Griffin: McGwire not a true cheat: Lee

Screw Costas. Bill Lee for commissioner for life!

“Wasn’t there an asterisk for 154 games vs. 162?” Lee asked rhetorically, regarding Roger Maris’ breaking of Babe Ruth’s home run mark in ‘61. “There’s a whole lot of factors. The balls were taken out of Haiti and boom they’re wound tighter. The pitching. The designated hitter. There’s so many changes in the game of baseball that influence the outcome. You just can’t take one over the other.

“Just like McGwire said: Steroids didn’t give him the hand-eye (coordination), the quickness, nothing like that. It may have given him a little more strength. As a pitcher, I don’t care what a guy takes. He can be lit like a Christmas tree, I’m going to find a way to get him out. It didn’t bother me when I pitched. I just hated facing guys like Richie Allen when he was hung over.”

...“Everybody juiced in some way,” Lee said. “You had a rough night so you take a few greenies. That was tough playing in those days. These (players have access to) designer drugs like the East Germans were using a long time before.

“The object of life is to try and live longer, be healthier. Ponce de Leon was looking for the Fountain of Youth. If you told me there was a magic bullet, I’d be knocking over old folks homes so I can pitch for one more year. Every kid’s a little bit bigger. It is out there in our society.

“To single out ballplayers and BALCO for putting a little Clear on the back of your tongue to make you heal faster from injuries ... hell, how many times did I get injected? At the end of the ‘74 season I couldn’t get out of bed because my kidneys shut down. That’s what the team put me on.”