“Hey Cal, Gehrig called, he wants his record back!” That came in yesterday via the “comments” portion of my A-Rod blog.
Granted, because the author of that “gem” is a daily moaner at WNST.net, I’m not entirely sure he was actually trying to make a legitimate contribution or just seeking to wind up Baltimore sports fans with another one of his baseless entries.
Either way, I thought it was interesting. Actually, I thought it was “stupid” moreso than interesting, but hey, spring’s around the corner and I’m working my “Mr. Positive” mojo these days. Let’s just stick with “interesting”.
Oddly enough, there were others who either e-mailed me or called the show and threw Cal Ripken Jr.’s name into the ring of Steroids.
I had someone go as far as to write: “Cal should prove he didn’t use steroids.”
Huh?
I know a lot of things have changed in our country over the last 25 years. Some for the good, some for the bad. Recently, our 8-time Gold Medal Olympic swimmer smoked marijuana in public. That’s one of “the bad”.
I’m still certain, though, that a foundation of our society and, as importantly, our judicial system, is “innocent until proven guilty”.
Cal Ripken Jr. is now forever linked to an era where a huge portion of the players in the late stages of his career were using performance enhancing drugs.
Unfortunately, there will be people out there who say, “Gotta look at Cal too…look at all those games in a row he played.”
I doubt Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire are on Cal’s Christmas Card list. Neither are Raffy, Canseco or A-Rod. All those bums have done is tainted any legacy of greatness that the true “great ones” attained.
So, based on the logic that Cal broke Gehrig’s record during the steroids era, are we to also assume that Greg Maddux used steroids since he had one more win (355) than a confirmed steroids user in Roger Clemens?
No, we shouldn’t assume that at all.
Cal Ripken Jr. doesn’t have to “prove” anything to anyone about steroid use.
Just because he played with a bunch of miscreants doesn’t make him one.
What a game baseball has become. It’s been filled with so many toxic human beings - on the field and off the field - that even the good guys get scarlet letters on their jersey.
By the way, nowhere here have I written that Cal Ripken Jr. didn’t use steroids. The only person who knows that is, of course, Cal Ripken Jr.
That said, it’s silly and irresponsible for anyone to say, “make Cal prove he DIDN’T use them…or, Hey Cal, Gehrig called, he wants his record back.”
Then again, silly and irresponsible is what our society has become.
Silly and irresponsible sums up baseball too.
Tags:
barry, baseball, bonds, cal, clemens, greg, in, jr., maddux, mark, mcgwire, ripken, roger, sammy, sosa, steroids
Drew's Bio
Share
Email
Print
RSS
Comment
Set Gravatar
February 10th, 2009 at 8:57 am
Drew,
Thank you for my 15 minutes! But I have to laugh at you… the King of all Moaners… calling me out about being a moaner. Oh well it’s all in good fun and for the love of talking sports each and every day. Do I think Cal took steriods, honestly I don’t but don’t ask me about all the greenies that we all know are so prevelent in every locker room. Cal had more than a little help in breaking the record. But, hey who knows if the great Gehrig didn’t have some help back in the day as well.
Probably the subject for another blog but do you ever wonder how a certain 34 yr. old linebacker manages to play at such a high level? Think he might, just maybe have a little bit of synthetic aid?
Nah, I guess it’s just the baseball players.
Set Gravatar
February 10th, 2009 at 10:14 am
[...] Drew Forrester doesn’t think Ripken has to prove steroids innocence [...]
Set Gravatar
February 10th, 2009 at 11:13 am
Due to the fact that Cal slumped in batting average and in power like an older player is supposed to, he has nothing to prove as far as steroid usage goes. It’s the one’s whom never seemed to have had a decline in their performance despite aging. The only knock I have is he played for the streak being a homegrown Oriole and by being from the area he really had no choice. Cal as an entertainer, gave baseball fans what they wanted and it didn’t matter if his average was 240 or 280. Cal often batted 250-260 when he was in his late ’20’s to early ’30’s. If he was on performance enhancers he needs to get his money back.
Set Gravatar
February 10th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
I saw that the other day and wanted to call that guy on it. Glad you beat me to it.
Set Gravatar
February 23rd, 2009 at 1:52 pm
To me, the point is not so much that Cal should have to prove that he didn’t use steroids, or greenies, or whatever. The point is that to lambaste certain players as cheaters while elevating others to legend status without knowing the facts in entirety is irresponsible and illogical. We can’t conclusively “prove” anything about the vast majority of players, one way or the other. What we do know is that the use of performance enhancing steroids and amphetamines has been rampant in all of sports for at least 4 decades. Cal deserves the benefit of the doubt, but so do all of the “villains” we love to rail on these days.
As an aside, I wouldn’t call the Michael Phelps situation a change “for the bad”. If anything, it gets us closer to an open, honest discussion about marijuana and what it actually does to people. Nobody in their right mind can conclude that marijuana use prohibits excellence any more than the intoxicants we arbitrarily allow. Truth and honesty are good things in my opinion. I just wish Phelps had stood up and said “none of your business” instead of issuing his series of sniveling apologies.
Set Gravatar
February 13th, 2010 at 10:29 pm
[...] serious on the subject out there, and what is there are Cal-has-nothing-to-prove blog entries, like this one. Fact: Cal played in the Steroids Era. Opinion: Cal Ripken may have used performance [...]
Set Gravatar
July 8th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
Drew, Ripkin did not break the 2130 game streak record. That record still stands. Lou never had a long break because of a strike so ripkin is not the new ironman.
don’t worry Lou, your record is safe.