"Nails" is the person I most remember from the 90's. He was a little sherman tank running around shouting at everybody. This is him on a 1988 card and a 1993 card. I figured something was going on back then and not just because of Dykstra, there were several suspicious looking guys. It seems like it would be tough for a man to maintain a physique like that lifting weights while enduring a grueling 162 game season. If I'm not mistaken, those drugs can serve as injury prevention, lengthen a career, etc. I'm not saying Dykstra did it, but I did in fact think it.
I watched McGwire in '98 in Atlanta, got there early for BP. The man was a beast out there, a giant compared to the others, and he was hitting BP balls in places no other players were coming close to. It seemed like he viewed the field as we would if we were hitting on a 200 foot little league field - get it in the air and its gone. But the thing is, I would
guess that a very, very large percentage of players were using. If so, they were all playing on the same field equally. Even a non drug using McGwire could have done amazing things, but the thing was, the drugs helped him through the season,and he usually couldn't play a full season. I have a McGwire bat from the 2000 season, when he hit more than thirty home runs before the half way point. There are red ball stitches that remained inside the deep seam impressions after impact:
All the drug use was revealed when? After 2001? I've been sick of it since '01 and Bonds, and I have only good memories of the 98 season, regardless. I was sick of the NFL when Terrell Owens pulled a sharpie out of his sock in the end zone, signed a football and gave it to an adult friend of his. It was disgusting. I'd rather watch McGwire than even a drug free Terrell Owens type.
Santo is in, so its Dale Murphy's turn. Murph makes appearances and speaks against drug use, and he says it as if it was in baseball while he was playing. Injuries definitely shortened his career and hurt his number during the last few years.
Almost forgot (not my cards):
And Frank, Ruth, Dimaggio....were elite athletes, weights or no weights. IMO, a player's abilities should only be compared to players from the same generation. Ruth was above and beyond all other players during his generation. He's the all-time greatest IMO, period, no matter what A-Rod does. Cobb was the greatest of his generation IMO. A different method of keeping who has what records could alleviate a lot of the controversy, such as dead ball to live, post dead ball to pre-war, war to 1990, 1990 and drugs to present.
When it comes to living out childhood dreams and knowing everybody else is likely using, a man is going to do what he has to do to stay there...or get there. And managers want their big dollar guys to be healthy, not saying they knew or anything as I didn't follow the drama, but it just seems like common sense. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally against it, but at this point, its impossible to watch a game and not wonder, examine physiques, etc. The smart guys probably don't lift weights while using. Its going to be very hard to eliminate it and the variations.
The recent drug use got Santo in, IMO. Make two hall of fames. One for pre-1990 and 1990 and later.