseball should "Ban" them all, just like they did with
Pete Rose, because what they are doing with the help of Steroids now, is far
worse than gambling on baseball games. Gambling is bad for Baseball and is
considered the worse thing you can do in "Any" sport. A good example
was the Chicago "Blacksox" who lost the 1908 World Series on purpose,
but Pete Rose didn't throw any games, he just bet on Baseball while he was
Manager of the Cincinnati Reds. The use of Steroids to produce bigger numbers is
absolutely and undeniably, considered to every "Baseball Fan" as
"All Out CHEATING!!!
Major Stories:
The evidence
is finally showing its face now, after we got a sneak-peek last October of 2003,
when it surfaced to the public. The secret Grand Jury testimony is proving, to
everyone, that there is a large scale of steroid use in Baseball since the late 80's. This is
when the salaries of baseball started to rise as the numbers rose, the more Homeruns they smacked,
the more RBI's they got the bigger the salaries. Many MVP awards, Homerun
titles, RBI titles from the late 80's to the 2004 were given out to players who
had used and are using Steroids right now. I wrote an article last year on
steroids
when this so-called scandal started, 
"Anabolic
Inhibitors"
and as I studied a little more on the subject, I wrote a follow-up article, "Wide
World of Sports"
, but I never thought this was going to
be so large-scale and as I write this article now, I see
many more articles written in the near future. The San Francisco Chronicle is doing
a great job covering this story. Most of the articles and pictures that I
post here will be from their website. ESPN.COM is right on top of the story
also. Interestingly enough, MLB (Major League Baseball) is rather slow in
handling this "Major" problem that they created themselves when they
revived baseball in the mid 90's with the Homerun record-breaking battles. I
wonder if they knew what was going on and just turned their heads away? We'll
soon find out, by how drastic the actions they take against Steroids and its
users will be. The severity of the punishment will determine how much Major
League Baseball really cares and how long Baseball will survive.
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How this all Started:
"The Bash
Brothers" Jose Canseco and Mark McGuire were the ones who started the trend,
when they started smashing those tape measured Homers. The fans were
electrified how these two powerful men hit those homeruns so far. One would
expect these two powerful men, 
Canseco 6'4" and McGuire 6'5" would be
Homerun hitters but what was a mystery to the fans was the distances they were
being crushed. The fans started to question, "Why, why so far?" and
the only logical answer Baseball experts would come up with was, "The Ball
is Juiced", well I guess it was the players that were "Juiced".
The Homerun totals started to rise drastically and everybody got suckered into
it. "The pitching is just bad", the Baseball analyst would write on
their daily articles. I guess the pitching was good, but because taking
steroids would hamper their ability to pitch, they couldn't get in the act
themselves, so they suffered. The fans were puzzled, as they asked, "How
could Brady Anderson hit 50 Homeruns (1996) and
110RBI's when he never
hit over 24 Homeruns and never hit over 70 RBI's two times in his whole
career". Brady
Anderson had gained 25 pounds in the off season and it wasn't in the stomach, he
was muscle-bound. "It's the training methods that are being used now",
that's what the Baseball announcers would say. 
Ken Caminiti won the MVP award in
1996 and I remembered seeing him and saying, "Damn!" "This guy
has muscles growing out of the back of his ears", but I figured he must
have lifted a lot of weights and I guessed its the new weight training techniques
now, boy was I off. Then came 1998 McGuire
goes to the National League and gets into a historical race with MR. Sosa, yes Sammy Sosa 6'0", who since 1989,
never hit over 40 Homeruns in one year and
that's playing for the Cubs where the left field Ivory-covered wall, is very short.
McGuire breaks the record set by Roger Maris in 1961, 61 Homeruns and goes on to
beat Sammy Sosa by 4 Homers, as he slammed 70 for the year. Gary
Sheffield is being targeted by the Feds also and admitted to taking the
"Cream", but he says he wasn't aware it was a steroid, ok, sure. Jason
Giambi admitted 
taking Steroids in all different ways, but didn't use that cream
the others used. He hit 163 Homeruns in a four year span, 2000 to 2003, now he
has major health problems.
