Strawberry on Steroids

Darryl Strawberry on steroids:

“Hell yeah I would have used them,” Strawberry said. “Are you kidding me? I mean, c’mon. Some things are part of what athletes go through and they happen …We’re competitive creatures, and we have tremendous drive, a high tolerance, all these things. I’m not saying that it was the right thing to do. But if that was going on in the 80s, that probably would have been in my system too.”

Straw: they were around in the 80s. It’s just that you were too coke and boozed up to notice. We do appreciate the candor, however.

You know, Strawberry has a book about his wild years coming out soon. I’m going to go out on a limb and guess that his admissions about how his out of control behavior and wasted promise negatively impacted pennant races for his teams won’t get nearly the tut-tutting by the sporting press that has greeted A-Rod and Bonds’ efforts to help their teams, however misguided they may have been. I mean, A-Rod may have been giving the Rangers an unfair adavantage, but didn’t the unfair advantage Strawberry gave to the 1987 Cardinals, 1989 Cubs, and 1990 Pirates cause more damage? Unlike the Rangers, those teams actually won something.


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Bob Timmermann
15 years ago

How many personal biographies of Daryl Strawberry’s life do we need to read? And which one will be true? The man has likely never told the truth about anything in his life.

I’m a 43-year old lifetime Dodgers fan and the only Dodger player, I hold a lifetime grudge (and it will be etched on my tombstone so people don’t forget) is Strawberry.

bpasinok
15 years ago

Didn’t Canseco offer to give up his 1988 AL MVP because he was on the juice?

Must have been a lot of coke n booze like you said.

tadthebad
15 years ago

You really think PED users had their team in mind when the took the plunge?  Seems like a dubious claim.

Craig Calcaterra
15 years ago

Tad: I don’t think that was their motivation, but they clearly were trying to make themselves better baseball players, and by definition, making themselves better baseball players makes their team better.

Jeff
15 years ago

That has been the primary excuse for football players (and Andy Pettite notably used it as well).  PEDs to heal and get back on the field to help the team. 

But I don’t think Daryl ever would have had a thought like that in his head.  If he took ‘em, it would have been to hit 61 homers (but may not have been successful, depending on what theory you believe on PED’s effects on baseball players).  Not exactly a self-less team player, but if he could have kept himself on the field and performing at a high level, it definitely would have made a huge difference on those Mets’ teams.

Aarcraft
15 years ago

Why is it a dubious claim? Nobody questions whether a player taking cortisone to help him get on the field is doing it to help the team. Aren’t steroids just a larger scale, and more illegal, version of the same thing.

TL
15 years ago

Now Craig, you know the sports press will be too busy staying up late looking for the parts in the book where Straw talks about groupies and sex thinking, “Man, I wish I knew how to swing a bat.”

Oh, and stop trying to be all rational and stuff. There is no room for that in this hang ‘em culture.

tadthebad
15 years ago

I just doubt that a player using PEDs considers the old “helping his team” as a reason to do them.  I also don’t think a player taking BP or fielding drills necessarily considers improving his team as motivation.  Self-improvement is the motivation, which is fine because, as Craig said, improving one’s self equals improving one’s team.

ditmars1929
15 years ago

OH please!!!  “Hell yeah I would’ve used them.”  No sh*t, Strawberry.  Is there anything this dirtbag would NOT have used?  Doubt it.

I’m a Yankee fan, but it sickens me to see the lost potential of the Mets because of this idiot and Gooden.  It’s really a shame.