Griffey is among the sainted “He didn’t do steroids” for a few reasons, none of them having to do with his work ethic.

1. Steroids is connected with a sudden surge in stats and a body change: Bonds/McGwire/Sosa all suddenly became ungoldly good where they were just good, and it was due to steroids. Griffey was a prodigy growing up, a preternaturally talented kid who was always a blessed athlete. His stats, were you to graph them, never spiked unnaturally after he turned 35. He also physically matured normally – no increase in head size, no outrageous torso expansion, etc.

2. Griffey didn’t “work out” in the weight room-bench press way, because his belief was that flexibility is more important than strength in hitting. He worked on baseball skills, but the type of weight lifting that steroids helps you recover from isn’t something he ever did. He considered it antithetical to his baseball game. Jtopps has taken an interview out of context, he doesn’t “work out” in the sense that he gets in the weightroom and pushes the barbell up, but the man fucking practiced and played ball seriously. For you (jtopps) to say this sentence – “Basically he hit 600 homeruns without giving a crap at all, which is pretty ridiculous but at the same time how is that good?” – really makes you one of the stupidest people of all time. You cannot be a professional baseball player and not give a crap. If you think for a second that any top level player in a major sport is coasting off natural talent, you have no comprehension of athletics of any sort. You’re an idiot. It’s fucking impossible to be that good at anything and not work at it. IMPOSSIBLE.

YOU CANNOT HIT MORE HOME RUNS THAN 99.999 PERCENT OF THE PEOPLE WHO HAVE EVER PLAYED BASEBALL WITHOUT GIVING A CRAP!!

Jesus, what a stupid ass you are. Clemens worked out? Really? Because the last time I saw his ass on the field, it was still 30 or so pounds overweight. The guy played fat for like most of his career. He might have done arm and leg work for strength and used roids to recover, but the man couldn’t walk around the bases without sweating. So shove him up your ass.

3. Griffey was injured frequently, as many have commented. Sometimes you just get injured. Hamstring injuries are notoriously hard to completely recover from. It’s used sometimes for (stupid) people to lament that Griffey didn’t reach his full potential, forgetting he’s probably one of the top 20 players ever to play the game. In either case, it points to his not being on roids – they help you recover from injuries and heal faster (Pettitte, for example).

4. Lumping together players under the umbrella of “suspicion” or whatever the poster is saying is patently useless and intellectually dishonest. Look at this this way: steroids and their use and the reaction from the fans and press is basically an exaggeration of how we like the players themselves. ARod and Barry have no fans, so everyone used the roids to hate them. Same thing with Clemens. Sosa and McGwire we hate because they didn’t sack up and admit anything. Pettitte and Giambi get a pass for being honest. Manny overwhelms with force of personality, Ortiz provokes shock because he’s fat and he’s also a fan favorite. There is no single thread that runs through the whole roster of all major league teams.

Also, Griffey had a lot of hamstring and leg issues during his time in the ‘Nati. In addition to, you know, being totally average.