I'll Take "Things That Are Dumb" for $400, Alex

by Adam J. Morris on Mar 30, 2009 7:18 PM CDT Comment 20 comments

A new book by Jeff Pearlman apparently identifies Mike Piazza as a steroid user. Tommy Lasorda is, not surprisingly, shocked and horrified by such a suggestion, and defends Piazza against such accusations.

All well and good, until we get to Lasorda's rationale as to why Piazza couldn't have used steroids:

"I just don't believe it. Mike Piazza? No way. He worked too hard. I saw him."

Arguing that someone couldn't have used steroids because he worked too hard is dumb.

It assumes that steroids are a short-cut, a way to get big and strong and muscular without doing any work.

That's crap. The people who use steroids are also the ones who are working hard.

Is Lasorda really suggesting that Roger Clemens didn't work hard? Barry Bonds? That all those roided up freaks in the NFL aren't lifting weights and busting their asses in the gym?

This is an inherently ridiculous defense, and I get tired of people like Tommy Lasorda using it.

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Comments

take it easy on lasorda

piazza is like a son to him. if he’s in denial, he’ll grab at anything he can and hold onto it.

Omar Vizquel: your starting shortstop for the 2009 AL all-star team.

by gossamer on Mar 30, 2009 7:25 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I read that as...

“Pizza is a son to him”

Stars in a Texas Night Sky, a Dallas Stars blog from a fan's perspective.

by rangers85 on Mar 30, 2009 8:37 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Little Joe's Famous Chicago Pizza - Keller, TX

Try their Sausage and Peppers too…

When I see a solar eclipse I think "oh no, is the moon eating the sun?"

by Section 339 on Mar 30, 2009 8:50 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Lasorda...

Isn’t he getting a bit senile at this point?

She was a grand old lady...

by lonestarJon on Mar 30, 2009 7:32 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I think a little

its kind of sad. Before the WBC finals, he was on the radio and just sounded awful (I predict the US will win because we invented the game…). He’s gotta be pushing the high 80s now.

by JBImaknee on Mar 30, 2009 8:27 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

He will be 82 in Sept.

Keith Law on Greg Golson, "He's similiar to Cameron and Hunter in that all three are black."

by boomer1 on Mar 30, 2009 8:35 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

well, my points have been covered...

81.5 and godfather to mike’s brother.

what is he supposed to say???

people here less than half his age with no relationships in baseball say less coherent things regularly.

by sam in so cal on Mar 31, 2009 8:47 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

yeah

this seems kind of weird for adam to be attacking the intellect of a man who wears adult diapers.

are you going to go after 5 year olds next?

Ceterum censeo Cat esse delendam - Cahill the Elder

by ab03 on Mar 30, 2009 8:46 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Maybe he wears adult diapers because his body is failing but his mind is still sharp.

When my grandfather passed away, his mind was still as sharp as ever. He was still making decisions on the estate and knew exactly what he was deciding… but he couldn’t physically sign anything because his body was failing.

by Inkara1 on Mar 30, 2009 9:57 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Tommy Lasorda

Isn’t senile yet, but he’d defend the baby of Satan if the kid had a baseball embroidered on his diaper. Baseball is holy to Lasorda.

"He uses statistics as a drunken man uses lamp-posts... for support rather than illumination." - Andrew Lang (1844-1912) also -

"Telephone, n. An invention of the devil which abrogates some of the advantages of making a disagreeable person keep his distance."
~Ambrose Bierce

by Ed Coffin on Mar 31, 2009 12:01 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I really think..

…that people just don’t think it through (or are just dumb in general) and think that these guys inject themselves and sit around while muscles grow.

It’s one of the reasons I’ve never understood why steroids elicit so much more venom than, say, using an emery board or even corking a bat. THOSE are true shortcuts.

Steroids allow athletes that work hard to work even harder. Still cheating for sure but I don’t understand why it gets so much more focus than other forms.

by jthig32 on Mar 30, 2009 7:32 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

I don't know that...

scuffing a ball is a true shortcut. Whitey Ford, for instance, was a notorious ball scuffer, but didn’t he have a great breaking ball, anyway?

"I know you're a bit dense but no, it doesn't. Obviously lying isn't a problem for me."

by benmor78 on Mar 30, 2009 7:35 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well

corks don’t make the ball just bounce off your bat and over the fence either. The talent still has to be there (as with steroids).

But my two examples allow you to get more out of your skills without any extra effort (other than physically scuffing the balls and putting cork in the bat, I suppose).

by jthig32 on Mar 30, 2009 7:39 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

I remember Bouton saying something about that

What was that book…? :)

I'm Matt mutha-effing Bush, bitches, and mutha-eff East County.

"I'm as passionate and knowlegeable as any fan out there." Josey Wales

by Brian Thomas on Mar 30, 2009 8:22 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

There should be more...

books like that out there. I’m thinking CJ Wilson could do something similar.

"I know you're a bit dense but no, it doesn't. Obviously lying isn't a problem for me."

by benmor78 on Mar 30, 2009 11:42 PM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

Scuffing is a HUGE shortcut

Every throw a scuffed ball?

I pitched in college, threw about 85 and pretty straight. When I scuffed, the ball moved like I was Kevin Brown. (Who might have scuffed, on that note.)

by nivarsity on Mar 31, 2009 8:55 AM CDT up reply actions 0 recs

i think you have to give him a bit of a break.

a lot of intelligent, honest people have said some pretty irrational things in defense of alleged steroid users out of loyalty. it’s just part of clubhouse sociology, id venture to say. especially for an old-timer like lasorda, even if in his mind he realizes that piazza probably did juice, it’s second-nature to step up with some sort of emphatic defense when approached about it.

by Smoakin in the Boys Room on Mar 30, 2009 7:46 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

That's not even the worst explaination...

I should have a third ear coming out of my forehead.

- Roger Clemens

by cstorm15 on Mar 30, 2009 8:46 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs

LaRussa said somehting similiar

about McGwire. I remember him yelling at some reporter something about how hard McGwire has worked, and how unfair it is to accuse him of juicing. Managers that turn their heads are just as guilty as players, and benefit just as much.

Free Frank Catalanotto

by egriffey on Mar 30, 2009 10:21 PM CDT reply actions 0 recs