Archive of SportingNews.com's old SOM Baseball forum

Has LaRussa's managerial legacy been tarnished by the fact that so much of his success was supported by known Roiders McGwire and Canseco?

You've gotta believe he knew something was up.

I don't think LaRussa is stupid, but there were so many steroid users going around he should be no more at fault than all the others that looked the other way when it came to results. How about the plethora of college football coaches that recruit teenage kids weighing in at 200+ pounds, and a year later the same kid is "bulked" up to 300+ pounds. They all can deny the reality of the situation in the same context that all our politicians are "honest" and looking out for what is "best" for our country. Just my .02.

I think the larger question is whether all accomplishments in MLB from about 1990 on will be seen in a lesser light. I think they will to some degree. But I can't see holding that against the managers, unless a manager ordered a player to dope up or knowingly facilitated it in some way. What else can a manager do? Can you imagine a manager, at the height of the steroid era, taking it upon himself to order a drug screen for one of his players? The players union would have had him crucified.

Kevin A

nah. LaRussa himself was a drunk driver during his time in StL, maybe still is I dunno...but he's not a scapegoat for steroids.

[quote:1be0e854ad]What else can a manager do?[/quote:1be0e854ad]

That kind of thinking brought the world Nazi Germany.

[quote:fd2c0ddb06="rburgh"][quote:fd2c0ddb06]What else can a manager do?[/quote:fd2c0ddb06]

That kind of thinking brought the world Nazi Germany.[/quote:fd2c0ddb06]

Well that's taking it a bit far, don't you think?!

MLB players play and management manages under a collective bargaining agreement, which didn't provide for steroid testing during the time we're talking about. More than any other sport, the MLB players union has held the upper hand over management in one court case after another. I don't think any owner or manager was going to take unilateral action until a general agreement had been struck with the players union on the drug testing issue.

Fortunately, Hitler must have gotten behind on his dues to the World Dictators Association. He didn't have that kind of protection. If he were around today he could probably get the UN to back him up.

Kevin A

There would have been other ways to deal with the problem.

He could have simply told Canseco and McGwire that they should stop it.

He could have benched them.

People have been traded to bad franchises as punishment before.

If he had simply gone public, the Feds would have moved in a lot sooner.

Any of those would have been the honorable thing to do.

If the writers are going to keep people out of the HOF for USING steroids, I think they should also keep them out for CONDONING it.