Reggie Jackson: The Game Has Let Me Down

[festeringZit]

[ I agree with Reggie here, sick and tired of cheating MFs wiping
guy's names off the book who did it clean. If it was up to me
I'd remove Bonds, Sosa, McGuire, Manny... out of the record books ]

Reggie: MLB let me down

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Reggie Jackson is having 'roid rage. Tired of watching chemically enhanced sluggers match his home run totals, Jackson told XM Radio he feels "let down" by the game. Jackson's statements came a day after Manny Ramirez became the latest baseball star caught using performance-enhancing drugs. "When I retired from the game I was, I think, sixth all-time [with 563 home runs] after 135 or 140 years, and in 48 months I was 10th or 11th, or something like that," Jackson said. "And it hurt. It was painful. I was let down by the game, let down by whoever was running the game or checking it out. I don't know how you get people to stop if you don't test. You can look at someone and accuse them, but you can't stop it."
New York Post

http://www.fannation.com/truth_and_rumors/view/102212-reggie-mlb-let-me-down?cnn=yes

 

[BadCo]

After the strike and canceled world series Sosa and Mac brought back the fans.

Hell MLB knew what was going on.

I don't blame Reggie for feeling let down.

 

[gtc08]

MLB been declining for years now. 1/3rd of the teams operate in the negative.

The youngens like me(people in the 20's) are NBA and NFL fans before MLB fans.

It is no coincidence that the NBA and NFL continue to slope forward while MLB has plateaued.

 

[BadCo]

You think NFL players aren't on roids?

 

[barman]

You think NFL players aren't on roids?

Not agreeing with GTC's earlier post here

But you think NFL players are using banned steroids?

 

[Samhain]

NFL players are using AAS & HGH in the off season.
Most Athletes will always be one step ahead of the testing.

 

[festeringZit]

I can see how the younger generation isn't as passionate about
excoriating the steroids users as people my age.

It's hard to watch the heroes of your childhood have lifetime
records get blown out of the books by guys that got there by
cheating.

Most people know I am a Red Sox fan, and Reggie Jackson played
for the Yankees - but Reggie captured all fans with his clutch
hitting and panache in playing the game. His run-ins with Billy
Martin and Yankee management always made for great drama.

I totally relate to Reggie feeling let down by baseball. I think most
fans my age feel the same way.

 

[HAT]

My all time favorite Reggie memory:

I was just a kid at an Angel game with my dad and Reggie struck out with RISP. This wasted ass Mexican dude behind us(we were a few rows behind the Halo dugout) yells out...

"Hey Reggie...your candy bar has lice!"

So fawking random it was hilarious and my dad and I still laugh about it almost 30 years later.

 

[Samhain]

festeringZit, how do you feel about MLB pitchers in the past that cheated by scruffing the ball or Phil Niekro with a finger nail file?
This was also a form of cheating.
Also back in 60's when the Florida Gators used Gatorade (It wasn't called that then)? Back then that was considered a Performance Enhancer.

Let me know your opinion.

 

[Ladeda]

I can understand how the older players would be frustrated by the numbers put up in the steriod era. It really isn't fair. That being said if Reggie Jackson, one of the top sluggers of his time had become just an average player because all his piers were cheating. I'm pretty sure Reggie would made the same choice Bonds did and join the cheaters to reclaim his glory and level the playing field.

 

[festeringZit]

festeringZit, how do you feel about MLB pitchers in the past that cheated by scruffing the ball or Phil Niekro with a finger nail file?
This was also a form of cheating.
Also back in 60's when the Florida Gators used Gatorade (It wasn't called that then)? Back then that was considered a Performance Enhancer.

Let me know your opinion.

I'm not sure what you are getting at. I don't support cheating of
any kind. But to say that there has always been some element of
cheating in baseball (scuffing balls) then that makes steroids somehow ok?

Gatorade wasn't going to turn a 20 HR/year hitter into a 50-60 HR/year
hitter.

Feasibly, I don't think you could wipe records off the books, I just
don't see it happening. I'm just expressing my frustration, and
saying I empathize with guys that played the game clean, and are
getting their names ( and lifetime achievements) wiped off the
record books - and some of these guys are my childhood idols.

