Again, I know. I know. Blasphemy! But the question must be addressed: Why is it that, when PED-implicated ballplayers return from lengthy absences, we never ask whether their non-drugged selves will live up to past greatness? If, as was suggested by Selena Roberts in her recent biography, A-Rod: The Many Lives of Alex Rodriguez, Rodriguez used performance-enhancing drugs during his Yankee tenure, shouldn’t his presumed newfound, post-steroid cleanliness coincide with a dropoff? After all, performance enhancers enhance performance. They make you stronger, faster, quicker. They help you work out more, bounce back in a shorter time span.
In Los Angeles, the Dodgers anxiously await the July 3 return of Manny Ramirez, who was suspended 50 games for failing a drug test. After initially protesting his guilt, Ramirez slunk off into the abyss—a guilty man hoping that, with time, all things pass. Now, all things have passed. Yet instead of wondering whether Manny will return as Jim Rice or Jim Bolger, the Dodgers assume they will be getting the same masher who averaged 36 homers and 118 RBIs over his first 14 full seasons. Manager Joe Torre, whose continued naiveté/indifference over steroids staggers the mind, has repeatedly expressed his excitement over Ramirez’s reappearance in the Dodgers outfield, where he clearly expects nothing less than an All-Star-quality slugger.
But why? At 37, Ramirez has reached the chronological threshold, where the majority of legends find themselves either mimicking Buddy Biancalana or filming “Hi! I’m Danny Tartabull! You might remember me from ...” commercials for Biff Jones Toyota. At 37, Dale Murphy was batting .143 with no home runs in 26 games with the Rockies. Duke Snider was batting .210 with four homers and 17 RBIs for the San Francisco Giants. Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio and Roger Maris were retired.
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1. Greg (U)K Posted: June 27, 2009 at 12:05 PM (#3235031)Yes, that's my usual grouping of Yankee greats who wore out early.
It's really this bit of "I'm so meta and Hunter S." that makes me want to punch Pearlman in the face.
Precisely - the writer has cherry picked, and easily detected cherry picking generally means there's a weak argument at hand. Welcome to journalism in the new Twitter world order: the message is me.
It's true that his odds of duplicating his stretch of 219 OPS+ last season or even his stretch of 199 OPS+ this season over the course of the entire season were always unlikely.
But he has foolishly put himself in the position now where if he does have a big drop off, most people are going to naturally assume that not using drugs has something to do with it. And he has absolutely nobody to blame for that but himself.
S.I.:Pearlman
Actually, Torre's behaving like a grownup over steroids comforts, if not impresses, the mind.
Joey, I can't tell if you're being serious here. There is so much that's wrong with everything you've said in this thread.
Is Jeffie accusing Manny of taking steroids? The article does not mention the source of that accusation. Not that we can expect more from S.I. anymore.
Clearly. this proves that Jamie Moyer is the most prevalent roid user EVER. right after Nolan Ryan , Phil Niekro and Tim Wakefield!!!!!
It's articles like this that have Pearlman on my "do not read" list
He is now Swineman to me forevermore. Well done.
Satchel Paige.
Your time would be better spent reading S.J. Perelman than S.I.: Pearlman.
Mr. Decker(looking at his clipboard): This way, Mr., uh, Williams it says here.
Mr. Williams: Theodore Samuel Williams the 14th
Mr. Decker: Right. Right. This is all perfunctory, of course.
Mr. Williams: Of course.
Mr. Decker: But we have to go through the motions just the same. (leads Mr. Williams to a huge room filled with stainless steel tubes three feet in diameter and seven feet high)
Mr. Williams: So, this is where it ended for him?
Mr. Decker: Oh no. That was somewhere in Florida, if my notes are correct. This is just where your anscestor's remains were brought for preservation.
Mr. Williams: Till now.
Mr. Decker: Right. Till now. We'll be terminating preservation now.
Mr. Williams: It seems unfair to the old guy, somehow. I mean, we finally have the scientific means to clone a body for him from his own genetic material and to thaw him out and transfer his brain to that body.
Mr. Decker: But regulations don't allow us to do it for drug abusers and back when he was 37 years old, in the year 1956, he hit .345 with a slugging percentage of .605. As a man named Pearlman proved through arbitrary assertion, that's impossible without the use of steroids.
There is nothing wrong with this assertion, all the anectdotes aside. Most big stars are done by 37 or so.
The last three words are superfluous.
There is so much I just can't understand about this issue.
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