What if Cal took steroids?

[Sanfran327]

I hate to say it, but with this turning up about Manny, I have to think that 99% of players in the 90s were juicing. He was one of the handful of guys that I really didn't think was a possibility. Maybe this is recent, and he started cheating as he got older, but it certainly suggests that NOBODY is immune from consideration anymore, IMO.

Maybe I'm just a really big Manny fan, but this is a pretty big deal.

[The Wedge]

I don't know that you can prove that because of the many ways to use steroids and because of the many types of steroids. He may not have been a regular cycler of roids looking to bulk up. I think chronic use of steroids is different than sporadic supplemental steroid use.

Perhaps not, but while I was on my regimen for poison ivy, while it helped clear it up faster, I was also bruising really really easily.

[olehippi]

My first thought when I saw the "rebirth" of this old thread was, "Oh Lord....has Canseco written another book?"

But.....does anyone else believe that Manny's excuse might be plausible.....that whatever triggered the positive test was the result of something he unknowingly received while being treated by a doctor for an undisclosed illness?

[The Wedge]

My first thought when I saw the "rebirth" of this old thread was, "Oh Lord....has Canseco written another book?"

But.....does anyone else believe that Manny's excuse might be plausible.....that whatever triggered the positive test was the result of something he unknowingly received while being treated by a doctor for an undisclosed illness?

Way too convenient.

And it harkens back to the common counter of "you don't take ANYTHING in this day and age in pro sports without clearing it."

[Bemore]

Let me clarify. I wasn't posting that quote because I thought Cal did steroids. I was posting that quote because when I said that Cal thought Manny did, someone called me a liar. That was directly to the person who called me a liar.

I strongly believe Cal did not, just for the record.

See below:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bemore View Post

I've worked with Cal on a bunch of commercials and we actually discussed his feelings on steroids.

He said that he had a feeling that Manny and Ortiz definitely did and mentioned that people on the Mitchel report didn't suprise him.

The thing he said was that people that wear really baggy uniforms or do other things to their personal appearance are usually tell tale signs (i.e. dreads, long hair, lot's of jewelry)

That's absurd. Needless to say, I don't believe Ripken said this.

[statman]

Cal was my childhood hero...I had posters of him in my room, the orioles hat with his stitched in signature on the side, a jersey t-shirt of course, countless cards, I saved up my allowance for months to buy his rookie card when I was like 8. If he took steroids, it would be kind of a let down after all of that. I don't think he did, though...at 6'4'', I don't question his power (he only hit more than 30HRs in a season once). He never really got incredibly big the way Bonds did and he didn't hit 500+ homeruns the way Manny did. Plus, steroids make you more prone to joint/tendon/muscle injuries, which in 2131 games, he obviously didn't sustain. I don't think the "Ripken Way" included any sort of performance enhancers.

[MikeAD]

I've always thought there'd be some sort of bittersweet feeling if it came out that Cal took steroids. It would prove that everyone did it, or damned near everyone and (you would think at least) it would shut up the witch hunt crowd.

[Tx Oriole]

Now obviously I’m not saying he did or even implying anyone should THINK he did. But all the evidence suggests that from 1990-2005 steroids were a very prominent part of baseball.

How would you view him if it came out he took steroids? I personally think it would be the absolute worst thing to happen to baseball. Cal is one of the most revered players in the history of MLB, if he ever got dirtied I don’t know what would happen.

Before anyone kills me for bringing this up, ask yourself if you would be shocked finding out ANYONE took steroids during that era. At this point, I would believe anything.

I don't beleive Cal was that stupid.

[cindyluvsbrady]

I would lose faith in humanity.

I agree

I would give up....lay down and die!:002_scry:

[waroriole]

He didn't, end of discussion.

[RShack]

IMO, people need to have a little perspective here. Some folks are talking as if steroids are heroin or something, and that anybody who ever used them is some kind of cheating druggy. Well, that's goofy. There are lots and lots of perfectly good reasons for taking steroids. It's one thing to take them for valid purposes, it's another thing to take them to modify the person you are, ability-wise. People are failing to make that distinction here.

Before the roids hysteria of the last couple years, there were various perfectly good reasons for using steroids for athletics-related reasons. I would not be one bit surprised if Cal used steroids for traditional reasons related to healing and inflammation, to help him get back to normal, to help him maintain normal. That's way different than using them to upgrade what your "normal" is.

But now, since the mass hysteria about it, and due to the fact that some guys were using roids to change their ability levels, people seem to have forgotten that. Now, everybody talks about using steroids back-then as if it was like using heroin, but that's just crazy. I realize it's probably dumb to expect people on the internet to calm down and show good judgment, but that is what is needed here. You gotta make reasonable distinctions and not just knee-jerk about it. Some folks wanna make it black-and-white, so they can be holier-than-thou and pass judgment on other people, but that's just rewriting history so they can say bad things about others who had way more talent than they ever did and who were mostly good people too.

[Baroquen131]

I was going to "complain" about the bump of this thread, but then doing the digging, Bemore was exactly right in that it very much validified his claim (from months ago).

That said, it's amusing the number of people who totally missed that fact and are going on endlessly about Cal... again...

[Bemore]

I was going to "complain" about the bump of this thread, but then doing the digging, Bemore was exactly right in that it very much validified his claim (from months ago).

That said, it's amusing the number of people who totally missed that fact and are going on endlessly about Cal... again...

Thanks, I'm glad someone understood what was going on.

The "I told you so" really back fired.

Lesson learned.

[ScottieBaseball]

Perhaps not, but while I was on my regimen for poison ivy, while it helped clear it up faster, I was also bruising really really easily.

Completely different kind of steroid. Anabolic steroids are the problem. The type of steroid you were prescribed was in all likelihood a corticosteroid used to treat inflammation, allergic reactions, asthma, etc.

[Gurgi]

I've always thought there'd be some sort of bittersweet feeling if it came out that Cal took steroids. It would prove that everyone did it, or damned near everyone and (you would think at least) it would shut up the witch hunt crowd.

Wrong. It would make the witch hunt crowd fired up. We would demand mandatory test and random test. We would demand blood test. We would demand samples be kept on file for future testing.