If people are going to accuse Bonds of using a PED, why don't they accuse Biggio of possibly using HGH?

Question

HGH is known to increase the length of time an athlete is able to be effective at a particular sport, without causing massive gains in muscle size the way steroids do. If you look at the records, there are more 40 year old players in the game today than ever before, and I believe this is primarily due to the use of HGH.

HGH is either not being tested for by MLB, or there are forms undetectable by traditional tests.

If Bonds is considered to be a prime candidate for the use of steroids, who happens to be chasing a personal mlestone, why then is Biggio not considered a prime candidate for HGH use who is also chasing a personal milestone.

Answer 1

First, there are no tests to show HGH. MLB and other sports leagues, as well as various other agencies, are funding research into developing those tests.

There is plenty of evidence that Bonds is juiced. It's visual, it's in the testimony of Jason Giambi and of Victor Conte, and it's the prolonged jail time of Greg Anderson, who is falling on his sword big-time for his so-called friend.

Where is the evidence that Biggio is using anything? Where is the evidence? Or is this nothing more than another libelous statement from you?

Where's the evidence?

And what is your obsession with Craig Biggio? This was your question 2 weeks ago:

"How long do you think Craig Biggio has been using Human growth hormone in order to prolong his career?
Do you believe that a player striving for 3000 hits at all costs should be even admired when they are resorting to these illegal tactics. "

This was your question 3 weeks ago:

" Why do some people consider Biggio as being a better 2nd baseman than Alomar?
Alomar was superior in essentially every aspect of the game, and he dominated the game to a much greater degree than Biggio in several more seasons. Do people have short term memorys or just selective perception causing them to focus on non-baseball related issues like ethnicity and Alomar's spitting incident?

Alomar revolutionized the way a second baseman plays the game. Biggio was merely a solid secondbaseman who played consistently for a long period of time.

My faith in the accuracy of the history of baseball will diminish greatly if Biggio turns out to be perceived as the better of the two, ten or twenty years from now. Alomar being refused entry to the HOF with Biggio being admitted would be the greatest injustice ever in the history of the game. It seems sometimes baseball opinion tends to be based on factors unrelated to baseball which essentially undermines the game as a sport. "

And the only other baseball question you've asked has also been about 2nd basemen.

What's your obsession?

Answer 2

First, Barry has never gotten along with fans or the media (except in SF, which only started happening with the fans when he started juicing and hitting more HRs). He's arrogant. And anyone can tell you that you don't average 30 HR a year up to and through your prime, then suddenly start hitting over 40 a year after you turn 34 (and grow like a mutant with a head the size of Texas), so what we can observe about Barry points towards him being a cheater. There's also the leaked grand jury testimony, where Bonds says he used, but didn't know what it was. Beyond the fact that no world class athlete is going to take a random drug from a random teammates locker, repeatedly mind you, and NOT know what it is, that defense is as week as Sammy Sosa suddenly not speaking English. All the evidence points towards Bonds being a juicer, and since he already has a bad reputation, it isn't hard for people to not believe him.

With Biggio, the only "evidence" you have is his age. I know for a fact your statement about their being more 40 year olds in MLB now than there ever was is something you just stated, rather than something you can back up with real evidence, but let's look at that objectively. Let's take your statement as truth for a moment. There have been 40 year old players over the course of MLB before, that's no question. So just because a player plays into his 40s doesn't mean he's using HGH. Are there probably some guys playing into their 40's (and mid 30's, and younger) who only are playing that long b/c of HGH? Probably. But that doesn't mean EVERY guy that age does. So you take a guy like Biggio, a scrawny little two-bagger, who basically has no real enemies in the game, and you aren't going to find many people who are going to jump to the conclusion that he's using HGH, especially considering the only "evidence" is his age.
Another reason is that one thing the 3000 hit club takes is time. Being that Biggio is going to be one of the few players to get to 3000 w/ a lifetime avg under .300, it makes sense he'd have to play a little longer than average. Does that alone mean Biggio cheats? Absolutely not! Does all the evidence around Barry make his cheating a foregone conclusion? Absolutely!
This is what bothers me most about cheaters, is the way the manage to bring other people down with them. It's like someone drowning. You take an obvious cheater like Bonds, and the best defense his fans can come up with is try to dirty the name of another player that probably has never had a bad word written about him in his career. Guess what, even IF Biggio was a cheater, it doesn't make what Bonds does ok. Two wrongs don't make a right remember.

Answer 3

How does the subject of Barry Bonds using PED's ever bring up the idea of Biggio using HGH? The guy is 42 yrs old this year. So what? Ted Williams batted .316 the year he retired, and he was 42. Ty Cobb batted .323 and had 27 doubles the year he retired and he was 42. Babe Ruth hit three home runs in his final game. He played until he was 40 and he lived off of black Cuban cigars and draft beer! Are we going to start slandering every good ball player who plays productively into their 40's as being juicers and cheaters? Plenty of players play into their 40's and still do so at a high productive level. That doesn't mean their juicing.

