Ryne Sandberg appeared on ESPN 1000's "Waddle and Silvy Show" today and shared his thoughts on steroid users and the Hall of Fame.
"I don't think so," when asked if Sosa belongs in the Hall of Fame. "They use the word 'integrity' in describing a Hall of Famer in the logo of the Hall of Fame, and I think there are gonna be quite a few players that are not going to get in," Sandberg said. "It's been evident with the sportswriters who vote them in, with what they've done with Mark McGwire getting in the 20 percent range."
"I was around Sammy for about five years before I retired, and there wasn't anything going on then," Sandberg said. "I did admire the hard work he put in. He was one of the first guys down to the batting cage, hitting extra. I figured he was working out hard in the offseason to get bigger. It was just happening throughout the game, that even myself was blinded by what was really happening, maybe starting in the '98 season."
"I think it's very unfortunate. I think suspicions were there as they are with some other players. Those players are now put in a category of being tainted players with tainted stats. I think it's obviously something that was going on in the game. Players participated in it and as the names have come out I think that they will be punished for that."
Sandberg said that punishment should include being banned from Cooperstown.
"I think it has to be spoken very loud and clear on the stance, and baseball needs to stand as they have. I'm very, very satisfied with the testing program they have in place now. For a guy who's tested positive today under what happens now like Manny Ramirez, it almost takes an idiot to participate in that. For the society, for the up-and-coming players and youth out there, I don't think those guys should be recognized at all."
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3 comments:
Amen Ryno. Well put.
It's just too bad you haven't been able to instill all these quality values into your own ballclub... Hell, when you had to leave your Peoria Chiefs to accept your enshrinement into Cooperstown, they got into one of the most infamous bench-clearing brawls of all time that left a fan unconscious after being drilled by a crow-hopping, d-bag pitcher attempting to hit a player in the opposing dugout. Now that's class.
In the interest of being factually accurate, the brawl happened when Sandberg was attending the HOF ceremonies in 2008. He was inducted in 2005.
Secondly, I'm not sure what one has to do with the other?
The brawl in Peoria was CLEARLY a roid rage incident! They were all jabbing needles into each others asses while Ryno was outta town and well....cause & effect.
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