McGuire hit 65 the next year (1999) but retires, his body was finished, too many injuries. He reached 583 Homeruns lifetime and that guaranteed him into the Hall of Fame. After McGuire retired he lost about 25 Pounds, that's pretty weird, most people gain weight when they retire and in the stomach, I guess he stopped taking the "Roids". From 1998 to 2002 Sammy Sosa hit 292 Homeruns! Give me a break, that's 5 years! Do I need to say anything else here?
Then came Barry Bonds, the mysterious one, "Mr. Whatever", soon to become
the "Homerun King". He has hit 258 Homeruns in the last 5 years (2000
to 2004) and at the age of 40, 
has a chance to hit a ridiculous 800 Homeruns
before he retires. With help from his personal trainer, Greg Anderson and top
supplier Victor Conte, he has become a "Steroid Freak" and you can see
it in his attitude with everybody, sports reporters and most disturbingly, with
the Baseball fans themselves. He's a "Pre-Madonna", "Mr.
Superego", he has his separate locker room, he doesn't speak to his teammates,
he feels everyone owes him something, could it be the effect of the Steroids
kicking in that he is acting like he is? Or maybe he's just a conceded
"Jackass". He actually thinks he is "Bigger than Life" but
he will certainly never be, bigger
than "Baseball", that's for sure!!!!
Cuban-American Homerun Stars (1998 to 2002):
I consider Jose Canseco, Raphael Palmiero and Luis Gonzalez the greatest Cuban-American homerun hitters in Major League Baseball (In America).
In
Jose Canseco's case,
you don't see an increase in numbers from 1998 to 2002, but he mentioned in his
upcoming book, that he took steroids and that 50% of the players were taking them in the
major league level. Maybe he was exaggerating a little, I guess he was trying to
get back at how Baseball blackballed him and never allowed him to play again and
hit 500 Homeruns. I loved Jose Canseco, but he falls into the category of a
steroid user. He's not a good "Average", type of hitter. In my opinion
he still is taking steroids.
From 1998 to 2002 Raphael Palmiero
hit 219 Homeruns, that's a lot, but the most
he hit in one year was 47 and before that he kept a pace average in the mid 30's
throughout. He did bulk up a little, but I think he didn't take steroids, but
then again,
Viagra is a Steroid too. Good way to cover up, I don't know, maybe
he's too good of an "Average Hitter" to play around with Steroids,
I hope not
because he is my favorite Cuban- American baseball player, ever.
Luis Gonzalez had that year (2001) where he hit 57 Homeruns but that's it, I feel he doesn't have the physical characteristics that a player taking steroids would have. He, like Palmiero, is a good Average Type Hitter.
The Victims: THE PITCHERS
One would say the victims of this out-of-control situation are the pitchers but then again they knew it and they took the blame. Who knows, maybe they got paid by the others to keep quiet, who knows? Nowadays money talks and "Whatever", like Barry Bonds says to the baseball reporters, when they ask him a Steroid question. Who knows maybe the owners knew about this and kept it quiet, maybe its a big conspiracy. This is what happens when you give out these ridiculous contracts to the players. Now is the time pitchers should demand strict steroid testing, but then again, they are all in the same union. The most powerful union in the world, made up of "Millionaires", Its more like a Monopoly.
Conclusion:
I Guess its all true, they're Cheating. That's what I'm saying now, yes now, I guess I was so naive. I got suckered into it, just like everyone else did. The evil wrath of "Greed" has reached the "Great Pastime" of Baseball and athletes are willing to destroy their future health conditions for a "Few Dollars More". To them "Money Talks and Baseball Walks"
Well, I'm going to fight back! The fans should and will have a say in this matter because if they let this go, then they are just as guilty as the players and the integrity of the sport will be finished. This game is too big for the these cheaters, no one is bigger than the game even if they take Steroids. I will be updating on this story and hopefully these "Cheaters" will be punished.
"Bonds in 1988"
"Bonds 2003"
Checkout this Excellent Pictorial of Barry Bands from 1988 to 2004 (ESPN.COM)
You be the Judge!
To be Continued........
