Maybe I'm just being Brightside Jack again, but does it occur to anyone else that the clampdown on stealing signs might be bad for ALL kinds of cheating?
I mean, back in the day a dozen sports reporters/cartoonists around the country would have already sketched out a drawing of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, labeled "Sign Stealing," "PEDs," "Defensive Shifts," and, oh, I dunno, "That Rap Music the Kids Like Playing in the Ballpark So Loud You Can't Hear Yourself Think!" and captioned it, "The Four Horsemen Coming for Our National Pastime."
This won't happen, since there are no more sportswriters/cartoonists, not since Bill Gallo or maybe Max Mercy moved on, which is a crying shame.
But the point is, how long is it going to be before one of the usual suspects rounded up in this raid turns around and says, "I'm cheating? You see the guys I'm up against? At least my head didn't grow!"
Let's face facts. As Bob Dole used to say, you know it, I know it, the American people know it: PED use is still rampant in baseball.
How could it not be? They can invent new roids as they go along, ones that they won't even be able to detect in a test for years down the road, when the users have long retired and stowed their money in untraceable Bahamian bank accounts. (Trust me: those things are air-tight.)
I wonder if all that will change, now that we're evidently going to recognize that electronics have moved into the 21st century.
Whatever happens, there's one thing we can count on: it will adversely affect the Mets.
Thursday, January 16, 2020
Mother of Mercy, Could This Be the End of PEDs?
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2 comments:
Here's the thing. I don't think you can equate PEDs with this scandal. PEDs gave a player an edge, but they didn't tell them what kind of pitch was coming. There was still a level of player skill that sign stealing doesn't require. It's so much easier to hit an Altuve in the playoffs when you know what's coming rather than when you don't but you're jacked up on power juice. That's why, to me, this is a much, much bigger issue.
PEDs can only take you so far. They inflate your power numbers, but they come with injuries and possible physical problems that can hasten your retirement. Sign stealing? No downside, easy pickin's.
Besides, if all or most teams have guys who are juicing, it all kind of evens out in a way. Unless every team is stealing signs in every game, the unbalance of the contest goes to the cheater team every time. That's how you go 0-4 when you play in their stadium during the playoffs after you've shown you can kick their butt in your stadium.
Unless you were stealing signs in your stadium, which would roughly equate with both teams using PEDs. Roughly.
Interesting thing about sign stealing, though: some ballplayers don't like it.
DiMaggio never liked to be told what pitch was coming, apparently after he nearly got beaned one time.
And the famous Giants sign stealing against the Dodgers in 1951? It did take place...but after the Giants started doing it, their run production actually went DOWN. Now, maybe it would have gone down even more without it, but I think sign stealing can be a double-edged sword.
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