Comments on: The star columnist looks back at the story he — and everyone else — missed . . .

By: Jonathan Jenrette

Jonathan Jenrette — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 03:57:49 +0000

It only goes to show where there’s will there’s a way. Keep on trying. – Last week I stated that this woman was the ugliest woman I had ever seen. I have since been visited by her sister and now wish to withdraw that statement. – Mark Twain 1835 – 1910

By: walter

walter — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:29:07 +0000

“What McGwire did through the ’90s, no one else did. And they were all playing by the same rules.”

Really? Everyone was using steroids? Do you think there was any top performer in baseball during the Steroid Era who was _not_ using steroids?

That would be pretty grim.

By: charles pierce

charles pierce — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 12:23:40 +0000

Dave –
Please do not engage this pest more than is necessary.

By: Dave Kindred

Dave Kindred — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 03:48:22 +0000

Wenalway, I gave you a my-bad on the “hundreds.” Published reports had the A-Rod-and-others list at 104 names.

By: Dave Kindred

Dave Kindred — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 03:05:08 +0000

Over a hundred players in the bigs — not hundreds, yes — but Canseco, right more often than wrong, has estimated 50-80 percent of all players.
I have not been “all over the map” on the subject of steroid reporting. I have always said newspapers were behind the story — with an explanation that Wenalway omits. BTW, he quotes me not from anything I wrote for publication but from a posting to a message board, Sportsjournalists.com. Here’s my thinking that he omitted: “I ask again, if a $20-million, 20-month, MLB-blessed, FBI-supported, federal prosectuor-assisted, senatorial level-staffed investigation can be given access to executives, managers, players, doctors, and journalists and yet turn up nothing but the public record and the uncorroborated accusations of two — two! — lowlifes seeking reduced sentences, how in hell was any newspaper’s sports department supposed to report on steroid use?”
As for Eckstein, I never used his name, not even on the message board, except in second reference to a note on the list of users from the poster “Buck Weaver.” His note went, “If David Eckstein is on the list, Jesus will weep.” And I replied, “I hear there are tears at the corners of his eyes.”

By: Wenalway

Wenalway — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 01:41:39 +0000

Anyone who has been following Dave Kindred’s thoughts on this subject knows he has been all over the map.

From the end of 2007:

“Anyway, I’d prefer less self-flaggelation. It seems to me that the San Francisco Chronicle’s reporting on BALCO was the steroid story’s equivalent of the Washington Post’s reporting on a burglary at the Watergate apartment complex. Both grew from police stories, both led to federal investigations, both reached congress, both changed the cultures in which the crimes grew. That’s work to be proud of.”

He also brought up David Eckstein’s name in relation to the Mitchell report before it was released. Eckstein’s name was not in the report.

I’d encourage people to do their homework a little better in the future, especially when statements like this are made: “(H)undreds of players have continued to test positive for PEDs. Great players use them …”

I’m sure that Mr. Kindred, of course, meant to make a more factual statement, such as “Dozens of career minor-leaguers have received 50-game suspensions in connection with PED use.” But that’s too boring, I guess. It’s far more flashy to paint everyone with the same brush, just as Mr. Kindred and others have been doing for more than a decade.

By: charles pierce

charles pierce — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 22:00:12 +0000

As I always say before wading into this morass again, this is somebody else’s drug frenzy, not mine, but I don’t see any real journalistic mal-, or non-feasance in not accusing someone of a crime — possession of a controlled substance — without conclusive evidence that they, you know, possessed it. Or, at the same time, reporting that someone was doing something that was perfectly within the rules of the game at the time. If something is not forbidden, it is allowed. In 1998, Andro was not forbidden in baseball, so therefore, it was allowed.
How, exactly, would the drug warriors have written the column back in 1998? “Mark McGwire, whose possession of a legal substance not banned by his sport and conspicuous body-type and obvious professional improvement leads one to the conclusion that he is breaking federal law, hit two home runs last night…”
Don’t think so.

By: Dave Kindred

Dave Kindred — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 20:38:17 +0000

Oh, you mean those busines reporters who did such a good job keeping us informed about banks, mortgage companies, and Wall Street’s predators the last couple years?

By: elsp

elsp — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:52:27 +0000

The problem is that sports writers are fans. Hire some business reporter geeks to cover sports, and coverage will become much tougher.

By: Ray

Ray — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 17:31:46 +0000

The owners and commissioner needed homeruns to revive baseball. The owners and commissioner closed their eyes and wished they were back in 1961. I hope all of these baseball writers and the veteran’s committee remember that baseball got out of control due to a lack of oversight of the commissioner and the owners. I hope that no owners or commissioners from the “Steroid Era” are ever elected to the Hall of Fame. Bumbling Bud Selig and greedy owners have been the worst thing ever for baseball.