Category MLB

The List

Danny Vinik 1 Comment

There is nothing more damaging for Major League Baseball, its players, and fans than The List. The List contains the names of the 104 players who tested positive for steroids in the 2003 season when anonymous testing was done by MLB officials to see if the sport needed real testing. Of course, everyone who hasn’t been living under a rock knows how the samples were supposed to be destroyed, but weren’t and then were seized by the federal government and now the names on that list are slowly trickling out.

One MLB analyst compared it to Chinese Water Torture. As soon as the league recovers from the devastationof learning about one name, another name is revealed. First, it was A-Rod. Then Sammy Sosa. Now, it’s Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz. Who is it going to be in October when one obnoxious lawyer decides to overshadow the World Series and drop the name of another superstar? The List almost seems mythical, but in fact, it is very real. It has been seen by hundreds of people, from the actual testers to MLB officials, to MLBPA officials, to dozens of lawyers. There are plenty of people with access to The List. What doesn’t make sense to me is how a reporter is able to get one or two individual names every couple of months, but the leak won’t reveal anymore. Does the guy wake up and just decide to drop a bombshell on the sport? Continue reading “The List” →

Let Pete Rose In Cooperstown

Danny Vinik 3 Comments

Pete Rose is one of the greatest players to ever play Major League Baseball. He is the all-time leader in hits with 4256. Think about that. 3000 hits is considered a major milestone for a player. Only 27 players have 3000+ hits. Rose has over FOUR THOUSAND hits. Ty Cobb is second, Hank Aaron third, Stan Musial fourth, Tris Speaker fifth, Carl Yastrzemski sixth, Cap Anson seventh, Honus Wagner eighth, Paul Molitor ninth, and Eddie Collins is tenth. That list of names is absolutely astounding. Everyone other one of those guys is in the Hall of Fame. There is no doubt that Pete Rose’s stats are Hall of Fame worthy. The doubt lies in his actions off the field.

Many people try to compare Pete Rose betting on baseball to steroids and that if Rose is inducted into the Hall-of-Fame then Barry Bonds should be as well. However, there is a huge difference between Rose’s actions and Bonds’s. First off, Rose never bet on games he played in. He never threw games and his betting never affected the outcome of games. His conduct certainly violated MLB rules and his lies afterwards hurt his legacy dearly, but Rose never compromised the integrity of the game. That cannot be understated. Continue reading “Let Pete Rose In Cooperstown” →

Jim Parque: A Role Model For Steroid Users

Danny Vinik 1 Comment

parque

Jim Parque isn’t and wasn’t a big time superstar. He didn’t smash home runs. He didn’t fire the ball 100 MPH. He was a scrawny, persistent fifth starter just trying to survive in MLB. He pitched for the Chicago White Sox from 1998 to 2002, starting more than twenty games three times during his tenure there. His best season came in 2000 when he was 13-6 with a 4.28 ERA. Other than that season, his ERA was always above five. He didn’t dominate batters. He was a fourth-to-fifth starter who just sucked up innings and tried his best to keep his team in ballgames.

Then he hurt his shoulder and just like that, his career was in grave jeopardy. He signed with Tampa Bay in 2003 and started five games for them, but of those five games, he made it out of the third inning just twice and ended up with an 11.94 ERA. His career was finished as quick as it had started. Parque was done.

Now six years later, Parque is doing the unprecedented. He’s admitting using HGH with absolutely no pressure and no reason to do so. Few people even know who Jim Parque is. No one is going to care that he used HGH six times while with the Rays to try to stay alive in the league. Yet, this courageous action should be glorified by MLB. It should be put on a pedestal and shown to the world. Continue reading “Jim Parque: A Role Model For Steroid Users” →