40-40 club

[Cross-7]

Of the 4 in the club
Did anyone play the game clean ?

Jose Canseco,
Barry Bonds
Alex Rodriguez
Alfonzo Soriano

 

[A.J.]

I know 1-3 are some of the first names that come to mind when I think of the steroid era. I feel bad for any clean players now a days, because there is always gonna be a cloud of suspicion around them if they put up big numbers.

 

[Bigfoot]

Bunch of the old timers played drunk. I bet those juice heads couldn't pull that off.

 

[sim.-ang.king]

Bunch of the old timers played drunk. I bet those juice heads couldn't pull that off.

They also pitched full games, and didn't get paid millions of dollars.

 

[Son of Butch]

Bunch of the old timers played drunk. I bet those juice heads couldn't pull that off.

They also pitched full games, and didn't get paid millions of dollars.

They also quit when they felt like it and took bribes.
Hall of Fame pitcher George "Rube" Waddell was an alcoholic who died at age 37
Reportedly spent his entire 1st signing bonus on a drinking binge. Sporting News referred to him as a "SOUSEpaw"
Early in his career he would leave mid game to go fishing. He was easily distracted by fans of opposing teams and would seem to fall into a trance when they would hold up puppies or shiny objects in the stands.

Won the 1st game of a double header in 17 innings 2nd game was shortened to 5 innings his manager Connie Mack
offered him a 3 day fishing vacation to pitch the 2nd game and won that game by pitching 5 shutout innings.

Led the American League in strikeouts 6 consecutive seasons. In one game he waved his outfielders in and had them
sit on the infield grass and then proceeded to strikeout the final 3 batters.

Wore out his welcome with several teams with his unpredictable behavior and fighting with teammates.
In 1905 he won the triple crown for pitching 27-10 287 s.o. 1.48 era and was bribed not to pitch in the World Series
against the NY Giants

 

[greybeard]

In 1930 and 1931, Babe Ruth was paid $80,000 by the Yankees, which was the most he earned in a single year, and equivalent to only slightly more than $1 million today.

Year Salary Player(s)
1957 $65,000 Yogi Berra (NY AL)
1958 $65,000 Mickey Mantle (NY AL)
1959 $75,000 Willie Mays (SF NL)
1960 $80,000 Willie Mays (SF NL)

 

[M-5]

The people that think you just take a steroid shot and magically become super human is not factual , The PED still require lots of hard work and they make the person work harder . but the benefits are very real . You could count on one hand the ones playing now that are NOT taking some type of PED. They are not limited to just steroids.

 

[Cross-7]

Everyone of the guys on the list were super stars, even without PED.
The question is could they stayed healthy for as long as they did
How many HR balls would have been warning track fly balls without PED ?

As an example the guy that comes to mind that I think was clean is Kenm Griffey JR
As he got older he couldn't stay healthy.

Last night Jose Reyes was playing and I hadn't seen him in a long time.
He can't stay healthy and his numbers suck
He looked ordinary. He used to be yoked, but now he looks way thin in comparison.
Based on the body change and the drop in production makes you question why.

What's Sterling Marte going to be when he comes back
If he numbers drop off are the Pirates still on the hook for his big contract ?

 

[Cross-7]

Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens both took PED late in their careers. If remember correctly it was HGH.
Pettitte admitted he took it while injured and to remain healthy.
Afterwards both struggled and were out baseball a short time later.
Bret Boone made a very noticeable body type transformation and went from very ordinary numbers to huge power numbers.
The real victims are the guys who played the game clean and where overshadowed by the cheaters.
Soriano may be the only true 40-40 guy, if he was clean

 

[Hunter]

Yes, the Pirates are still on the hook for his contract. I think Bonds would or could have been a 40-40 guy w/o the steroids and also believe he would have been a hall of famer with out them. PED's don't make the person work harder but allows them too. Body recovers a lot faster and allows you to train harder for longer periods of time.
I doubt many guys were clean during that era. I've seen the effects of steroids on a college kid and how they perform and wow do they work...sadly.

 

[M-5]

Yes, the Pirates are still on the hook for his contract. I think Bonds would or could have been a 40-40 guy w/o the steroids and also believe he would have been a hall of famer with out them. PED's don't make the person work harder but allows them too . Body recovers a lot faster and allows you to train harder for longer periods of time.
I doubt many guys were clean during that era. I've seen the effects of steroids on a college kid and how they perform and wow do they work...sadly.

When PED's are taken the desire to work harder is phenomenal. You can feel the muscles growing so a person is constantly looking to work out , Or so Ive been Told ;-)

 

[Hunter]

Ha, I don't doubt it. A few of the guys I knew that took them were lazy as can be but maybe that was b/c of all the weed they smoked. The ones that actually worked out were helped tremendously.

If someone would have told me I would get drafted and have a shot I would have really thought about taking them.