Biggio is a guy who takes care of himself, he always has been. He's not the greatest 2nd baseman ever, he's not the greatest hitter ever. But you'd be hard pressed to find anybody that played harder, or meant more to the team, the town, or the game. Nobody in the press, or the media has ever had anything bad to say about him. His opponents have praised him for his dedication to the integrity of the game. His teammates and coaches hail him as a club house hero, and he could run for mayor of Houston tomorrow and win by a landslide! The reason that nobody accuses Biggio of cheating or juicing is because the idea is absolutely absurd!

Answer 4

Are you kidding me!??? He's 41 and still in the game because he's a hard-nosed player... His abilities may have diminished, but he can still put up some decent numbers.... HGH has never been a factor... Unlike Bonds, he's a man of integrity, who plays the game the way it ought to be played...

Now, as far as the spike in homer production over the last few years, 1. the majority of them have been hit at Minute Maid with that short left porch. 2. He's been able to puch it over the wall and slap doubles down the left-field line due to an altered swing (he eliminated his high leg kick, allowing for a bit quicker reaction thru the strikezone).... These things, along with the trek to 3,000 are NOT... I repeat NOT the result of HGH... I mean has Biggio shown ANY signs whatsoever of bulking up? NO, he's been damn near the same size his entire career... to suggest HGH is about the dumbest thing I've ever heard....

Also, I fully expect him to retire after this season... His shoulder isn't what it used to be (gave him some trouble last year), his knee has caused him to lose a step, and I really don't anticipate that he'll want to play for another team... He and Bagwell both took exteme pride in playing for ONE team their entire careers... Not many can say that... He'll want to be one of 'em... To answer your question simply, they don't accuse Biggio of HGH because common sense overrides any thoughts of accusations pointed his way.

Answer 5

You can tell Biggio is aging though. He isn't hitting too well, his body is starting to wear down, and his defense isn't as good as it was. His arm is a little bit stronger this season because he had an arm injury and worked on fixing it over the winter. If you looked at Biggio you wouldn't be able to tell he was 40 either. Bonds power numbers suddenly jumped from around 20 for his first 6 years to around 40 in one year. Biggio is a year younger than Bonds, so I guess one can argue that Bonds is using HGH too?

Answer 6

This was brought up last year, Biggio hasn't taken HGH. Unlike Bonds, his name has never been brought up when in conversation with HGH, no one has ever accussed him of it. No one plays more to the book then Craig Biggio and the reason Biggio hits more HRs now in his later years is the short left field porch at Minute Maid Park. Now, when Biggio comes back with another team next year and breaks the doubles record at 42, thats when people will begin to further the discussion. But, he's been consistant his entire career, he was one of the best players of the 90s and it is a joke to even question his integrity.

On a side note, has anyone noticed this year, that as soon as Biggio is taken out of a game; take last nights long Pirates game, Houston is doomed to lose. He drives in the game tying run, he was 3 for 5 and then they take him out. Last season he had only 6 errors which was second in the league among regular 2nd basemen, he's not a huge defensive liability. And they take him out, they end up losing. They haven't won a game in which he didn't get at least two at bats in.

Answer 7

Because there is fairly overwhelming evidence of Bonds's use of such drugs. With Biggio (and many other players), there is no evidence, just speculation. While some are undoubtedly taking HGH or similar substances, they've been smart enough (or lucky enough) to keep it from becoming public. Bonds was not smart enough or unlucky enough that his use of performance-enhancing drugs has been widely reported.

Answer 8

Because the only record Biggio is gonna break is the HBP record. The sad thing is baseball is full of steroid users and their primary excuse was " It was legal at the time". Bonds will be remembered as a cheater (and rightly so). But there are many players that have gotten off without questioning. Hopefully the MLB can turn it around.

Answer 9

I agree with the fact that Bonds is seen as the only one that has taken the juice. While it is highly likely that he has, there is still no absolute proof, yet when Palmerio got busted, everyone just turned their backs to it basically. Why? Cause nobody likes bonds to begin with. MLB is a joke when it comes to drugs. They have found their scapegoat in bonds and intend to use him as the focuse for their investigation. My reasoning for this is that he is a big name AND will be retiring soon, so when he does leave, they can say the leauge is clean....

As far as Biggio taking something, who knows.

Answer 10

Then what the heck is Julio Franco taking. Newsflash....People have a longer life expectancy now than they did 20 Years ago. So, it would be expected that they are healthier longer. Unless we are all pounding HGH.