CC,

I don’t have a specific name, but what about anyone who ever hinted that Sammy Sosa juiced?  Maybe the first one to do so - it had to be that knucklehead Marriotti right?  I never knew why he was thrown onto the fire. 

More to that, Marriotti and the rest of the moral highnesses of ATH - Platschke especially - I can’t stand that dude - have thrown out more names of “cheaters” than Clemente from right field.  Where’s the credibility of “reporters” on shows like that?

id also like to give rick reilly the garfield award for not being the the slightest bit entertaining since i was in the second grade.

kendynamo - Fantastic work, touch ‘em all…

Bryan Berry - You recall correctly IIRC…

@bigcatasroma - that was Craig’s point in his NBC article.

Craig, always remember that Rick Reilly hates baseball in the first place, which adds an additional bias to his fact-free claims.

This has been a discussion topic on the radio here lately in Chicago because of the Sosa retirement. The one thing to remember is that if this is being tied to Hall of Fame voting, its not a court of law innocent until proven guilty mindset. This is the court of public opinion and you can have suspicion without proof.

Just to be a bit of a nitpicker since we’re talking about ‘rigidity’ and so forth.  He actually taught at Concordia University in Montreal.  University and College have different meanings here in Canada.  Also…wouldn’t want people getting it confused with the institutions named ‘Concordia College’ throughout the world .

Not trying to take away from the overall point of the article.  Just saying is all.

“I give the blogger—I won’t mention his name because I’m reluctant to give him his 15 minutes—credit for going on with Rosenthal. If it was me on the air instead of Rosenthal, I would have torn the blogger to shreds in much the same way. Maybe even worse. I know Rosenthal and spoke to him at the ballpark yesterday after his ESPN appearance with said blogger. When you go on TV and radio a lot, you learn how to destroy people like the inexperienced blogger on-air. It was like that Korean dude pounding on Jose Canseco in Japan the other day.”—Geoff Baker

I love this paragraph! Baker first big-ups his own celebrity with the “I don’t want to give him his 15 minutes of fame” comment, then compliments himself on his blogger-shredding abilities, then he name drops by saying he’s buddy-buddy with Rosenthal, then he high-fives his celebriosity again with the “when you go on TV and the Radio a lot” comment, then he again boasts about his purported skillz at destroyin’ suckas, and then concludes with an always timely Jose Canseco reference!

I don’t understand the motivation to write a piece that is as insecure, boastful, aggressive (it’s chock-full of comments that revolve around the idea that a MAN has to be a MAN. Bikers! Death threats! Smacking folks around! Push ups! Keg stands!) and poorly thouht out as this. What astounds me is the ill-will and insular, paranoid thinking that dominates it. I understand Baker’s feeling like in spite of the fact that he went to school to be a journalist and despite the fact that he has dedicated his professional life to journalism it is now slipping away from him as more and more people turn to “bloggers” (we need a new name, blogger is too broad) instead of MSM. But a more journalistic approach, a more progressive, reasonable approach would be to welcome the new forms of media and interaction. I get why Baker feels the need to be so self-aggrandizing, but he doesn’t do himself any favors by taking this tone and I’m sure he’s not showing the best side of himself by doing it.

Ken Rosenthal:

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/9573384/Hall-of-Fame:-Some-tough-calls-must-be-made

“Mark McGwire, the first test case of the Steroid Era, failed to receive more than 23.6 percent of the required 75 percent of the vote in his first three years on the ballot. Maybe McGwire will never approach that figure; I do not vote for him, believing his candidacy is based on power and that his power was artificial to some unknown degree.”

‘believing… His power was artificial to smoe unknown degree.’ That’s not only a baseless admission, it’s a weridly admittedly baseless admission. Unless he means andro, which not only wasn’t banned in baseball at the time, but if I remember rightly, wasn’t illegal in general at the time.

More from Mr. Journalistic Integrity Who I Bet Has Never Passed On A Trade Rumor That Wasn’t Confirmed By Three Independent Sources:

http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/9547760/Can’t-blame-positive-test-on-Manny-being-Manny

“Please, no gloating in Boston, either. If Ramirez is knowingly taking PEDs, heaven knows when he started. Heaven knows which other Red Sox have taken them.”

I guess since he didn’t mention anyone _specific_ on the Red Sox, it’s an Example of Good Journalism.

From the same article:

“Step right up, Manny, to the Hall of Shame. You’ve got plenty of company — A-Rod, Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens; Rafael Palmeiro, Gary Sheffield and Mark McGwire.”

Did I miss something? Did McGwire admit, confess, or fail a test that I don’t know about?

Maybe I’m being unfair. Worth noting, though.

Baker is an ass. He spent most of the winter peddling bullshit Ichiro-is-the-problem stories to explain why the Mariners lost 100 games last year. The guy is a menace to reason.

Does Jim Palmer count?  How is this logic any different?
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1760890