Some Things I Wish I Wrote

I came across a couple of blog posts yesterday that I wish I had written. Since I didn't, I figured I'd do the next best thing and send along the links.

First, there's this "History Lesson" from John over at Only Baseball Matters. He takes a look a Sports Illustrated article titled "Problems in a Turned-On World". The article's synopsis says this:

"The pill, capsule, vial and needle have become fixtures of the locker room as athletes increasingly turn to drugs in the hope of improving performances. This trend—one that poses a major threat to U.S. sport even though the Establishment either ignores or hushes up the issue—is explored here in Part I of a series"

The amazing thing about this article is its date: June 23, 1969! Here's a great quote from John's blog post:

"Bob Gibson? He’s one of the heroes these guys keep going on and on about. He’s one of those guys who would never, ever have used steroids, right, Lupica?

…. “We occasionally use Dexamyl and Dexedrine [amphetamines]…. We also use barbiturates, Seconal, Tuinal, Nembutal…. We also use some anti-depressants, Triavil, Tofranil, Valium…. But I don’t think the use of drugs is as prevalent in the Midwest as it is on the East and West coasts,” said Dr. I. C. Middleman, who, until his death last September, was team surgeon for the St. Louis baseball Cardinals.

Team surgeon? TEAM SURGEON!!!! How could that be? How could it be that the teams knew anything about this? The owners are paragons of virtue, men of impeccable character, who want nothing more than for the players to be healthy, happy and living on the same block as their sons and daughters, right?"

In the comments over there, Keith Smith mentions a couple of other SI articles worth taking a look at: Bil Gilbert's "Something Extra On the Ball", from June 30, 1969, and Terry Todd's "The Steroid Predicament" from August 1, 1983. They're all worth reading. If I find anymore, I'll definitely post them here.

Sadly, I was planning on writing a similar post myself, but now that this one has been written so well, there's no need. Make sure to check it out. (Hat tip to Baseball Musings for finding this.)

Secondly, and on a lighter note, comes "The Hollywood All-Stars" from Ron over at Baseball Over Here. Now this is something I hadn't thought of before, but, boy, do I wish I had! Inspired by a post he found over at RootZoo that tried to come up with the best possible baseball team team using only cinematic ballplayers, Ron took it a step further and filled out the 40-man roster.

It's a fun post, and makes you think some: minor league veteran Crash Davis or former major league All-Star Jake Taylor? Billy Chapel, the Maddux-like pitcher from For Love of the Game, or Nuke LaLoosh, the Randy Johnson-clone from Bull Durham? All-around talent Kelly Leak or masher Pedro Cerrano? And does Roger Dorn really belong at third? Some other names I'd throw out: from For Love of the Game, Gus Sinski at catcher (John C. Reilly's character) and Davis Birch in center (a Griffey-like figure), and from Brewster's Millions, Montgomery Brewster (pitcher) and Spike Nolan (catcher), though they weren't all that great. I also think that Joe Riggins, manager of the Durham Bulls, should get a shot at being on the coaching staff. But Ron did a pretty good job of filling that roster out. If you can think of anyone else, let him know.

Thanks for those great posts, guy. As I said before, those are definitley two posts that I wish I had done myself. Good job.