Ozzie Canseco and the benefits of steroids
More than anyone else in Major League Baseball history, Ozzie Canseco used to represent why steroids are not beneficial. After all, Ozzie is Jose Canseco's twin brother and just as large. While Jose went on to MVP seasons and a lengthy career at a very high level, Ozzie barely was able to crack the majors and had a more typical - uneventful and brief - career.
What is clear is that steroids do not help a player hit a baseball. It doesn't matter how big your arms are, what matters is how you swing the bat. Ozzie clearly did not possess the same eye-hand coordination of his twin brother despite sharing the muscular stature of his twin brother.
What is clear is that steroids are beneficial in two regards. One benefit is helping a player recover from injuries quicker and withstand the wear and tear of a 162 game season. A second benefit is helping a player hit the ball further. Both are easy to comprehend. Both are alluring to athletes seeking a competitive advantage.
What steroids cannot do is turn a moron like me into a Hall of Fame legend. What steroids can do is turn an above average player into an all-star, an all-star into a perennial all-star, a perennial all-star into a Hall of Famer. There has to be a basis there for the improvement. The player has to have the ability to hit the ball first, before the benefit of hitting it further makes a difference. Players like Jose Canseco and Ken Caminiti that have admitted receiving MVP awards in seasons they used steroids are examples of a great player becoming greater with illegal benefit. However, there are surely scores of players trying just as hard to advance their careers with illegal benefits and failing. Failing because they did not have the ability to swing the bat in the first place. An ability that players like Jose Canseco already possessed. An ability that players like Ozzie Canseco did not possess.
This used to be why steroids talk was always denied in baseball - it did not help you to hit the ball. I used to believe it. Then the officially announced and enacted steroids testing program revealed about 5% of players used banned substances despite knowing the testing program existed. This figure only represented results for substances tested, there are items not tested. Items sold by places like BALCO. The 5% figure is low, but underrepresentative.
So, for a player like Barry Bonds to suddenly discover in mid career that he can hit the ball out of the park every time he swings, there is reason to doubt. Mark McGwire likewise. Sammy Sosa. These are just the players we can point to and question. There are the others we can only wonder about. Wonder if Randy Velarde and Benito Santiago used steroids to gain the recovery effect it allows then. Wonder if Jason Giambi could hit so many homeruns without the benefits of steroids. But these are just the players with success.
There are many we can reasonably assume used steroids and did not benefit. Players like Ozzie Canseco. Players like Jeremy Giambi, the brother of Jason Giambi who also testified at BALCO. Players who never had the talent to gain the benefits from steroids to begin with, player destined to be failures in any event. This is the flip side of the well chronicled stories about those that are under scrutiny for their successes.
What is clear is that steroids do not help a player hit a baseball. It doesn't matter how big your arms are, what matters is how you swing the bat. Ozzie clearly did not possess the same eye-hand coordination of his twin brother despite sharing the muscular stature of his twin brother.
What is clear is that steroids are beneficial in two regards. One benefit is helping a player recover from injuries quicker and withstand the wear and tear of a 162 game season. A second benefit is helping a player hit the ball further. Both are easy to comprehend. Both are alluring to athletes seeking a competitive advantage.
What steroids cannot do is turn a moron like me into a Hall of Fame legend. What steroids can do is turn an above average player into an all-star, an all-star into a perennial all-star, a perennial all-star into a Hall of Famer. There has to be a basis there for the improvement. The player has to have the ability to hit the ball first, before the benefit of hitting it further makes a difference. Players like Jose Canseco and Ken Caminiti that have admitted receiving MVP awards in seasons they used steroids are examples of a great player becoming greater with illegal benefit. However, there are surely scores of players trying just as hard to advance their careers with illegal benefits and failing. Failing because they did not have the ability to swing the bat in the first place. An ability that players like Jose Canseco already possessed. An ability that players like Ozzie Canseco did not possess.
This used to be why steroids talk was always denied in baseball - it did not help you to hit the ball. I used to believe it. Then the officially announced and enacted steroids testing program revealed about 5% of players used banned substances despite knowing the testing program existed. This figure only represented results for substances tested, there are items not tested. Items sold by places like BALCO. The 5% figure is low, but underrepresentative.
So, for a player like Barry Bonds to suddenly discover in mid career that he can hit the ball out of the park every time he swings, there is reason to doubt. Mark McGwire likewise. Sammy Sosa. These are just the players we can point to and question. There are the others we can only wonder about. Wonder if Randy Velarde and Benito Santiago used steroids to gain the recovery effect it allows then. Wonder if Jason Giambi could hit so many homeruns without the benefits of steroids. But these are just the players with success.
There are many we can reasonably assume used steroids and did not benefit. Players like Ozzie Canseco. Players like Jeremy Giambi, the brother of Jason Giambi who also testified at BALCO. Players who never had the talent to gain the benefits from steroids to begin with, player destined to be failures in any event. This is the flip side of the well chronicled stories about those that are under scrutiny for their successes.
respond or e-mail this post:
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home