Darryl Strawberry: 'Hell yeah, I would've used steroids'

Finally, an honest answer to the steroid question.

almost 3 years ago Eric Simon 26 comments 0 recs |

Comments

I like it.

Nice one, Straw.

'Oh yes, I know all about that duty-of-a-citizen stuff. It doesn't go. There are exceptions to every rule, and this was one of them. When a man risks his liberty to come and root at a ball-game, you've got to hand it to him. He isn't a crook. He's a fan.'

by Catsmeat Potter-Pirbright on Mar 3, 2009 4:03 PM EST reply actions

I agree with this to some extent.

Of course you can’t blame players for using steroids, and I have the feeling that if the majority of people were in their position, they would have used them too. But at the same time, once they’re banned, they’re banned. If you’re caught using a banned substance, you should be dealt with harshly. And now that A-Rod is taking the heat for being on the list, all the other names should come out as well. I also like Straw being honest. Finally, someone is!

"I dunno. I never smoked any Astroturf"
-Tug McGraw

by squid92 on Mar 3, 2009 4:03 PM EST reply actions

Were steroids banned by baseball when A-rod used them

I know testing didn’t start till 2003 but I’ve heard varying things about whether they were banned before then or not.

by Gina on Mar 3, 2009 4:29 PM EST up reply actions

Yeah, this is why I've been reluctant to say Yay or Nay.

If they weren’t banned at the time, I’ll just be suspicious, but say everything he’s done is valid unless they find more steroid evidence. But if they were valid, I’d remove any years he played from when they were banned to 2003 from consideration, and call him A-Fraud mercilessly, haha.

"I dunno. I never smoked any Astroturf"
-Tug McGraw

by squid92 on Mar 3, 2009 4:33 PM EST up reply actions

From what I understand

They were banned because all illegal substances were banned, but there was no testing, which makes you wonder how much MLB actually cared about steroid use before Congress intervened.

by Gina on Mar 3, 2009 4:38 PM EST up reply actions

It's comments like this that are going to make me

buy his new book due in April.

Those other s.o.b.‘s responsible for breaking the law and providing Selena Roberts with information that was supposed to have remain sealed (kept confidential) should be having their a$$es brought to justice. Selena honey, don’t be surprised when it comes time for you to give up your sources.

" (Stewie) Wait a minute. Germany is building WMD's? Then, why doesn't America go in there and kick their a$$e$? (Brian) I don't know. Maybe it's because they don't have any oil? (Stewie) Ohhhhhhh. Clap, clap, clap, clap, claaaaap. "

by LOUtheMETandNATSfan on Mar 3, 2009 4:09 PM EST reply actions

Here's why you should discourage your friends from taking steroids:

"One of the nice things about baseball is that there are no rules you can't break." - Jim Bouton

by Prince on Mar 3, 2009 4:49 PM EST reply actions

toothpaste for dinner

ftw

King of the bling come to lay down the evidence//Not George Bush, L-Millz be da president

by Sam Page on Mar 3, 2009 8:07 PM EST up reply actions

see, straw would do what it takes to win

not like this oswalt wimp who is too afraid of ‘long term side affects’ to help him pitch better and his team win. shut up oswalt. go strawberry.

HELLO HELLO MR WILPON. WE WANT THE MANSION NOT THE CONDO.

by kendynamo on Mar 3, 2009 4:58 PM EST reply actions

Think of your legacy, man!

But if he’d taken steroids, people would hear the name “Darryl Strawberry” and think “drug abuser.”

Honestly, big ups to Darryl for this. He’s wise to the larger truth about this issue, which is that there is one rule: do what thou wilt as long as you don’t embarrass the league. He certainly saw it vis-à-vis his own addictions. The only “drug problem” in MLB is when you’re taking drugs and the media knows it and doesn’t like it. Coke didn’t become any more illegal or dangerous in the 90s—it just got a worse reputation. The same change in perception is happening with steroids now, and players are catching heat about it.

