Everybody rips Barry Bonds for cheating

[Va Lefty]

which I think he is guilty of (your hat size and shoe size do not get bigger in your late 30's, it's not natural). Here's something else that's not natural, your fastball does not get better in your late 30's either. It has never happened before in the history of baseball! Well, it happened to Roger Clemens. Now I understand that Clemens has not been named before a grand jury like Bonds, but why is this topic considered "off-limits" by sports reporters? You'll never convince me that Clemens wasn't on something steroids, HGH or something else. There is a history of cheating by pitchers in baseball, and it never gets the attention that other "rule bending" does. Gaylord Perry made no secret of the fact he threw spitters. Tommy John, Don Sutton and Mike Scott to name just a few defaced the ball by cutting it, causing it to break in an unnatural manner. Cheating is cheating, or is it?

[ChoralScholar]

1. I have heard talk about Clemens - and I agree.

I know that it takes more than muscle to strike out batters (or hit home runs)

It also takes more than just a vehicle to get from point A to point B - but it's not okay if I steal a car to do it....

[Poiuyt]

12. The big advantage for pitchers to use steroids is that it shortens recovery time

[Wetzelbill]

18. Bingo

Lubricates the joints and heals muscles and inflammation faster. In the long run it can cause problems from the stress on ligaments and tendons just like anything, but in the short term that recovery is a huge advantage.

[Initech]

2. Don't forget Sosa, McGwire, Giambi, Canseco, and so on...

[Va Lefty]

4. That's right, but my point is--are pitchers held to a different standard?

Nobody is talking about putting an * next to Gaylord Perry's 314 wins or Don Sutton's 324 wins

[Oeditpus Rex]

8. Maybe because baseball seems to know it's a silly rule to begin with

or else they'd enforce it.

[Va Lefty]

10. They did try to enforce it, Perry was routinely searched before games

to try and find where he was hiding Vaseline. But your right, he was the most egress offender, they kind of winked at a lot of the others. Either take it off the books or enforce it.

[Yavin4]

3. I Don't Rip Any Player for Taking Steroids

If it wasn't in the rules, then it wasn't cheating.

[Oeditpus Rex]

7. Yeah, forget that silly old federal law

against possession of anabolic steroids without a prescription.

[TheFriendlyAnarchist]

13. Ya, but most federal (and local for that matter) laws are a joke anyway. . .

[Oeditpus Rex]

15. Yeah, so let's just let ballplayers slide

Because Mer'ka Needs Homers!

Hit a Home Run for Freedom Today!

:patriot:

[Joe Fields]

5. Yup. Cheating is cheating...

I agree that you don't hear much other than Bonds.

[madrchsod]

6. he could have been the best baseball player of all time

but we will never know since he has admitted to using steroids. cheating by the old guys is not a valid comparison of any kind to players using performance drugs .

[Va Lefty]

9. I don't understand why it's not a valid comparison

either history and the integrity of the game mean something or it doesn't

[pitohui]

11. how is he cheating?

you know what, i suggest you take steroids and see how far you get in major league baseball and how many home runs you hit

:eyes:

[Va Lefty]

16. It's not a matter of what I could do

or what you could do if we took performance enhancing drugs. Imagine the numbers Mays or Frank Robinson or Mantle could have put up with some chemical help. It's about the history of the game meaning something

[Wetzelbill]

17. these guys already have elite ability

Comparing an average person to a Major Leaguer is not an accurate example. Yes, it takes hand-eye coordination and skill to play baseball, but that is something all MLB players have already. If I took steroids, I still couldn't even see a 95 MPH fastball let alone hit one. But you take an admitted user like Ken Caminiti, and he goes from being a very good everyday player into being a league MVP. Or you take a guy like Mark Mcgwire and he goes from being great home run hitter into a Superman who starts hitting balls not even in the strike zone a country mile. It makes a difference when a player who say hits 20 balls at or near the warning track in a year, starts taking steroids and all of a sudden those deep flyouts start flying 20-40 feet further. That takes a guy from being a 30 homer player to a 45-50 guy. It has an impact.

[flvegan]

14. Yeah, 2 words: Nolan Ryan

Sure, his fastball got clocked when he was in his 20's at over 100 mph, but he threw no-hitters in his 20's and then well into his 30's.

Yes, pitchers do use. No doubt, but using Clemens as a stump might not be your best bet.

[Caution]

19. Wrong. There have been allegations about Clemens and steroids for years

Do a google search
+clemens +steroids

over 300,000 links will be returned including:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/em_swift/11/01/clemens.real/index.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,216899,00.html
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2005/02/12/SPGR3BA8AQ1.DTL
http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/bal-sp.maese03jun03,0,4095380.column?coll=bal-sports-columnists
http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/story?id=2514578&page=1
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/columnists/tcowlishaw/stories/061507dnspocowlishaw.2708b01.html

Notice these are all major media outlets and this is just from the first 50 returned links from that search.

Bonds gets more notice because he is chasing the single most important record in baseball, because he's a complete jerk in real life (and yeah I do actually know someone who knows him personally) and because grand jury testimony was leaked that tied Bonds to steroids and finally because Bonds is actively under investigation with a prosecutor having a grand jury impaneled for the express purpose of indicting him.

Right now all we have around Clemens are rumors and numbers that "don't seem right"

I'm a Boston fan and I LOATHE Clemens but I think it is unfair to say he has skated through this scandal.