More of the PED double standard on display

107 Comments

There was a panel in Arizona last week which the topic of PED use was discussed. Among the panel members was Jane Leavy, who wrote what many consider to be the definitive biography of Mickey Mantle. Her take on players of the recent Steroids Era and the fitness of guys like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Mark McGwire for the Hall of Fame:

“I don’t have a vote, and I wouldn’t vote for any of them,” said Leavy—not a single one of the players who admitted drug use or were named in the Mitchell report on PEDs in baseball. “I think there should be a hall of shame for those guys,” she said.

I have no idea how one can write an entire biography of Mickey Mantle — complete with a passage in which Mantle’s visit to the infamous Max “Dr. Feelgood” Jacobson, where an amphetamines injection caused an infection that knocked him out of the home run race in 1961 — and conclude that while he is a worthy Hall of Famer, the guys of the 1990s and 2000s should be in a “Hall of Shame.” Let alone the many other players who used amphetamines in the 1950s and 60s, which she chronicled.

But I suppose this double standard is OK, as it always has been.

Phils’ Hoskins tears knee, expected to miss significant time

hoskins injury
Dave Nelson/USA TODAY Sports
0 Comments

CLEARWATER, Fla. — Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins needs surgery for a torn ACL after injuring his left knee Thursday fielding a grounder in a spring training game and is expected to miss a significant amount of time.

The Phillies did not say when Hoskins would have the surgery or exactly how long the slugging first baseman might be sidelined.

Hoskins hit 30 homers with 79 RBIs last season for the reigning National League champions.

He was backing up to play a chopper on Thursday when the ball popped out of his glove. Sooner after, he fell to the ground and began clutching his left knee. Teammates gathered around him before he was taken off of the field.

Hoskins, a free agent at the end of the season who turned 30 last week, hit six homers in Philadelphia’s playoff run last season. The Phillies lost to the Houston Astros in the World Series.

The injury was another blow for the Phillies, who will be without top pitching prospect Andrew Painter for another few weeks because of a sprained ligament in his right elbow. And slugger Bryce Harper isn’t expected back until around the All-Star break after undergoing Tommy John surgery in November.