Steroids in MLB

Well, with Manny getting busted for steroids today, I guess now's the time to throw in my 2-cents on the subject. As you can tell from my screen name (i.e. 21daman), I am one of the lonely remaining Sammy Sosa fans. Do I think he MAY have done steroids or some other performance-enhancing drugs dating back to 1998's historic HR record chase with Mark McGwire? Yes, I do, BUT you have to admit the only reason anyone can think that is based purely on speculation and circumstantial evidence including the timing. He has NEVER been mentioned in any context of steroid use including all the infamous cases such as BALCO or the Mitchell Report.

Did his numbers spike during the steroid era? You know they did! Guilty, right? Did he get caught with a bottle of the now-banned substance Andro? Nope. Innocent then? He wasn't involved in BALCO or named in the Mitchell Report. Must be innocent? But then he showed up in front of Congress and acted like he didn't know a word of English while speaking through his attorney. Very suspicious...so which is it?

In this country, you're guilty until proven innocent in court, but NOT in the court of public opinion. In the court of public opinion, it's all about hype and who speaks the loudest and/or most often. How about that Favre signing in Minnesota? Oh ya, that was COMPLETELY wrong! If you watched SportsCenter at all on Wed, you saw every other story was about Favre and how it was basically a foregone conclusion that he would be playing for the Vikings this season and yet, not so much. So, if you had a vote and it was time to vote for the Baseball Hall of Fame with Sammy on the ballot, would you vote for him? If so, don't you feel like you have your head in the sand if you don't believe he did steroids to help boost his numbers? If not, why not? What REAL evidence are you basing your decision on?

OK, so forget the HOF, why haven't the Cubs retired his number? Sammy absolutely carried the Cubs for a LONG time and put "butts in the seats". His numbers from 1998-2001 are absolutely ridiculous and his numbers shortly before and after that 4-year span, he was pretty darn good too. Sammy played 15 years for the Cubs and finished his time here as the all-time leading HR hitter. Greg Maddux only pitched 9 seasons for the Cubs including the beginning and twilight of his career (i.e. NOT the best years of his career) and Mad Dog still got his number retired last weekend. Yes, since Sammy's untimely dismissal from the Cubs, a couple of not-so-deserving players have donned the #21 - Jason Marquis and now Milton Bradley. Now MB is supposed to turn it around and be pretty good for the Cubs, but Marquis was signed as a #5 starter and wasn't even included on the playoff roster in 2007 or 2008 (maybe that was teh problem - naaah!).

So first, how do the Cubs as an organization that gained SO MUCH from Sammy not show him ANY respect by keeping guys out of the #21 jersey? Second as a player, how can you wear that number knowing what Sammy meant to this orgamization for so long? It's not like the Cubs reitred Santo's #10, Billy Williams' #26, or Sandberg's HOF #23 right away either. I truly believe the time will come when the Cubs finally retire Sammy's #21, but I guess that time isn't quite yet.

I'll expand more on my steroid thoughts in future posts. What are your thoughts?