Aaron, Ruth, Pujols

And on that prior point, a guy like Clemens, who was one of my favorite players growing up and who my kids got to hang out with once), was a great guy in the community, a special talent, and he gets up on the hill and starts with the "misremembered" stuff. It was not a very impressive moment and... to speak of taint--that "my dog ate my homework" stuff tainted his image for me forever. Even though he was acquitted and deserves to be in the Hall IMO. I mean Ortiz???

Anyway, I guess at least he didn't blame it on his father leaving when he was young, like ARod for all his character flaws that surfaced over the years.

As in regular life, baseball has a history of cheating and trying to gain an edge. Innovation or cheating? See a recent book: https://www.amazon.com/Intentional-Balk ... B09ZZXTB7G

So, I don't downgrade Bonds, Clemens, McGwire, Sosa. MLB never had a rule to test them. Player's union to blame for that in part.

Different types of performance enhancers have always been used. Pud Galvin in 1889 -- https://www.npr.org/templates/story/sto ... Id=5314753. Willie Mays and other players in the '60s, '70s -- https://bleacherreport.com/articles/680 ... -kid-alone

We'll never know who does this. Fact: human nature says we all might consider it to get ahead in a sport and make tons of money. Let's not be judgmental. Who knows what Aaron Judge does -- it may be legal, but it helps him get on the field every day. Existential question -- what exactly is a performance enhancer?

The only real problem I have with PEDs is that it forces non-users to take them in order to compete on a level playing field and steroids at least are harmful to a person's heath. I certainly have enjoyed watching the miraculous things athletes can do when on PEDs. But an athlete should not be required to take something that jeopardizes their health in order to compete.

I used to hear the argument well steroids don't help you to hit a 95 mph fastball or some similar thing. Yes, you still have to be very skilled for the steroids to help. But there a lot of borderline AAA/AAAA players who are already highly skilled and if they take steroids they can be a much better player and make it to the bigs. The increase on performance is very large, which sets it apart from other forms of cheating. You turn a AAA player into an MLB player, a MLB player into a star, and an MLB star like Bonds into the best player who has ever walked the planet when he was 38 (I really liked to watch Bonds hit by the way; the game was so easy for him. Just took this easy swing and the ball went a mile...)

As in regular life, baseball has a history of cheating and trying to gain an edge. Innovation or cheating? See a recent book: https://www.amazon.com/Intentional-Balk ... B09ZZXTB7G

So, I don't downgrade Bonds, Clemens, McGwire, Sosa. MLB never had a rule to test them. Player's union to blame for that in part.

Different types of performance enhancers have always been used. Pud Galvin in 1889 -- https://www.npr.org/templates/story/sto ... Id=5314753. Willie Mays and other players in the '60s, '70s -- https://bleacherreport.com/articles/680 ... -kid-alone

We'll never know who does this. Fact: human nature says we all might consider it to get ahead in a sport and make tons of money. Let's not be judgmental. Who knows what Aaron Judge does -- it may be legal, but it helps him get on the field every day. Existential question -- what exactly is a performance enhancer?

Thought-provoking stuff as always Hack