After the Mitchell Report, Palmeiro, Clemens, McGwire crying, ARod and that scumbag Bonds, my answer is nobody. As far as all the players in the game right now goes, no name would suprise me.
Now if we're talking about the steroids era, lots of big names have been exposed and hurt baseball, but I think theres only one player that would TRUELY shock the baseball world if he had tested positive in the past, and that player is Cal Ripken. No player in baseball, especially in the steroids era, represented everything that was still good and pure in the sport of baseball like Cal Ripken did. If he had tested positive, or somehow got linked to 'riods I think that would be a HUGE HUGE blow to the last shred of credit baseball has left.
I don't really understand the Cal Ripken thing. Granted I would be pretty shocked if he was named at some point but to me, the steak was kind of selfish. Especially towards the end when it was probably hurting his team when he wouldn't take a day off and rest up. Granted I'm kind of talking out of ass on this but it seems to me that an occasional day off would have helped him stay sharper thru the season and maybe helped his team more. I will say that the streak was a great example of perserverance and dedication and there was a lot more postive things about it than negative but to me its a bit overrated and as I said selfish because one could argue that he was putting himself above the team
In the grand scheme of things that streak meant a whole lot more than the Baltimore Orioles team or even baseball in general. I dont understand how you could view it as him being selfish, yeah the point that maybe he would have produeced a little bit more if he had rested is valid, but its not the like it made him a liability on the team. The guy batted a respectable average throughout his whole career, hit over 3000 hits, was a two time MVP, and was approaching 500 homeruns when he retired, and you never had to worry about this player being out of the lineup, EVER. I could sit here and make the arguement that it would be selfish of Ripken to take a day off if he did, because he wanted to help increase his stats, while in the process jeopardizing a win for his team by having a subpar utility guy take his place on the field. That sounds a little nitpicky doesnt it?? Well, no offense, but thats what your arguement sounded like.
Ripken did what he did for his team, not for himself, and he didnt put himself above any other baseball players because of it, he did what he had to do regardless if it risked injury or not. A perfect example, back in the early 90's, Mike Mussina hits Seattle catcher Bill Hasslemen with a pitch and Hasselmen charges the mound. Both dugouts, and both bullpens empty a huge fight takes place at the bottom of the mound. There are pictures, Im sure you can find them online, of Cal Ripken in the middle of the fight at the bottom of the pile of people fighting. (I'm proud to say I was at this game, and was in 4th grade at the time) To me, that doesnt sound like someone that is selfishly trying to keep a streak alive and doesnt care about his team.
Topic: Which baseball players would really shock you if they were caught with steroids (Read 17341 times)