For example, there’s this response to former slugger Mark McGwire’s recent admission of steroid use:
“I’ve got nothing to do with him,” Herzog said, clearly annoyed. “I don’t want to comment on steroids because they’re all lying. And they’re still lying. They get on steroids because they say they want to get back on the field. The reason they’re on steroids is because they got injured because they were taking steroids. Because their muscles grow too fast, and every time they make a false move, they slip and pull something. It’s always a pulled muscle, rib cage, a minor something. That’s bull.
“Let’s get to the bottom of this. It’s a health problem, but nothing’s going to happen. The people in St. Louis give Mark McGwire a standing ovation the other day, and (former major leaguer) Jack Clark said every steroid user should be banned for baseball, and they booed him. Now, what the hell is the matter with society when that happens?”
...On his style of baseball — speed, pitching, defense — vs. today’s power game
“I don’t know if we’ll ever get back to fundamental baseball. Because basically, the players make tremendous salaries today, and they only get paid for home runs, RBIs and batting average, ERAs and wins. Are they good guys? Do they get to the park on time? Are they good base runners? Can they go from first to third? None of that is ever talked about. So they don’t get paid for any of that. But it will never go back to that kind of baseball again unless they put up a ballpark that’s about 475 (feet) to center, 380 down the lines and 390 in the gaps. And that will never happen.
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1. John (You Can Call Me Grandma) Murphy Posted: January 20, 2010 at 01:40 PM (#3441925)Has there been a year in any BBTF poster's life that we haven't heard this refrain?
Before steroids there was no such thing as a muscle pull.
That sounds like Jack Clark's tenure with the Cardinals.
Somebody gave Herzog a nice guy award?
I actually think this is a kind of fascinating dynamic and something to think about. Knee-jerk reactions don't give this phenomenon it's just due, I think.
I would sure as heck pay to see games at such a park. Better yet, have no fence. Play on a field that goes a kilometer of grass in fair territory. You wouldn't even have to mow it past 200 m or so. Allow people to have picnics past 300 m. How would the game evolve at such a park? My guess is that outfielders would have to be fast. And we'd see multiple relay throws on balls well hit with runners on base.
Or you could just become a Johnny Damon fan.
Leave out the HR part, and Whitey's distaste for these stats sounds like he's all primed to be part of the BTF Groupthink! The conditioning has worked well, and our master plan is going exactly according to our master plan!
You don't need to remind me. A word to the wise: Do not, under any circumstances, listen to his story about losing his virginity at the circus. The conjoined twins and the bearded lady were bad enough, but when he gets to the part with the clowns...
*shudder*
I would even include HRs at times. There have been players who have hit a ton of homers throughout baseball history, but were still vastly overrated players due to their prodigious clouts.
It says that Cardinals fans are loyal to spectacularly productive Cardinals, just like Giants fans are loyal to spectacularly productive Giants, Red Sox fans are loyal to spectacularly productive Red Sox, and Yankees fans are loyal to spectacularly productive Yankees. Nothing more and nothing less, and certainly nothing particularly wrong.
And I'll tell you another thing, Get off my lawn!!
Steroids.
There probably weren't as many when players weren't as muscular.
You mean the good old days when players were lazy shits and didn't bother to work out?
Are you proposing that this stadium be built in Montreal?
I'm in favor of widening the warning track with a couple of feet nearest the wall being a trampoline.
Uh, nothing?
Are they good guys? So they don’t get paid for any of that.
Yeah, why don't we see more high-character guys like Keith Hernandez, Lonnie Smith, and Joaquin Andujar?
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