In the video I posted of his first career home run you think Thome weighed 175 pounds? Yolmer Sanchez currently weighs 185.

Why are you so defensive about this? is Thome your cousin? Everyone was probably juicing from that era including the bullpen catcher. Stop being so naive.

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It is amazing how sensitive fans get over their guys.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

I'm not defensive in the least, nor am I naive. The reasons people are giving for believing he was on steroids are idiotic. He may have very well used steroids but using his body frame as evidence of this is moronic. He gained weight steadily over a long period of time and he was always a power hitter over the course of his career, he didn't go Brady Anderson on everybody and get shredded while hitting 50 home runs in the process. Also, anyone claiming he has escaped scrutiny because of his race and aww shucks demeanor is a fucking idiot.

I'm mostly indifferent towards Thome, I don't hate or love the guy. He wasn't one of my favorite players growing up. If you're going to accuse someone of steroid abuse don't give asinine explanations for why you believe this just state the obvious, he was a power hitter who played throughout the entire steroid era.

Seeing he is adamant about having played clean, aw shucks, what if he's lying? Aw shucks would be an issue then. The nicest guy in the world would be a liar.

We saw what they did with Bonds. He was already a great player and a HoFer and steroids made him a created player on a video game.

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Be well

GO BEARS!!!

I dont really see "asinine" explanations.

People talking about his size over the course of his career...it doesnt take a rocket scientist to see the changes in his body during his career. Maybe he wasnt 175...but clearly you can see the difference.

And I am completely sympathetic to the idea of Beardown being an idiot, but he has a good point here. People don't view Thome the same way as Bonds, Sosa, and other who were tools most of their career.

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"He is a loathsome, offensive brute
--yet I can't look away."

More speed on the swing. It's undeniable.

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i still think the steroids-should-keep-you-out thing is a complete bunch of grandstanding, hypocritical bullshit. every baseball era had its golden age of cheating. there were the "leaded" and "unleaded" days of the 70's and 80's. there's sign stealing. there's an ancient guy from the dead ball era who admitted to taking a steroid to make him a better pitcher, and he's in the hall of fame.

the steroid era saved baseball. the strike nearly buried the sport, and if it weren't for these jock juicers bringing it back from the dead, no one would give a damn about it.

get over yourselves and realize your heroes aren't solid gold. these guys had tremendous pressure on them to save the sport. baseball writers were creaming their pants over the homerun derby of the late 90's. these same troglodytes were chastising "the steroid era". meanwhile, these guys basically paid their checks.

put them in if they deserve it. if they have no other numbers than home runs, or they have 2-3 great seasons among a bunch of average ones, don't. the baseball HOF should be more like the football HOF. "you look at the name, you know." it doesn't have to be, as DJ would say, "rocket surgery".

I'm not a hypocrite. If I was in their shoes, I would have juiced too. With generational wealth on the line, why WOULDN'T I. Juicing didn't functionally become cheating until 2003. So I don't see much reason not to fess up and give the reason why. It's pretty logical why anybody would do it. Frank never said these guys are piss-poor human beings. He said he wanted a level playing field.

Agreed, Powerhouse.

People can make dramatic changes to their body through proper nutrition and exercise without steroids but modern society has become so sedentary that when someone does do that naturally they think it has to be due to steroids. It's not at all surprising that a professional athlete with access to world-class training facilities, strength coaches, training staffs, physical therapists, professional nutritionists, and who can, in addition to that if they want to, afford private chefs and personal trainers are going to fill out and pack on muscle during the course of their career and look different at 33 than they did at 20. It's part of their job.

I agree. With Sosa and Bonds and McGwire it was obvious that they were using something to get more muscle mass. Their heads got bigger for cripes sake. As a baseball coach myself, I could see first hand what roids did to kids who were using. Acute acne. A lot of sweating. Eye glaze. Temper outbursts. Those guys were cheaters. THome didn't.

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An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

IT is interesting to me the number of people in the world who will try and tear a person down and expect the worst out of them. Wonder why that is?

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An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

That man was my size. That man weighed at least 200# as a rookie. Look at the size of his legs. He had good sized muscles. He was far from skinny.

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An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

keep you in the game longer and help recover from injuries quicker. everything skill related is because of the player. Steroids do not make Brian Anderson a great baseball player. Steroids do not make Ronny Cedeno a great baseball player.

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'Your AT&T Universal Card has arrived'? Oh God, Kick-fucking-ass, I got a Master Card! I don't believe it, man. Life is kinda cool sometimes.

That is bullshit. I coached young high school and college players and everyone was not juicing. Its bullshit. This is why I absolutely HATE those assholes who did cheat. I know a guy who knew Sosa and played with him and actually shared the same woman in the DR. Sosa was juicing BIG TIME in the off season. So did McGwire. FUck those guys.

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An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

Nah. The speed on the swing is somewhat better but not much. It is the muscle weight that is different. These guys became bigger and their endurance became leagues better because of the roids. So they were able to not have the down time or lost bat speed than the players who proceeded them.

Hitting a baseball is still I think the toughest thing in all of sports to do. And the hand to eye coordination does not improve with roids or HGH. ANd the joints in the hands and elbows do not improve either. But these additives allowed players to cheat over those who did not use them.

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An Ode to the Texas man who shot an Antifa terrorist:

Oh, he might have went on livin'
But he made one fatal slip
When he tried to match the Ranger
With the big iron on his hip

The more you can wait back on a ball, the better you are as a hitter. It was like hitting off a tee for Bonds.

Even an infinitesimal increase in bat speed is a huge thing because like you said, barreling up a baseball is the hardest thing there is in sports.

Bullshit. Even Bernstein can turn around on a 95 mph heater.

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