“Some of these players have a bad attitude, Skip.”

phliadelphoe ite domum!

by Doc Manhattan on Mar 3, 2009 5:18 PM EST reply actions

This is pretty much how I feel about PEDs in general

Baseball clearly doesn’t care about them until the media/congress start making an uproar about them. Now I wouldn’t want a player to take anabolic steroids just because of how dangerous they are, but with most PEDs, if baseball isn’t going to regulate them properly why would a player not take them.

by Gina on Mar 3, 2009 5:40 PM EST up reply actions

The more I think about it

I can’t put Darryl on too big of a pedestal here. What does he have to lose right now by saying what he would have done? There are no repercussions for him right now. He’s in a position to say basically anything he wants. He’s beholden to no one but himself. I appreciate the fact that he’s speaking his mind honestly, but to state all of this without any consequences. It ain’t that bold nor brave.

by LOUtheMETandNATSfan on Mar 3, 2009 5:42 PM EST up reply actions

He doesn't really have anything to lose

But the fact that a player like him would come out and say that still makes a statement to the media and fans about how harshly they should be judging today’s players for using them.

by Gina on Mar 3, 2009 5:46 PM EST up reply actions

So we're making a distinction between players and people?

Since when is Darryl Strawberry the gold standard for how other people are judged? If a player knew that a substance they were taking, WHETHER IT WAS ILLEGAL OR LEGAL, made them perform better, they knew they were full of crap. P (performance) E (enhancing) D (drug). They put a drug in their body that made what they did better. The reason people are angry is because they were led to believe that A-Rod did this naturally.

If Darryl had taken the drugs and performed even better then we would not have known how truly great he was. We would have always suspected that he was great because of steroids, not his natural talent.

by LOUtheMETandNATSfan on Mar 3, 2009 6:28 PM EST up reply actions

Maybe not "brave"

But it’s certainly “bold”—that is, contrary to comfortable tradition—in saying that the only thing that kept PEDs from “staining the game” was that there were no PEDs that were relatively safe and available in that era. It’s pretty bold in my eyes to say, “Your baseball heroes then are the same as your baseball heroes now: people who use their natural talent and any advantage their era allows them to make as much money as possible.”

At very least, it’s bolder than the all the people who are lying—to the media and to themselves—with just as little at stake.

phliadelphoe ite domum!

by Doc Manhattan on Mar 3, 2009 6:26 PM EST up reply actions

This was what I meant

The media portrays steroid users/steroid era as destroying the sanctity of the game, as though they’re failing to live up to the standards of the baseball players before them. A player like Strawberry from an older era coming out and saying players in his era would have done the same thing obviously contradicts the medias argument.

Not to mention I don’t think me taking performance enhancing drugs would suddenly turn me into an all-star baseball player. Performance enhancing drugs don’t replace talent. Barry Bonds and A-rod were still great players because of their natural talent. That’s why they were still so much better than players like Sosa despite all 3 of them using steroids. Like I’ve said before I can understand anabolic steroids being illegal because of their major health risks but outside of that I don’t really have a problem with other PEDs, and considering even now baseball turns a blind eye to the majority of them I don’t think they really do either.

by Gina on Mar 3, 2009 6:52 PM EST up reply actions

Also it's not like guys from previous eras didn't use PEDs

I don’t many, if any, more players from this era used PEDs than in the 70s and 80s. The difference is the PEDs have progressed.

by Gina on Mar 3, 2009 7:09 PM EST up reply actions

You're an All-Star in my eyes Gina! :-)

by LOUtheMETandNATSfan on Mar 3, 2009 7:17 PM EST up reply actions

It's interesting that you mentioned Sosa

because in my eyes, he’s a rare example of a truly mediocre player who became awesome after he started taking steroids. Sure, he had some power, but not that much. In 1990 Sosa hit 15 HR in 532 AB. Six years later he hit 40 in 498 AB. Over the next five years, he hit 60 HR three times. Also, take a look at Sosa’s averages from 1989 to 1993: .257, .233, .203, .260, and .261. From 1998 to 2002: .308, .288, .320, .328, .288! This isn’t a case of McGwire, who went from 40-50 HR a year to 60-70 HR. This was a very average hitter who suddenly became a legendary slugger.

"One of the nice things about baseball is that there are no rules you can't break." - Jim Bouton

by Prince on Mar 3, 2009 7:38 PM EST up reply actions

Yeah Sosa's number changes were crazy

Especially if you look at how Sosa’s ISO/slugging numbers changed the first 12 years of his career. . There are other players who went from mediocre to all-star caliber in one year but most of them only sustained it for like a year or two, not an entire career like Sosa.

by Gina on Mar 3, 2009 7:47 PM EST up reply actions