Posted By:
Erick LewinIf Selig ever tried to ban certain stats of PED users, why wouldn't he have to go back through all eras and ban other cheating players stats. PED's are just one form of cheating.
Throughout baseballs history there have been players cheating and looking to find an edge in any way they can. From spitballs, scuffed balls, pine tar, juiced balls, sharpened spikes!,corked bats etc...The list is endless. For some reason people tend to talk about these forms of cheating with just a wink or a nod, and don't think it's as severe of a form of cheating. Why not? Maybe a corked bat with a clean player provides the same amount of extra force to a hit ball as a non-corked bat with a juiced player? Why do these old timers get a pass on all the methods they came up with to cheat the game? The old time players used whatever were the best methods of cheating for their generation as players today are doing now. Does anyone honestly believe that no old time legendary players wouldn't have usded steroids or ther PED's if given the opportunity.
I believe there shouldn't be any asterisks or erasing of records from the books, because of all the problems that arise with the idea. There will always be an unwritten known asterisk with certain guys. For me personally, I will just look as this era by itself and realize I can't compare the numbers to older generation ballplayers. I will look at this generation by itself and just look at who was the best of this time-period. Because, that's all we can do. We can't compare these guys to past generations.
And, To anyone who thinks that 103 list should come out: Even if it does, it's only the tip of the iceberg. That's just who got caught in one year, for one ANNOUNCED drug test that the players knew was coming. If the true list of everyone ever came out, it would truly be shocking and completlely devastating. There is no way to ever be certain that anyone from the past 15-20 years or more have been clean.
Sorry for the long-windedness.
E. Lewin