Schilling speaks out, A-Rod busting out
By Jon Lane
Never at a loss for words, the recently retired Curt Schilling spoke out against steroid users this week on Sirius XM’s “Mad Dog Unleashed.” Here are excerpts of the transcript passed on by SIRIUS XM:
Chris Russo: “If you had a vote, if you were a writer, Curt, would you put A-Rod, [Roger] Clemens, [Barry] Bonds in the Hall of Fame?”
Schilling: “No, none of them.”
Russo: “Really? Nobody? How about A-Rod who’s got nine years left to recover and do a decent job?”
Schilling: “No. No.”
Russo: “Manny [Ramirez]?”
Schilling: “No, no, none of them.”
Russo: “Do you think it takes away a little bit from the Red Sox’ championship in ’04?”
Schilling: “Listen, if you’re going to be one of those guys who thinks there is a team in the last 15 years that has played with 25 clean guys for 162 games, you’re lying to yourself.”
The Hall of Fame merits of Bonds, Clemens, A-Rod and Ramirez will be debated endlessly. I choose to react to this by staying in the now. A-Rod and Ramirez were caught and fessed up, and everyone has moved on. Ramirez returns to the Dodgers and “Mannywood” tomorrow, while Rodriguez continued his awesome run over the past week in Wednesday’s win over the Mariners.
Creative analogy from Peter Abraham: “Alex has pulled a Hulk Hogan in the last seven games. He was down and
out, sprawled on the canvas with the referee about to count to three. Then, suddenly, he was up and now the American League is about to get thrown around the ring before A-Rod drops the leg on them.”
Incidentally, Hogan admitted to using steroids in court, but that wasn’t the intent of the comparison. Those who followed WWE (nee the WWF) in the 1980s remember Hogan’s gimmick all too well. Neither 450-pound men jumping on his prone body nor the dreaded sleeper hold would defeat the Hulkster. He’d kick out, rise to his knees, and feeding off his frenzied “Hulkamanics” was suddenly impervious to pain. He’d take a few punches, point as his doomed opponent, connect with a few of his own, toss him against the ropes, land a big boot to the face, and drop the leg for the 1-2-3.
Those were the days …
Seriously, Rodriguez has been unbelievable since those two days of rest. One June 24 in Atlanta, after his frst two at-bats, A-Rod was in a 1-for-27 rut and batting .204, and pundits were quick to pounce on the angle that at age 33 (he turns 34 later this month) he was in a sudden decline.
Just like that, Rodriguez is 10 for his last 21 with four homers and 13 RBIs, spearheading the Yankees’ current seven-game winning streak. His mere presence in the lineup alone kick-started the Yankees. His production is taking them to new heights.
YES Blog 
Jon, I’m not sure we have all moved on. As the mother of teen-aged boys how do I “stay in the now” and tell my boys “it’s okay – they confessed after they were caught”? What would I be telling them? Cheat all you want and if you get caught say “oh – sorry!” and everyone will forgive you? Maybe in the fantasy world of baseball that works; in the real world that the rest of live in that doesn’t cut it. Maybe if the confessions came before they were required I might feel differently.
Julia
http://werbiefitz.mlblogs.com/
Very fair point. I in no way condone what A-Rod did and he’ll never be fully forgiven. But the talk of late has been what he’s done on the field and I was looking at this strictly in a vacuum.
Thanks for reading,
– Jon
I agree with Curt on this. Just apologizing doesn’t get them off the hook. I doubt any of them are actually sorry. They only said anything until they were caught. Every one of them knew they were cheating and its a real shame that the players that defined my generation were a bunch of cheaters.
http://moneyball.mlblogs.com/
“Listen, if you’re going to be one of those guys who thinks there is a team in the last 15 years that has played with 25 clean guys for 162 games, you’re lying to yourself.”
While I agree with Schilling on that point, you have to wonder which teams exactly had a large amount of players that may have used. We won’t go back 15 years. We’ll go back to the testing and official banning of HGH and such since 2003. In 2003 the Marlins won. I highly doubt that 50% or more of their players used. They won it on talent, therefore I think they are legititmate champions. We’ll skip over 2004 for a second. Going to 2005, the White Sox I believe were (mostly) clean as well. Would it be a big deal if Konerko or Dye was on the list? Yes. But as big an impact as they were that year, they are still only a few players out of 25. If it were like 5 or 6 players, then yes, you have to start taking shots at their championship. Cardinals in 2006, they mostly stunk that year, and even if Pujols could’ve been on steroids, again, only 1 out of 25. Red Sox in 2007, no complaints here. Yes, Manny was on that team. And yes, there are still doubts about Ortiz and Varitek. But testing started before that I believe more frequently, so I doubt they were on anything (except manny and his female hormones). And last year, the Phillies, I think are untainted.
Now, going back to 2004, there is a LOT of people who think the Red Sox had a LOT of players that used/were using. But unless that 2003 list of players comes out, we won’t know for sure. So there’s no point in throwing around names and naming players who played clean. ARod’s name is out, Sosa’s name is out. The rest of the names should be released. ARod should not be the only player from that list to take the heat. There are other big names on there and it’s time we know who they are.