False Accusations: MLB Steroid Era
As if steroids alone weren’t enough of a giant black eye for Major League Baseball now it seems that people want to go around accusing everybody and their mother of using PEDs. Whether it’s angry fans calling for Major League Baseball to test Chris Davis and Miguel Cabrera over and over again or “sports reporters” making claims against superstars just to get their name out. It’s just flat ridiculous. With the ever growing list of players who have used PEDs, anytime a player’s name is even mentioned in the same sentence as the word steroids it immediately causing a giant uproar in the baseball community. Let’s just take a look at a couple of the recent claims against some of baseball’s best.
Sports talk radio, the worst sports media outlet of them all and Jack Clark, yes the former big leaguer, has shown us why. One week into his new radio show Jack Clark decided to make a splash. Unfortunately for Mr. Clark, his splash washed him right out of the radio booth. Clark accused none other than Albert Pujols and Justin Verlander of using PEDs. Why? Ratings, ignorance, adding to the PED witch hunt, take your pick really. Regarding Verlander, Clark said the reason why Verlander was having a down year is because he isn’t taking PEDs anymore. Pretty bold statement. Verlander brushed off the comments by calling them completely false and moronic. We’re going to have to agree with Verlander on this one because a 3.68 era, twelve wins, and being named an All Star doesn’t really constitute a down year. Now for Pujols. Clark was pretty bold with his comments about Pujols as well. Pretty much just straight accused him of using PEDs throughout his career. Well, again, we’re going to disagree with Clark. Pujols has been a phenom since joining the league in 2001, has always been well built, and has dealt with his share of injuries. Unlike Verlander, Pujols took Clark’s comments a little harder. Pujols is going to sue Jack Clark for the comments made. So Clark loses his job, credibility, and what will probably be a butt-load of money because of an ignorant comment falsely accusing two of baseball’s most classy, highly thought of players, of using PEDs.
If you ask any baseball fan “Which player has had the smoothest swing throughout the history of the game?” there is little doubt that Ken Griffey Jr. would be one of the first players mentioned. The Kid could swing the stick better than almost any player in the game. Unfortunately for Griffey, towards the end of his career he became one of the most injury prone players in the Majors. So why are we bringing him up? Wouldn’t he have been healthier if he was using PEDs? Well Mr. Marcus Hayes of the Philadelphia Daily News doesn’t seem to think so. Over a twitter conversation, Mr. Hayes pretty blatantly accused The Kid of using steroids. Pretty ridiculous right? We think so. So what did Mr. Hayes use as his evidence? The fact that most of Griffey’s injuries were soft tissue injuries. Yupp, we’re not joking. In case you don’t know, most players who are accused of using steroids are ones who seem to stay perpetually healthy and never seem to see a drop in numbers. Just like Ken Griffey right? Oh wait, what’s that? Griffey battled injuries and saw a significant drop in production in his later years? Then why did Hayes accuse him of using PEDs? Well, aside from calling him an incompetent reporter who used Twitter to voice his opinion, our best guess is just because he can.
You see, that’s the thing about steroids these days, it doesn’t matter if you have legitimate evidence, nobody cares. It’s a witch hunt. People are so caught up in the steroid era that it doesn’t matter if there is hard evidence, they just want to find a player, any player, even Ken Griffey Jr, Albert Pujols, and Justin Verlander to take down with the rest of the PED users. It’s a shame, the only thing worse than being accused of using steroids is being wrongly accused of steroids. These players names’ are now going to carry with them the distinction of being accused of using steroids, whether true or not. Hopefully, fans, writers, and the rest of the baseball community realize that this cases were instances of incompetence by lack luster sports reporters.
Baseball's 28th Out 