Quote:
Originally Posted by wireman
True enough, but Ripken was always amazingly durable, no? I don't think you need to hypothesize steroids to explain his later career; I'm not an expert on such things, but his career arc seems pretty plausible to me.
I'm not a huge Ripken fan either, but why believe the worst?
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I was born 25 minutes from Memorial Stadium in 1978 so my whole life as an O's fan was Cal Ripken Jr. Watching him the years, months and days leading up to 2131 was surreal.
He obviously was durable to begin with but, as with The Streak, we weren't accusing McGwire and Sosa of juicing during their magical runs to 62 and I am asserting nothing more than a suspicion.
Ripken was always played off as a man of outstanding character and he filled it quite well but I felt something was amiss with that. The whole Kevin Costner sleeping with his wife thing was beyond strange. He was rumored to beat Costner up. 'Roid rage? I doubt it. But who knows? I don't think that's something any of the three would want to admit.
Steroids are known to accelerate baldness in those with a predisposition for it. Cal's father and brother are bald, but Cal lost all his hair VERY quickly. One year he had it, the next I was shocked how bald he was. Again, I thought nothing of it at the time.
And frankly, I think the LACK of rumors about Ripken possibly taking steroids is telling. I don't know if you remember Brady Anderson. A solid lead off guy with pop, he slugged 50 homers one year. A guy the women swooned over at the time, the rumors were "He's gay." Nowadays, they're "He juiced."
Steroids were widespread in the O's clubhouse, we found out a decade later. Just about every big name has been attached in some form. But I've never heard "Ripken." Something just seems off.