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View Full Version : Add Aaron to the "Killibrew" school of thought...



suicide_squeeze
07-26-2009, 11:31 AM
Hank Aaron say he'll accept the steroids cheaters inducted into the Hall of Fame only if they have an asterisk placed on their plaque.

I think it's become obvious how the old greats feel about this new younger generation of cheaters, a wave that has been seen throughout our whole society in general. Maybe this has been a good thing. Maybe we can all reflect on these reckless times, and we can live our lives better and use these events as examples to teach our children between right and wrong. You don't have to say much, just point out the negative stima that is strewn upon the cheaters......they are despised, hated, for trying to take a shortcut to greatness while the rest of us honest folks work hard and struggle through life the honest way.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/baseball/hallfame/2009-07-25-hank-aaron-hall-of-fame_N.htm

Thoughts?

cordovacollector
07-26-2009, 11:34 AM
Thank you for taking a public stand, Hank! Well Done!

joelsabi
07-26-2009, 12:19 PM
"I don't see how, and I've played the game long enough to know that it is impossible for players to hit 70-something home runs. It just don't happen. It just do not happen, I think that's one reason why people's eyes started opening up and said, how can this guy do this? Somewhere on the plaque beside his name, 'Hey, 73 home runs, he was accused.' That's the only way you can do it."


As more evidence is produced on PED and how it affected the record books, I think more of the players who were affected will come forward and take this position. Killebrew was dropped from the top 10 and Aaron was dropped from the top stop due to PED.
It should be recognized on the plaque since it did happen and was a part of baseball history.

It is just sad that something that was so obvious to Aaron could not be uttered earlier. Maybe an earlier comment like above would sound like sour grapes and Aaron bit his tongue. Why weren’t reported asking Aaron this question a long time ago. Why didn’t baseball writers ask Aaron the tough question when 70-something home runs happened? PED in baseball should have been addressed earlier.

Ripken
07-27-2009, 07:57 AM
. Why weren’t reported asking Aaron this question a long time ago. Why didn’t baseball writers ask Aaron the tough question when 70-something home runs happened? PED in baseball should have been addressed earlier.

Aaron was asked the question numerous times on the rare occasion when he granted an interview. He always side-stepped it, I suppose because Bonds was still playing.

Vintagedeputy
07-27-2009, 08:38 AM
An asterisk on their plaque?

BRILLIANT IDEA HANK! I'm all for it!

rj_lucas
07-27-2009, 09:59 AM
This thread will get boring in a hurry if everyone takes the same position, so I'll play devil's advocate :)

Asterisks are a slippery slope. Two weeks ago Bud Selig was quoted as saying "This is the first time in baseball history we've had a drug testing program. We've had other things, like the cocaine era in the 80s and things were there was no testing".

In the 1970's, amphetamine use was so common in baseball that many clubhouses used two coffee pots, one of which featured coffee spiked with uppers.

Anabolic steroids have been around since the 1930's and have been in common medical use since the 1950's. How often they may have been used by athletes of that era is unknown but the fact is, they were available.

I think there's a natural tendancy to glamorize the players we watched as kids, and pretend that players magically transformed into cheating substance abusers only ten years ago. Re-read 'Ball Four' if you need a wake-up call.

Finally, and I've said this before, if we're going to start handing out asterisks, let's start by slapping one on the HOF plaque of every player whose career began before 1947, since those players had an unfair advantage by not playing against much of the best talent in the game.

Rick
rickjlucas@gmail.com

Nathan
07-28-2009, 01:22 AM
This thread will get boring in a hurry if everyone takes the same position, so I'll play devil's advocate :)

Asterisks are a slippery slope. Two weeks ago Bud Selig was quoted as saying "This is the first time in baseball history we've had a drug testing program. We've had other things, like the cocaine era in the 80s and things were there was no testing".

In the 1970's, amphetamine use was so common in baseball that many clubhouses used two coffee pots, one of which featured coffee spiked with uppers.

Anabolic steroids have been around since the 1930's and have been in common medical use since the 1950's. How often they may have been used by athletes of that era is unknown but the fact is, they were available.

I think there's a natural tendancy to glamorize the players we watched as kids, and pretend that players magically transformed into cheating substance abusers only ten years ago. Re-read 'Ball Four' if you need a wake-up call.

Finally, and I've said this before, if we're going to start handing out asterisks, let's start by slapping one on the HOF plaque of every player whose career began before 1947, since those players had an unfair advantage by not playing against much of the best talent in the game.

Rick
rickjlucas@gmail.com

I agree on numerous points. Not too long ago, my father (who has rapidly turned into a grumpy old-timer as it relates to sports) started on one of his tirades about "the modern athlete", so I named seven or eight various offenses that he believes the modern athlete to be guilty of. After confirming his viewpoint, I informed him that I was thinking of quite a few of his heroes as far as being guilty of that. We discussed "Ball Four", and the fact that Mickey Mantle played an entire 18-year career and retired, yet that book was the first time that anyone was aware that Mantle enjoyed the sauce.

As it specifically relates to today, asterisks are just flat-out dumb. I can start with the McGwire example. If he goes in, does he get the asterisk? He's been accused but never conclusively proven to have taken anything stronger than andro (which was legal according to both MLB and the federal government). What about someone like Derek Jeter? Let's say he gets in, then 10 years later it comes out that he was a bigger cheat than anyone. Does he retroactively get thrown out? Does he now get an asterisk on the plaque?