George Brett, the Hall-of-Fame baseball player for the Kansas City Royals, has indicated that he would be the first to boycott the Hall of Fame induction ceremony if an anabolic steroid user made it to Cooperstown. Brett claimed he never considered using anabolic steroids since he never lifted weights during his 21-year career. He made no mention of amphetamines.
“I never would have considered it (using steroids),” Brett said. “Hell, I never lifted a weight in my life. Why am I going to do steroids? That’s not going to do me any good.”
Brett expressed his disdain for steroid users during an interview with sports writer Bob McManaman of the Arizona Republic. He told McManaman that he would never vote for a steroid user if he were a member of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. According to Brett, Major League Baseball players linked to steroids like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Alex Rodriguez have no business in the Hall of Fame regardless of their achievements.
Brett has not been linked to steroids but he gained a reputation as a cheater during the infamous “Pine Tar incident” on July 24, 1983. Home plate umpire Tim McClelland nullified a two-run homer by Brett in the top of the ninth inning that would have made the Royals victorious over the New York Yankees. The reason for the nullified home run was due to the presence of pine tar past the permitted limit of 18 inches from the knob of the bat.
“I didn’t cheat,” Brett told McManaman. “Pine tar didn’t have anything to do with. It was just an oversight on my part.”
Brett not only suggested that he would boycott a Hall-of-Fame induction ceremony for a steroid user but also claimed that other Hall-of-Famers would join him in the boycott. He identified Mike Schmidt, the former star third baseman of the Philadelphia Phillies, as a Hall-of-Famer who felt similarly about steroid users in Cooperstown.
Perhaps, Brett didn’t realize that Schmidt has already gone on record stating the he would fully support and welcome steroid users like Alex Rodriguez to the Hall of Fame.
“I’d welcome him if he got elected to the Hall of Fame,” Schmidt said in 2009. “I always seem to walk down the middle of the fence. I understand the old hard-line guys that use the words, ‘He cheated. He cheated.’ And the other guys that go, ‘It was a culture thing back then.’ If you played then, you would have been tempted, too.”
Schmidt also offered advice that people like Brett may have missed.
People in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones,” advised Schmidt. “I don’t want to get that wrong. We’ve all got some things in our closet.”
George Brett, Photo credit: SW / Wikipedia
Source:
McManaman, B. (March 15, 2012). Hall of Famer George Brett speaks his mind about future eligible players. Retrieved from http://www.azcentral.com/sports/heatindex/articles/2012/03/15/20120315hall-famer-george-brett-speaks-his-mind.html
Zolecki, T. (February 18, 2009). Schmidt on fence over A-Rod’s use. Retrieved from http://mlb.mlb.com/news/article.jsp?ymd=20090218&content_id=3845430
