Jim Rice, Cal Ripken, Tony Gwynn, Mark McGwire and Steroids
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by user Josh Q. Public
Josh Q. Public: Ain’t that a shame? My tears fell like rain. Ain’t that a shame? You’re the one to blame.
Public Service Announcement:
OK, here we go! The Baseball Hall of Fame. Coperstown. Hallowed grounds. Preserving history, honoring excellence, connecting generations. Gwynn is in like Huckleberry Finn. So is Cal, I see the rationale. No problems there. None whatsoever. What’s worrisome is the McGwire thing. If he wasn’t voted in due to his performance, enhanced or otherwise, fine. But if he is being blackballed due to the steroids, be careful. Be very, very careful. You gotta think just about everybody was doing them. Everybody. And until there’s proof, we cannot pass judgment. Palmiero, he was caught. You Judge Wapner away with him. Bring Rusty with you. Heck, you can even drag Doug Llewelyn along for all I care. But as for Big Mac: No proof, no dice. There’s plenty of holier than thous out there complaining that McGwire shouldn’t even be on the same ballot with Gwynn and Cal. And, therein lies the problem.
Who’s to say those cats weren’t on the juice. Murder by numbers, 1-2-3. Here we go. In 1988, at the age of 28, Gwynn hit .313. The next year, his average went up to .336. Ok, we know. But after that, he hit .309, .317 and .317. Ya, big deal? Well, check it check it out. Out of nowhere, at the ripe old age of 33, Tony becomes a tiger. He’s grrrrrreat! Miraculously boosts his average to .358. At 34, he hit .394. At 35, 36 and 37 he hit .368, .353 and .372. Hmmm. Curiously strong. A 37-year-old Tony Gwynn hits 59 points better than a 28-year-old Tony Gwynn? Interesting. Very interesting. Arte Johnson interesting. And what about your boy Cal? The year Brady Anderson hit 50 bombs, Cal racked up more total bases and posted a higher slugging percentage than he had in the five previous seasons. Things that make you go hmmm. To play all those games in a row sure does take some cheerleader like recovery. Heroes style. Don’t you think? I’m just saying. Who the hell knows? That’s just it. We don’t. We assume. We conjecture. We hypothesize. We surmise. We speculate, contemplate, guesstimate, ruminate and excogitate. The one thing we don’t do, is know. And until we do, we need to be very, very careful.
Now, the obligatory Big Jim Ed Rice plea. I’ll make this brief. How does this cat not get in. In his day, he was the best hitter in the American League. Bar none! In 1978 he was the best hitter in baseball. C’mon fellas. Jokes over. Enough is enough. Jim Ed deserves to be in Cooperstown. This voting is a travesty. It’s a travesty of a mockery of a sham of a mockery of a travesty of two mockeries of a sham. How do you not select this cat. Here are some stats:
In 1977, he led the league with 39 home runs. He also had 206 hits. The first of three consecutive years with at least 35 homers and 200 hits. Are you kidding me? He was the first player ever to have accomplished that feat. He also led the league in total bases for three straight years, becoming only the third A.L. player - after Ty Cobb and Ted Williams - to do so.
Jim Ed won the MVP award in 1978. In 1978, he accumulated an astounding 406 total bases. 406! The only guy ever in the American League to do so since 1938. The last guy to do it before Rice? Super Joe DiMaggio. No one in the AL has done it since Rice. Not even the juicers. Simply unbelievable. EMF style.
Jim Rice was so strong that his ordinary grounders would be into the outfield before the infielders could react to them. So strong he would break bats on check swings. Some kids piss their name in the snow. Jim Ed Rice can piss his name into concrete.
Of the 17 players with 300 homers and a career average as high as Rice’s .298, Rice is the only one not in Cooperstown.
Free Jim Rice!
Peace out homies. Six Two and Even! josh q public
