The following comment is in regards to Marc David’s column on
Dec. 9 entitled ‘Giant Star Will Never be the Greatest.’
CALLER 1: You’re either very young or very naïve. Henry Aaron wasn’t “chemically enhanced,” eh? Maybe not.
But when Aaron and Willie Mays played, greenies, red juice, speed and all manner of uppers and amphetamines were as de rigueur in baseball clubhouses as chaw (that was the stuff we chewed before sunflower seeds). Time was cocaine was a legal substance, and you can bet Dale Berra wasn’t the first to sample some. And yes, that includes the time period when the suddenly-sainted Babe Ruth changed the game.
Oh, and Pete Rose said a couple of months ago that he only took greenies to lose weight. Didn’t bet on his team, either, right?
Maybe Barry Bonds juiced. Probably did. But don’t try to convince me he was the first or the worst. Mark McGwire was caught red-handed – and anyone who bothered to pay attention to his annual “rib-cage pulls” and “back spasms” would have figured out he had muscle injuries where normal folks don’t have muscles – but only now does anyone muster the righteous indignation to notice. McGwire “got the love” on a lie – two in fact. The other was his phony aw-shucks smiles for the cameras with Sammy Sosa, an equally disagreeable cuss. Blowing off reporters – including one who drove from Sacramento to Oakland for a one-on-one interview, only to get stood up – wasn’t exclusively the province of Bonds.
Who’s the one with “shtick?”
Go ahead, pretend Bonds hasn’t hit all these home runs, if it makes you feel better. Bonds is the devil. Just make sure you save a little skepticism for the rest of baseball history.
GREEN PHONE: There’s a lot of validity to your comments, particularly in regards to McGwire. But when was cocaine a legal substance? If you’re talking about the non-existent drug policy that baseball once had, we couldn’t agree more. And we are not that young that we don’t remember the Pirates clubhouse scandal that enveloped Dave Parker, Dale Berra, et al, or the early death that came to Ken Caminiti.
Nevertheless, we can’t remember a time when Aaron was accused of anything legal or illegal, and don’t remember his muscle structure changing significantly through the years. Thus, your bringing to the forefront greenies, red juice, speed, etc., is really not relevant when it comes to Aaron and his record.
