12/22/24
April 09, 2007
The Cheater's Guide to Baseball: blog. The author, Derek Zumsteg, also wrote a book named, oddly enough, The Cheater's Guide to Baseball.
The Paul Richards entry was entertaining. And I agree with Howard that that line should become the default ad hominem argument. I'm bookmarking it and will check in there from time to time. Thanks NoMich.
posted by The Crafty Sousepaw at 04:26 PM on April 09, 2007
We all know that there has been cheating in baseball since the beginning, spitter, marking and cutting up the baseball, grease you name it , it most likely has been done at one time or another. But let's put up a question here that may really get everyone going'. If they did cheat in the old days what is the difference now in cheating with drugs and steriods? Looking at that side of the question really puts you up against the wall so to speak if your position is for or against. Was Ruth eating a couple of hotdogs and drinking beer better than Bonds doing steriods to make himself stronger? Yes, there is a real difference here. One got bigger by eating himself to his size and the other did it with drugs/steroids. One got slower as he got older and the other stayed the same and hit the ball further than before. Common sense tells you that Bonds did it to keep himself to get ready for baseball and that what he did was cheat. But Ruth cheaped too in his own way, as a pitcher I am sure he had a spitter, he cut the ball with his belt and god knows what else. But after he moved to the outfield the only cheating he did was eating himself out of shape. It is apples and oranges to try to compare the two except they both were great baseball players with unbelieveable talent. Ruth went to the Yankees as a hitter and we all know what he did after coming from Boston. Numbers that haven't been close too in some areas. HR's per at bat, lifetime slugging percentage, RBI's, walks (in same among of at bats), some pitching records that even today seem out of this world. What a lot of fans forget about the BABE is that when he went out to the outfield he was 6'3" 185-190, ran like a gizelle, stole bases, had a throwing arm in the outfield that even today people would talk about. Number one in Hall of Fame in anyone's book. Bonds when he went to the Giants from Pittsburg had hall of fame numbers already. But he went from about 195 to 240 in a couple of years and starting hitting huge homers out of the blue. The drugs don't make you hit the ball, that is a god given talent, but it does let you hit it further. Makes you stronger and the balls travel further. Since it looks this year and last year that he isn't taking them anymore and the homers are extremely less often and quite a bit less further, the question now is very simple and completely direct....Did he take HGH, steroids, or what ever. Anyone with a brain can do the math on this one 1 + 1 = 2. He is not as strong as in previous years and don't come back with his age crap, he is 42 or 43 and it doesn't disappear overnight like it did with him. But, getting back to the original question or idea cheating. Is there or is there now a difference between then and now that is the question. Lets' See.......
posted by ucla512 at 03:02 PM on April 10, 2007
The change in the dead ball to the live ball had nothing to do with Ruths change in HR output? It was all because he got fat? Yea I'll buy that. Comparing Bonds adding muscle mass and Ruth adding fat is indeed apples and oranges. Muscle helps player. If anything fat hurts them.
posted by scottypup at 03:58 PM on April 10, 2007
The change in the dead ball to the live ball had nothing to do with Ruths change in HR output? Yes, that's correct. Ruth's change from pitching every fourth game or so to playing outfield every day had everything to do with his "change" in HR output. Ruth had no odd surge in his slugging percentage and he did not hit longer homers when he put on more weight. He had tremendous upper body strength throughout his career. He was not aided by the consumption of hot dogs and beer -- he succeeded despite handicapping himself with his lifestyle.
posted by The Crafty Sousepaw at 04:17 PM on April 10, 2007
I was gonna jump on that ridiculous supposition, too, but watching you guys is fun enough for me. All you gotta do is get fat to hit homers? Fuck this, I'm packin' up the car and headin' to Fenway, where I'll no doubt be the Red Sox' new DH in a couple of days' time!
posted by The_Black_Hand at 05:20 PM on April 10, 2007
Too late T_B_H, I'm already there. I'm just tommy being tommy, and yes, I am going to start to refer to myself in the 3rd person.
posted by tommybiden at 06:28 PM on April 10, 2007
I don't see where this guy has a lot to say. There are a number of good books on baseball rules and interpretations, oddities, etc. The best thing in the blog is this line: “you live in your mom’s basement where you head a homosexual prostitution ring” It looks like one that could have been used during one of our more heated SpoFi discussions.