The Hot Stove League

I kept referring to Perry and really meant Joe Niekro along with Phil. He was the ace fingernail scratcher. Of course, he was the one who was caught on national TV trying to discard an emery board right in from of an umpire. He had to keep his fingernails sharp

just for kicks i googled "gaylord perry" & "spitball"... got 334 hits.

first link http://www.baseball-almanac.com/autoweek/aut2000u.shtml



interestingly, the pine tar thing happened less than a year later...

It's funny that Perry admitted to loading up. Most of those guys denied it 'til their dying days, I think. Kind of like steroids now...

I can't believe all this focus on steroids in baseball...what about all the other sports? Football? Do people really think there was some revolution in nutrition and fitness that makes the average NFL lineman almost 100 lbs heavier than they were 15 years ago, and they can run FAST to boot?

The NFL now has strict rules about steroids, Slappy. The baseball union is fighting that...

NFL does have drug testing, but it doesn't accomplish much. It won't in baseball either. There's a lot of different steroids, and many have a short half-life in your body. These guys can bulk up all they want in the off-season with the heavier drugs, take time off, take milder ones during the season to maintain strength, take drugs that mask steroids, ect....pro bodybuiding has drug testing too, you know. It's a joke.

Yes, they should put more emphasis on testing. But it's going to be impossible at this point to completely eliminate them from sports.

Something I was just thinking about, say that 'roids were completely eliminated from all sports across the board right this minute. Now, we must get accustomed to a sharp decrease in accomplishment, speed, dexterity, etc.

One thing to note Slappy, the trend in size has been increasing dramatically for the past 20-30 years. Plus weight machines, strength programs and dieting is much improved to what they use to be - but, without drugs, it wouldn't be as significant

i think the 'roid focus on baseball is two-fold:
1) the season is about to start
2) the dubya-tom hicks texas connection

the rest of the sports are sure to follow soon after...

i'm guessing there'll be somewhat of a drop-off in power stats this summer, but players will soon find a way to enhance muscles -- under the radar.

the drug labs are hard at work

there's an unforgettable scene in the flick "starship troopers":
they're playing their futuristic sport, and some of them have super-human strength and leaping ability.

science fiction... or is it an accurate vision of the future of sporting events -- chemically enhanced ultra-athletes

how about bionic arms and such

why not?

all they'd hafta do is increase the dimensions of the playing fields: every ballpark would get an enormous green monster... athletes would prolly hafta wear a suit of armor (or the futuristic equivalent)... raise the hoop in the NBA to 15 or 20 ft...

bionic legs 6' long, and them bionic eyes hooked to processors and, and, and - yea, call them gladiators.......

Brave new world, you guys! I'm kinda old school, though. Bring back chewing tobacco and spitting, baqgy wool uniforms, and low scoring games....

demolition of veteran's stadium

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/news/story?id=1764584

Well, good to see the Phanatic got out all right, and has his/her/its head.

doesn't it look like they adobe'd the phanatic in?

It sorta does. Can't believe in photos anymore...

You mean, <sobs> the Phanatic mighta been in there?!??!?!

That's it, I'm flying to Philadelphia! Sorry, RP, you'll have to make your own dinnah tonight.

hold on, jes.
everybody knows the phanatic has super powers -- mere explosives can't do him in...