OT: McGwire finally comes clean

[glynparson]

he did not play against a large segment of the population (Blacks), let alone the entire world. With all the crap he put in his body and how much he loved to play the game Ruth would have probably been first in line for the needle. Ruth has as much a right to the title as Josh Gibson or even Sadaharu Oh. I just don't understand the villification of the modern players who were trying to make their play better yet we idolize cheats like the blacksox or Hal Chase and drunks who likely worsened their performances like Ruth and Mantle? I understand baseball is one of those things where we always pretend the past was much more romantic then it truly was but you guys are students of the game you surely should know better.

[birdman42]

Glyn, I was thinking the same thing as I read Ken's post. We've already had the "whiskey" era and, more to the point, the "greenie" era. Are you going to hammer everyone who used amphetamines, from Mantle to Schmidt? Not likely.

I read an interesting POV that steroid use is more vilified because it affects home run records, and home runs are more spectacular and widely followed than, say, ERA or stolen bases. Is there evidence that steroids enhance hand-eye coordination the way amphetamines can? Yeah, Bonds had help getting the ball out of the park, but he still had to hit it first.

Bill