A blogger recently received a great deal of attention by basically stating the hot start of Phillies outfielder Raul Ibanez was suspicious, speculating steroids may be to blame/thank for his outstanding start to 2009. This was based on a HR/AB rate that improved far greater than a his change in venue would indicate it should and Ibanez enjoying a career year power-wise at age 37. Obviously this got us thinking...if this theory holds enough merit to draw national attention, who else does it apply to? After pouring over home run numbers one man clearly stands out: Carlton Fisk. Pudge, while playing for the White Sox, hit 37 home runs at age 37 in 1985. That season he averaged a home run every 14.68 at bats. Compare that to his previous 10 seasons in which his HR/AB ratios were: 26.30, 28.65, 20.62, 28.55, 32.00, 26.56, 48.29, 34.00, 18.77 and 17.10. So how in the world could Carlton Fisk, at age 37, all of a sudden be able to easily put up a career high in home runs and HR/AB ratio? Steroid testing did not exist in 1985, so can we be sure Pudge wasn't on the juice? If Raul Ibanez is suspicious due to similar factors in 2009, why isn't Fisk's 1985 season coming under similar scrutiny? He hadn't changed ballparks to help him, and steroids certainly existed in '85. Should the Hall of Famer's career be considered tainted? Obviously not, but hopefully the point has been made that we can not and will not ever be 100% sure of the PED use of anyone that doesn't actually test positive. To question Raul Ibanez or Carlton Fisk or anyone else is not productive and it goes against the "innocent until proven guilty" ideal that we are fortunate to have in this country. Raul Ibanez is not Brady Anderson...he is a very good player having a great year, not a one year wonder by any means. If that "jump" in performance is coming under question, who couldn't we accuse these days if we truly wanted to? Just because we have the right to question the authenticity of player's numbers doesn't mean we need to take the irresponsible step to do so with little/no evidence to support "suspicions" other than a hot start by a solid player. Hopefully this will eventually end and we can return to simply enjoying the great game of baseball.
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12 comments:
Seriously just sick of everyone turning everything that players do into "he must be on steroids" or "he must have gotten off steroids". Players have had "career years" forever...it happens in a clean sport. And though I'm not willing to call baseball a clean sport, I also hate wasting energy on unfounded speculation when there is a lot of great stuff to talk about in the baseball world right now instead.
Fisk....equal parts white and red (sox)
Why did he have the nickname pudge again? On that note, why did Ivan Rodriguez also have it (not that I am speculating about Ivan or anything)
This was also aimed at everyone that has talked all year about David Ortiz. I'm sick of it.
And BTW, if you didn't check out the original post about Ibanez, my post is simply a take on their title...that is the only reason for the obnoxious length.
...and if you did see the original post, sorry for pointing out the obvious.
It is clear to me that everyone here loves Carlton Fisk. Glad that's agreed on.
... but do we have to feature him AGAIN in a Challenge? seems like he comes up everytime we hit this set of 10.
Don't blame me Luke, I voted for Paps this time.
...and BTW, Fisk has only participated in 2 challenges.
Really....
seems like more. (I thought 3 for sure.)
I voted Paps too. Hopefully he we prevail since he is in the real position to do something about his ranking right now.
If that in fact were his numbers he probably was doing something different.
I think it is fair to simply ask the question - what?
Way to jump on that bandwagon.
The best thing that ever happened to that blogger was for RI to comment on it. Way way to fucking long of a post on his end though - Jesus. Who the fuck reads that long of a piece of shit.
Good point P-Sox...I thought my mock post was obnoxiously long and it was still just a fraction of the length of the original.
Fisk's high school only had something like 27 boys in the whole school. It is amazing that they were able to field a baseball team. They only played 12 games a year.
Fisk also holds the NH high school basketball record for rebounds in a game (30).
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