Buck Weaver

[Arlo]

With all the debate about Shoeless Joe, how do you guys feel about Buck Weaver?

[Tavish]

He should removed from the banned list. He still wouldn't belong in the Hall of Fame simply because he wasn't good enough.

[frog99]

Didn't want to be a rat, and paid the price.

[Tavish]

Didn't want to be a rat, and paid the price.

This might be somewhat off topic, but what the hell might as well see if we can get a discussion going. Where would the steriod issue rank in comparison to the Black Sox fix? I don't consider the steriod issue to be quite on the same level, but not very far below. Both attack the credibility of the game and demean the integrity of those who play the game "the right way".

If players are found guilty of using steroids should they be banned from the game? Baseball took incredible publicity hits for the way they handled the cocaine explosion in the 80s and that is a drug which really had little effect to on the field play (at least in comparision to steroid use). If Weaver is being banned for having knowledge about a fix and not sharing it, shouldn't there be a witch hunt for those who knew about steroid use and did not want to rat out teammates or other fellow players?

I would start a new topic on the subject, but until the I read the quoted comment I never really thought about it in comparison to the Black Sox.

[LBJackal]

Were steroids even banned when McGwire played? Are they now? It might be a stupid question, but I thought I heard that they weren't banned, since it's legal to go somewhere else, use them, and play baseball. The only thing was that they're illegal in the US, not MLB. This might sound really dumb, but I thought I heard it before. If it's true, then you can't prove where the steroids were used, therefore no rules were broken. A la Ken Caminitti when he played for SD and drove to Mexico to get roids.

[Tavish]

Well there are substances that are banned ( not much of a chemist so I'm not sure the exact name... anabolic steroids perhaps?). And I'm not talking about the general mass-building things (ala Creatin), more specifically the ones that are banned by the game.

As far as the legality question, it works both ways basically. I'm not sure if taking steroids is illegal ( I really doubt it) but neither was fixing a baseball game. Both are actions that were only "illegal" within the confines of the game.

If a player was proven guilty of taking a prohibited steroid ( one that was illegal at the time they were taking it) would they be as harmful to the game as the Black Sox?