Manny, A-Rod, Bonds… What Steroids Really Mean to Baseball

TSDMike | May 8, 2009

I almost didn’t write about this.

It seemed redundant. Didn’t we just go through this? Aren’t we still going through this? The Alex Rodriguez debacle has even totally played out yet and now we’re pounded with this: Manny Ramirez tests positive for steroids and receives the automatic 50 game suspension.

The sad thing is that I still haven’t decided how I feel about the A-rod thing. He juiced for a couple of seasons, had some inflated numbers while playing for a last place team, then quit taking performance enhancing drugs. His power numbers declined, but other than that, he’s still a helluva baseball player.

Man-Ram falls into the same category. Did steroids made him a better player? Do steroids make anyone a better player? I actually don’t think that they do. Steroids enhance performance. The key word is enhance. The ability to perform has to be there first.

Obscure Baseball Stats: Enough is Enough

TSDMike | April 22, 2009

Gary Sheffield’s 500th home run of his career also happened to be the first one with his new team, the New York Mets. This is apparently the first time this coincidence has occurred. What’s so noteworthy about this?