steroids in baseball and Ken Griffey Jr.

before A-Rod was outed i think it was easy to say that he was the best player in the last 20 years. I think even people that dont like him or never did, including myself, still couldnt deny that he was special. Now with the steroids thing, his numbers are tainted. So it brings me to this question, if anyone that has been found guilty of taking steroids, or has been accused of taking steroids does not qualify for the greatest player of our generation because of their tainted numbers, (bonds, mcgwire, palmero, clemens, a-rod, etc) does that mean ken griffey jr. has been the greatest player of our generation? I remember when he was a rookie, and watching "The Kid" play baseball and thinking to myself that this guy is the best baseball player i have ever seen, and if not for injury i believe he would have been the one that passed Hank Aaron's home run record. I would say George Brett, or Cal Ripken Jr, but those guys were on the ass end of their careers in the mid to late 80's.

Another thing that i wonder is do any of the steroid players get into the hall of fame? I mean, can you totally just wipe out a couple of decades of players, when over 30 percent, and maybe even more than that, of the players were on the juice? How can you keep that out of the hall of fame? Should they open up a new wing, and call it the steroid den? I dont see how you keep Bonds out of the hall, i dont see how you can keep Clemens out of the hall.

Im interested to see what everyone things about this....

 

Big Pappi says not.

 

Ken Griffey, Jr. was my favorite player, I know injuries have been his downfall. But things I have heard about him, being that his work ethic is very poor and thats why he suffered so many injuries.

 

You could make arguments for Manny, Pujols, Greg Maddux and Pedro--but I would agree with Griffey (assuming he never juiced). If you want to go a little further back then maybe Tony Gwynn or Ricky Henderson (although I'd be shocked if Ricky never "experimented").

 

Ripken played into the late 90's, so how was he at the end of his career in the late 80's? He didn't even break the record for consecutive games till 95 or 96.

I think that eventually some of them will get into the hall and eventually they will have a plaque that says "Steroid Era" because we will never know how many used and didn't, and for those that do get it in shortly after they finished up, I honestly can say I won't know which ones of those never did it. But I think this will all happen long after steroids in baseball is no longer a big headline.

I'd like to think some of my favorite players never used them, but there is no guarantee and I'm willing to say let them in under a sign. Its part of the history of the game now, and there is nothing the MLBPA or MLB can do about its history. Its either that or don't let anyone in from the era in my opinion which would be a travesty to some of the players we are pretty sure about but can never have a definative answer on.

 

my bad, i thought he retired around 94 or 95

 

If we're looking strictly at hitting, I'll take Manny over Jr.
He's the best hitter I've ever seen (I'll take him over A-Rod anyday), but Pujols has a chance to pass him.


Manny is a complete hitter. He's never hit under .292 in a full season, and only Twice has he filed to hit 30 HR and 100 RBI in a full season. He's gauranteed 150 hits per season, and is top 5 all time in Slugging percentage. Trails only Gehrig in career Grand Slams.
Throw in a World Series MVP, career leader in postseson HRs and only a handful away from taking the lead in post season RBI.

But as a complete player, Jr smokes the sh!t outta him on defense and baserunning.

 

Don't forget injury plagued seasons as well:hihi:

 

Through 1st 11 seasons with minimum of 400 ABs (amount JR played before injuries started)

Griffey: (6092 at bats)
.298, 421 HR, 1228 RBI
1 HR every 14.4 AB

Manny: (5783 at bats)
.318, 416 HR, 1349 RBI
1 HR every 11.2 AB

A-Rod: (6571 at bats)
.308, 459 HR, 1326 RBI
1 HR every 14.3 AB


I'll take Manny without hesitation.

 

I'll take Pujols.

4578 at bats
.334, 319 HR, 977 RBI
1 HR every 14.4 AB
(8 seasons)