 

[festeringZit]

I can understand how the older players would be frustrated by the numbers put up in the steriod era. It really isn't fair. That being said if Reggie Jackson, one of the top sluggers of his time had become just an average player because all his piers were cheating. I'm pretty sure Reggie would made the same choice Bonds did and join the cheaters to reclaim his glory and level the playing field.

You have absolutely no way of knowing that. There are plenty of
guys in the steroid era who had the chance to take the juice but
did not. Who's to say that Reggie would have, or wouldn't have -
I'd like to believe that he wouldn't have. I believe he has more
character than a chump like Barroid Bonds.

 

[TomGshotput]

"When I retired from the game I was, I think, sixth all-time [with 563 home runs] after 135 or 140 years, and in 48 months I was 10th or 11th, or something like that," Jackson said. "And it hurt. It was painful

The thing is, is that when more runs are scored, each run and each homerun becomes less valuable. So while McGwire, Sosa, Griffey, Palmerio, Rodriguez, et cetera, have all hit more homeruns, the homeruns that Jackson hit did more to help his team

Like most parts of the war on drugs, it is not only the choices that drug users make that hurt the community, but also the way we choose to interpret and demonize drug users that also hurts the community even more

Any sport where power output helps determine the winner has illegal drug use (or at least drugs that are illegal in America). Football included

 

[Fishhead]

My all time favorite Reggie memory:

I was just a kid at an Angel game with my dad and Reggie struck out with RISP. This wasted ass Mexican dude behind us(we were a few rows behind the Halo dugout) yells out...

"Hey Reggie...your candy bar has lice!"

So fawking random it was hilarious and my dad and I still laugh about it almost 30 years later.

I guess one had to be there............


:think2:

 

[TomGshotput]

I'm pretty sure Reggie would made the same choice Bonds did and join the cheaters to reclaim his glory and level the playing field.

Reggie Jackson did have the option to use steroids -- there were a lot of people using them in the 70s -- he simply made the choice not to

Remember, very few if any of Jose Canseco's peers were using steroids, but he made the choice to use them

If he did start losing out because others were using drugs, we have no idea what path he would have taken, anyone claiming otherwise is just being a

Beep Beep

 

[DesertDevil]

Reggie

Reggie Jackson is my favorite baseball player of all time.

But how do we know he didnt ever cheat? Really?

Im 99.9% sure he didnt. But you never really know. Thats one reason why this whole topic is so frustrating.

 

[MikeB]

I agree with Reggie.


Mr. October knocked another one out of the park here with his statement.

They should not let any of these cheaters into the Hall of Fame under any circumstances.

 

[Ladeda]

You have absolutely no way of knowing that. There are plenty of
guys in the steroid era who had the chance to take the juice but
did not.Who's to say that Reggie would have, or wouldn't have -
I'd like to believe that he wouldn't have. I believe he has more
character than a chump like Barroid Bonds.

Of course I don't know for sure Zit, just like you don't know for sure that "
There are plenty of
guys in the steroid era who had the chance to take the juice but
did not."

Reggie Jackson always seemed like he loved and thrived in the limelight and liked being a "star." Of those type players in modern days pretty much all of them are suspected of taking something. The ones who most point to NOT taking something were the quiet unassuming types, like McGriff and F Thomas and there is nothing saying they didn't either. Both those guys became afterthoughts as well.

 

[Ladeda]

Reggie Jackson did have the option to use steroids -- there were a lot of people using them in the 70s -- he simply made the choice not to

Rob Neyer has pointed out several times over the years that many players have admitted to him steriods would have been very popular in their era, ranging from 60's-80's if they were more readily available. Your assumptions that the same drugs were available in those past decades just aren't accurate. Sure there were steriods obviously but not with the same sophistcation and itwasn't nearly as widespread.

 

[TomGshotput]

ladeda, any links for something Neyer has written about that?

Steroids were not a schedule III drug until 1990 so I would be very suprised to hear that someone who wanted to try them and had the money couldn't find them