Minor Leaguers effected by the Steroid ERA were screwed

by rpm2419 on Aug 29, 2025 2:27 AM EDT

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3554767

I never even thought about this until i came upon this story but it makes a ton of sense. If i were a minor leaguer who actually played by the rules and was blackballed by the big leagues because of it I would be livid. Not only do you not get to live out your dream to play in the big leagues but also you give up millions to be stuck in the minors. Reilly's idea may be a little outside the box but if i was a guy who went through this i would have no problem bringing it to a court of law. Minor leaguers who played by the rules put up numbers but were passed by the roids user are equal victims as the guy who is passed up for promotion because some guy in the office put together a "shady" deal to make himself look good. No doubt MLB set the standards that cheating to win is ok and i think if some of the guys who were passed took action MLB would have a chance to redeem itself at least a little bit for the massive blind eye it turned for years.

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One problem

Good luck proving they were held back because they didn’t juice. Just because they played the same position as someone in the report, that doesn’t mean anything in the eyes of the law. Even if the juicer in question was F.P. Santangelo. ;)

"...and the only things I've found better than listening to Vin Scully are listening to Keith Jackson and uncut cocaine." (bleedjaxblue)

by drjayphd on Aug 29, 2025 2:33 AM EDT reply reply 0 recs

...and then there's that

"If you hit .440 with 20 bombs, you don't have to do s---. You don't have to bring a glove to practice, just hit and leave whenever you want. You can bring a 40 and smoke a cigarette and call me from the parking lot asking me what time the game is, and I'll tell you. You can even say 'F--- you, Steve!' Actually, don't say that, that wouldn't be very nice." -Steve Friend, Head Coach, Chabot College Gladiators Baseball

by flipgatey3 on Aug 29, 2025 2:33 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

can you edit your fanpost

and at least spell the words in your title correctly?

by flipgatey3 on Aug 29, 2025 2:33 AM EDT reply reply 0 recs

oops

Sorry about that i just typed it out in a couple seconds and paid no attention to it, my bad.

by rpm2419 on Aug 29, 2025 12:12 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

all good

although not to nit-pick too much, but “affected” is the proper form there

by flipgatey3 on Aug 29, 2025 5:52 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

Not only

is that a crap column idea, and years too late (other folks have already done this), and not only is Reilly a crap columnist but he manages to pick two HORRIBLE examples of guys to hold up as “deserving big leaguers.”

Jones and Garrett, while super AAA guys to have are just that. AAA guys. Lifers.
Garrett is a corner OFer with a thoroughly solid, but completely unspectacular, bat.. by AAA standards. Jones is a 1-tool million-strikeout minor league masher.

Plus, keep in mind that both are OFs. It is HARD to make the bigs as a marginal OF.

Have worse players played in MLB for a year or two, sure? And don’t Garrett and Jones deserve a Sept callup by someone, someday as at least a nod to their organizational service? Yeah.

But that doesn’t mean they were robbed of MLB chances. Even in a non-steroid ERA these guys wouldn’t be guys who would have substantial MLB careers

The link on ESPN’s page even talks about Jones as a “modern day Crash Davis,” which is fair. But think about Crash from the movie. Yeah, he had some talent, and he was useful but even he knew he wasn’t an MLBer.. hence he tried to give Nuke the head for the on and off-field stuff he needed to succeed because Crash knew he didn’t have those million dollar tools.

And Reilly referring to Garrett hitting “.378” one year is a joke. He hit .378 ONE MONTH.
IN COLORADO SPRINGS (aka AAA Coors Field)

by nms on Aug 29, 2025 2:56 AM EDT reply reply 0 recs

+1

Just looked at these guys stats and, outside of one magical season each, they’re both nondescript prospects who MIGHT have a shot on a really lousy team to be a bench player.

One thing these two both have in common is that neither have very good plate discipline at all. Think that might have something to do with it?

by Lunkwill Fook on Aug 29, 2025 10:14 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

-1

I think it’s an interesting choice, his motives for using players we don’t/won’t know, AAAA lifers I think is the correct one. These guys weren’t going to replace Sheffield or Giambi, they weren’t going to be superstars if they were called up. However, they could have reasonably been called up and played as bench players in the majors for a few years, which would have payed them more money than playing in the minors. Basically, if they had played for a few years as bench players behind the guys who would replace the guys who should long ago have retired due to the natural decline of their bodies, they would have made maybe double what their making now, maybe triple, and would have accomplished their dreams of playing in the major leagues.

“Non-descript” is the key to this article, “shot at the bench” is all they should have to prove. He’s not claiming they would have been better with steroids, he’s saying they were cheated out of a chance at basic pay rate increases due to the longevity of top and middle tier athletes who used steroids.

by phiago on Aug 31, 2025 10:10 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

couldn't agree more

Reilly is a hack, I cancelled my Sports Illustrated subscription years ago in large part because I loathed his writing so much. I was equally pissed when ESPN hired him.

Anyway, no way a lawsuit in this situation is actionable.

by wolviex18 on Aug 29, 2025 8:58 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

Eh

Any minor leaguer effected in the Steroid Era is still too young to be a major leaguer.

by aCone419 on Aug 29, 2025 10:19 AM EDT reply reply 0 recs

re

steroid era

1994 - 2002

most of those affected would either be in the Bigs or out of the game at this point

by ScottAZ on Aug 29, 2025 10:49 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

whoosh

It ruins the joke if I have to explain it to you.

by aCone419 on Aug 29, 2025 12:09 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

Years

The steroid era was alive and well until at least 2005, if not ’06.

by slurve on Aug 29, 2025 12:30 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

and

many would still say is alive and well today, just switched to undectable stuff and to HGH

by ScottAZ on Aug 29, 2025 1:32 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

Hrmm..

Scott, you’ve mentioned having contacts inside the game on more than one occasion. What leads you to this belief (without naming names, naturally)?

by GuyinNY on Aug 30, 2025 12:57 PM EDT up reply reply 0 recs

Thoughts

The cheaters will always attempt to be one step ahead of the system. The NFL has had testing for years but does anyone really think that it isn’t the most roided up league in pro sports?

"When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are all in confederacy against him."
-Jonathan Swift

by King Billy Royal on Aug 31, 2025 9:44 AM EDT up reply reply 0 recs