MLBTR Chat Transcript

@mfm4200: Do you believe pitchers like Greg Maddux, John Smoltz,and Tom Glavine were juicing, too? I’m not saying it’s impossible but I strongly doubt any of them did.

Maddux and Glavine were always weaklings that couldn’t throw hard and had no indications at any level of taking PEDs. Smoltz was very vocal in the media about supporting the idea of looking into the steroid abuse because he thought it was a problem. Schilling actually went in front of Congress and said he wanted more steroid testing and asked MLB to do the same even though no one accused him of it.

That sounds very different from what someone who has never been accused of taking steroids would do if they actually were. What about string bean Randy Johnson? Do you think he was juicing? I can’t tell you that you are wrong because I don’t 100% know. I do know all those guys fit the same criteria you listed to presume Schilling’s guilt and I don’t believe any of them did. I’ve never even heard suspicion of it.

Jeff Bagwell is in the Hall but he actually had that Sammy Sosa Cro-Magnum eyebrow ridge look going on that is a very well known side effect of steroid use. Pudge Rodriquez is in the Hall with a swirl of suspicion around him and his massive weight loss/power outage as soon as testing kicked in. You are certainly entitled to your own opinion but your logic seems to imply all great pitchers during the steroid era juiced. I don’t buy it and I don’t see Schilling as any more likely than any of them.

If the fact that Schilling was a good pitcher during the steroid era is your only justification for calling him a juicer I think there are several guys out there named Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, Mike Mussina, Pedro Martinez, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz who would say you have to do a lot better than that.