Of course I wouldn't be mad, but the point is that he didn't receive even close to the same attention, despite being on his own farewell tour, despite being a great player as well. It has been a long time now, but Cal Ripken's farewell was far more reasonable than what we've seen for Jeter, and Ripken was a better player.
My thoughts... If Jeter was an Astro and Biggio was a Yankee, then Biggio would be Jeter and Jeter would be Biggio.
If Biggio is playing second base at Yankee Stadium and Jeter is playing short, you can expect Jeter to be run over by a drunk steamroll driver at some point. And then some kid will have to peel him out of the dirt like a fruit roll-up. And that will be that.
That just has to do with where he played and when he played for them. Jeter had a very good bat for a very long time, he'd have made a great DH but people talk him up as if he was more than what he was which is a terrible fielder with a plus bat. I don't think there is any doubt, can you imagine if Bagwell had been a Yankee?
If biggie and bagwell had been yankees they'd be mocked and hated for postseason failure and they would have been outed for steroids years ago. <------- biggion is one my favorite players ever
If they were Yankees they'd have been on at least 4 World Series winning teams....Also you have no proof whatsoever that either did steroids, there's every bit as much reason to suspect Jeter as there is to suspect either of them.
Reminds me of how there's no proof that the Reliant turf leads to more injuries... But, there's a tad bit more suspicion for Bagwell than either Biggio or Jeter... you can't be that naive about it.
The suspicion is based on the fact that he took andro back when it was legal and the suspicion for Biggio is based on the fact that he was on a team with a lot of PED users....the same as Jeter. Don't you find it kind of hard to believe that Jeter was the captain of the Yankees for so long and seemingly the only person not connected to PED's? That's one of those situations like how he wound up winning gold gloves despite being one of the worst defensive short stops to ever play the game.
That, and the excessive bulking, and the dramatic rise in his power numbers, and the eventual debilitating joint deterioration. Also, andro is basically a testosterone precursor... it should never have been "legal", but baseball continued to turn a blind eye to that and the actual anabolic stuff that was throughout the game. Players throughout were attempting to gain an advantage any way possible... legal/illegal. Declaring Bagwell used Andro, and saying he was a "non-user" simply because it was legal is not going to help the suspicion against him. Biggio and Jeter were pretty consistent throughout their careers... no severe spikes, no excessive bulking, no sudden debilitating joint deterioration or dramatic production fall-offs. Yes, Biggio will always be suspected simply due to who he played with, Jeter could be a suspect simply because of the era he played in... but the suspicions against Bagwell go above and beyond those of the above.
So the evidence is that he bulked up over the course of 15 years and that he tore his shoulder up? Solid.
Isn't his shoulder issue genetic? His dad has the same ailment. Lifting so much during his career is what eventually made it unbearable. And it's not like Bagwell went from 15 homeruns one season to 50 the next. He showed good extra-base power in AA and his years prior to getting to 30 to 40 bombs. There was a progression. Doubles/Triples are usually a sign that a guy has more juice in the tank. Homeruns are the last thing to show up usually. AA stats as a 22 year old: .333/.422/.457, 34 doubles, 7 triples, 4 homeruns, 73 walks, 57 strikeouts MLB Homeruns by season- 1991-Age 23- 15 (26 doubles and 4 triples, .824 ops, .437 slugging, ROY) 1992-Age 24- 18 (34 doubles, 6 triples, .444 slugging) 1993-Age 25- 20 (37 doubles, 4 triples, .516 slugging) 1994-Age 26- 39 (110 games, strike year, breakout season, peak year, .750 slugging, MVP,32 doubles, 2 triples) 1995-Age 27- 21 (114 games, 39 doubles, 0 triples, .496 slugging) 1996-Age 28- 31 (48 doubles, 2 triples, .570 slugging) 1997-Age 29- 43 (40 doubles, 2 triples, .592 slugging) 1998-Age 30- 34 (33 doubles, 1 triple, .557 slugging) 1999-Age 31- 42 (35 doubles, 0 triples, .591 slugging) 2000-Age 32- 47 (new stadium, 37 doubles, 1 triple, .615 slugging) 2001-Age 33- 39 (43 doubless, 4 triples, .568 slugging) 2002-Age 34- 31 (33 doubles, 2 triples, .518 slugging) 2003-Age 35- 39 (28 doubles, 2 triples, .524 slugging) 2004-Age 36- 27 (29 doubles, 2 triples, .465 slugging)
What do you honestly believe? I believe there were far more players that used, a lot of whom were never implicated. I also believe there were more big name pitchers involved besides just Clemens... Or do you feel he was the only one? I doubt Bagwell would ever run a campaign saying he was completely clean. I don't see him fighting those who implicate him as well (much like the other users).
FWIW, severe spikes in performance weren't unusual before PEDs. And really outside of 1994, Bags never had a spike. I think he used, but that is more an indictment on the era than anything else.
But that would have been around the time he would be suspected to have used something... right around when Camminiti was implicating that "everybody" had started to become involved. Where he goes from a 1B with some pop to a hitting god. I consider that to be the spike... for which he might as well continue doing whatever he was doing as long as MLB isn't stopping anybody. Some started on the forefront (McGwire, Canseco), some came on later (Bonds) in response to what others were doing. On an unrelated note, its interesting to point out that if it wasn't for the strike, Bagwell likely isn't the MVP. Breaks his hand right before the season gets suspended... out for the year. Had the season played out, they likely don't give it to him because of the chunk of time he misses (probably Bonds or Matt Williams ends up winning it).
1994 was a crazy year. Bagwell never came close to replicating those numbers (neither did Frank Thomas). Bags had a .750 SLG that year, and only had one other season over .600.
