Scott Gray (CT) Commentary - Brady Anderson the Steroids Poster Child

[weams]

McGwire was actually caught with a bottle of Andro in his locker. Steroids might have been a "rumor" but him using supplements was a known fact.

If Brady Anderson did use steroids, and assuming steroids help you hit homeruns, why did Brady Anderson stop hitting homeruns? Did he stop using steroids? If so, why? Did Anderson stop because he had a bigger conscience than Sosa, McGwire, and Bonds? Did he continue using them but it turned out that steroids aren't as effective as critics claim, and thus the homeruns stopped?

I'm just trying to think about this logically. If steroids boost your homeruns totals and that's why ARod, Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, Palmeiro, Canseco, etc, all his homeruns for years, why did they only impact one season of Brady Anderson's career?

Andro was not even banned in baseball back then. You could buy it at GNC.

[atomic]

Mike Bordick with his monster 20 and 16 HR years.

So did Wade Boggs use steroids when he hit 24 HR

I can speak for others, but I'm not defending Brady as much as I am attacking the logic behind the accusations. Career years happen.

I know because he is a modern baseball player the example doesn't hold much weight (I guess) but even look at Jacoby Ellsbury...people have career years where everything just seems to go right.

Monster years or not those are alot more than he ever hit before. Sequi and Bigbie didn't hit 50 home runs a year when they were on the juice.

[LookinUp]

Andro was not even banned in baseball back then. You could buy it at GNC.

Neither was creatine.

I'm with atomic on this one. The comments don't really bother me. No, Anderson is not a signal of the beginning of steroids. On the other hand, he is absolutely a poster boy for steroid use for all kinds of people who generally comment on the game.

I get it. There's no proof. Fine. That doesn't mean this guy is much different than most professional and non-professional commentators. This is a big whatever to me.

[Mondo Trasho]

Monster years or not those are alot more than he ever hit before. Sequi and Bigbie didn't hit 50 home runs a year when they were on the juice.

But Brady did, and then he didn't. What does that tell you?

Also, Bigbie and Segui didn't hit a lot of homeruns, yet were implicated in steroid probes. Same with Jason Grimsley (who never won a Cy Young award).

What do these things tell you about PEDs?

[Mondo Trasho]

Neither was creatine.

I'm with atomic on this one. The comments don't really bother me. No, Anderson is not a signal of the beginning of steroids. On the other hand, he is absolutely a poster boy for steroid use for all kinds of people who generally comment on the game.

I get it. There's no proof. Fine. That doesn't mean this guy is much different than most professional and non-professional commentators. This is a big whatever to me.

I'm not bothered by the comments, I just think they're illogical.

If someone uses steroids (or any other PED) to boost their performance, and it allegedly has that effect, why would they stop? And if they didn't stop, why did their performance return back to career norms? Either PEDs don't work (just a placebo, if anything) or Brady for some bizarre reason stopped using them. Or, he was clean the whole time.

Which is it?

[LookinUp]

Maybe because it was a contract year?

http://thesteroidera.blogspot.com/2006/09/suspicious-stats-in-contract-years.html

Brady Anderson 50 HR in 1996, 18 HR in 1997

Signed a 5-year $31 million contract with the Orioles after the 1997 season.

It is widely speculated that Anderson’s 1996 season was aided by steroids. The light hitting outfielder who averaged 16 home runs between 1992 and 1995 exploded in 1996 with 50. Anderson was one of the first users of maple bats and an advocate of creatine and weight lifting. Anderson never slugged over .500 before or after setting his career high with .637 in 1996.

[Mondo Trasho]

So his contract year was 1997. His brilliant plan was to hit 50 HR in 1996, and then in 1997 go off the juice and hit 18?

Why not, you know, go on the juice and hit 50 in 1997?

[LookinUp]

So his contract year was 1997. His brilliant plan was to hit 50 HR in 1996, and then in 1997 go off the juice and hit 18?

Why not, you know, go on the juice and hit 50 in 1997?

You're right. I mis-read that.

[Frobby]

After that 1996 season, Brady Anderson played 5 more seasons in which he would play 130 or more games, hitting 18, 18, 24, 19, and 8 homeruns.

If he juiced in 1996 and stopped, why? If he didn't stop, why did the homeruns stop? The first possibility is totally baffling. The second implies that maybe steroids aren't as effective as the critics claim.

Of course, the other (and seemingly more plausible) possibility is that he never juiced but merely had a great season.

It just seems odd I guess to me that somebody who allegedly was "obviously juicing" would have no evidence implicating him. Despite the fact that at the time, two newspapers were covering the Orioles: the Sun and (the much more influential) Washington Post.

Most on here know that I don't care about PEDs, "let them use" I say. So, I don't care if Brady used them or not. I'm just thinking about this logically.

Not to mention, 1997 was a contract year for Brady. A pretty odd time to stop using steroids, if he had been on them in '96. Nobody has ever explained that. I don't know if Brady used or not, but I don't think his HR pattern is very compelling evidence.

[atomic]

So his contract year was 1997. His brilliant plan was to hit 50 HR in 1996, and then in 1997 go off the juice and hit 18?

Why not, you know, go on the juice and hit 50 in 1997?

Why would you assume he was off the juice in 1997? He hit more doubles than any other year in his career. His slugging percentage was higher at age 33 was higher than any of his 31 and younger years. I am sure pitchers started pitching him differently.

[Mondo Trasho]

Also that link, has Bret Boone's stats wrong. He didn't hit 37 HR and 131 RBI in 2000. He hit 37 HR and 141 RBI in 2001.

[awannabegeek]

Monster years or not those are alot more than he ever hit before. Sequi and Bigbie didn't hit 50 home runs a year when they were on the juice.

So does that mean Wade Boggs was using steroids when he hit 24?

Or what about Jacoby Ellsbury when he hit 32?

Davey Johnson, when he hit 43

When Brook Jacoby hit 32

Lastly, when Bert Campaneris hit 22

They all hit "a lot more than" they ever hit before.

People have career years.

[Mondo Trasho]

Why would you assume he was off the juice in 1997? He hit more doubles than any other year in his career. His slugging percentage was higher at age 33 was higher than any of his 31 and younger years. I am sure pitchers started pitching him differently.

The theory is that PEDs help you hit homeruns. Doubles are a fickle stat to be honest, a lot of that has to do with how the other team plays you, etc. As Manny Machado can attest.

If Brady was still using steroids in 1997 and let's be honest all the way through let's say 2001 (his final year with the O's) why did he never again approach his 1996 numbers?

Again, I'm not saying he did or didn't use PEDs, I'm just wondering why the inconsistency. Which you don't see with other suspected or actual PED users.

[awannabegeek]

Why would you assume he was off the juice in 1997? He hit more doubles than any other year in his career. His slugging percentage was higher at age 33 was higher than any of his 31 and younger years. I am sure pitchers started pitching him differently.

He hit three more doubles in '97 than he hit in '93 while playing in nine more games......six more than he hit in '95 where he played less games and had a more triples...

The argument is flimsy.

[Dark Helmet]

Im not sure there is one player you can point to and say they are the "poster child of steroid use"' However, Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, Clemens, Palmeriero forever changed the way the HOF looks at players. I'd say thats a greater impact on MLB then one career year by Brady. I really wish just one guy already in the HOF would come out and say they used roids. That would really slap MLB in their face. MLB is the real villian in the steroid era. They turned a blind eye as long as record revenues were occurring.