As for Dawson, stop it, the guy is not a hall of famer and neither is Jim Rice or Mazeroski. Nice ball players that may belong in their individual teams ‘circle of honor’ but best to every play….not even in the conversation.

Dawson also got all of those RBI’s while playing for a last place team that year.
Cubs were 76-85, coming in sixth out of six teams in the N.L. East.
The author states that Dawson’s MVP award was undeserved, because it was during that so called “rabbit ball” season.
Now let’s deal with reality: Dawson hit 49 homers in a year in which only three other guys hit over 40, and one of them was McGuire. Dawson had 137 rbi’s for a lousy team that came in last place.
Doesn’t sound like any “rabbit ball” year to me. And Dawson carried the team that year, which is why he won an MVP for a crappy last place team, a very difficult task indeed.
The author snarks that Dawson had been a top notch center fielder, but was now moved to right, but he fails to note that Dawson played many years on Montreal’s artifical turf, which was essentially like a concrete patio with a cheap rug on it, which destroyed Dawson’s knees to the point that he had trouble running late in his career.
Many ballplayers change position later in their careers. Ernie Banks moved from shortstop to 1B, and he’s just one example amongst many. In the A.L., many simply become DH’s, such as Frank Thomas, who should enter the HOF soon. So we can’t really blame Dawson for changing positions, especially when he played a demanding one still. Right Field is typically where you put a very strong armed fielder, and as any Chicagoan would know, right field at Wrigley is known for being particularly difficult to play because of the sun.
It’s too bad Matthew Pouliout doesn’t know more about baseball and less about snarky comments.

Lately we’ve been testing for amphetamine usage.

There is a reason why he didn’t even get to 50% in the voting in 2002, before the baseball world was turned on it’s head by allegations of widespread PED use.

He just wasn’t considered by most to be worthy.

I wasn’t there when he said it,so maybe he didn’t really say it. But whoever said it knew what the hell they were talkin about…

The reasoning is simple, too. It involves a golf comparison (which I love). Hitting involves delivering a bat squarely to a ball, as does golf. But every decent golfer knows its all about contact rather than strength or speed. This is why old fat guys can beat me any day of the week you care to name: I am stronger than they are but they get better contact. They swing slower, without as much power but they square it up much more often than do I. Hence they win.

Amphetamines and amphetamine-like drugs like adderall & ritalin greatly improve concentration and ability to react. They improve your chances of square contact and the effect is within minutes of taking the drug. Steroids on the other had, coupled with a workout regime, will build your strength and endurance over months of hard work: this is what a pitcher needs. Now of course hitters need strength, too but to a lesser extent; no point in being big and strong if your contact sucks. While the combination of the two is formidable, nevertheless the foremost thing a hitter needs is square contact with the ball.

Incidentally, if you want to work out longer, harder, and feel full of energy go with speed every time. There’s a reason amphetamine can be found in certain legal “energy” drinks.

Steroids might bulk you up, but they sure as hell won’t help you hit 50 home runs in the big leagues if you can’t already hit home runs in the big leagues. I could take literally ALL of the steroids and I’d be lucky to hit a ball to the warning track.

He is every bit the borderline player and the author was spot on when referencing the crazy year that 1987 was.

You take that out of his line and replace it with what was his typical level of production in that stretch of his career and his numbers are Andruw Jones like.

And nobody would ever think of saying Jones is a sure fire HoFer.

I will also say: If Ty Cobb’s racist ass is hall of fame worthy, I do not see how Pete Rose’s character keeps him out.

Keep posting, pal…you’re highly entertaining. You bury yourself more with each post.

You also seem to take Aaron at his word, but think anyone from a later era is more likely to be lying about his PED use. There isn’t any factual basis to think that Aaron is any more honest than guys that played the last 20 years.

Why would you abuse a drug if you aren’t addicted to it?

Truth be told, I fully expect to hate the mid-twentieth century youth for being useless good-for-nothing hoodlums with a total lack of respect for the elderly.