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Friday, May 8, 2009

Manny

It's just Manny being.... well, just about everyone who has entered the elite 500 home run club in the last decade. Among the indicted (at least in baseball terms) are the following members of the club that counts only 25 among its brethren: Mark McGwire (500th home run on 8/5/99), Barry Bonds (4/17/01) Sammy Sosa (4/4/03), Raphael Palmiero (5/11/03), Alex Rodriguez (8/4/07), Manny Ramirez (5/31/08), Gary Sheffield (4/17/09)

Do we look with reverence or with caution upon Ken Griffey Jr., Jim Thome, and Frank Thomas, the others to pass the 500 home run threshold since Eddie Murray in 1996? Does every injury by Griffey or every extra pound of muscle by Thomas signal some deeper meaning? Do Thome's rising number of home runs in years when his career 'should' have been in decline, mean there is fire where there is smoke?

No, we are not surprised that Manny has been added to the growing list of the hall of shame. If only it were Manny being Manny it would be much less discouraging. Let's hope the era of illusion and disillusion is coming to an end and we can get back to a time when every statistic didn't end with a question mark.

2 comments:

Bruce Egert said...

Let's be clear--Manny Ramirez is a cheat and so is McGwire, Sosa, Rodriguez, Palmiero (no wonder he needed viagra) and all others who misleveled the playing field. Baseball is tinged and other players who did not make their teams or earned less money than they deserved ought to be outraged. The Players Union should get off their high horse and cooperate with MLB because the majority of their members are being hurt in several ways.

In court the judge always instructs the jury: 'Falsus in Uno....falsus in omnibus'. It means that if you cheat once you can be deemed a cheat in all you do.

If the shoe fits (spikes fit) wear it.

A sad day for baseball, but at least they are taking action, unlike the 1990s.

Robert said...

The shoes no longer fit because of the steroid use. Too big in the head too big in the feet