A Fairly Obvious User of Steroids

The bad news, somewhat, is that while the baseball community is prone to rumormongering, it isn’t reall full of conspiracy theorists (if it were, that bat to Mike Redmond’s head would have received a lot more scrutiny. Think about it. Ozzie Guillen has been prone to irrational though, especially while frustrated, and it’s been a tough year, and the Sox just got beat by 20, and Gardenhire had a catcher as the DH, so eliminating the one behind the plate would mean the pithcer would have to bat, giving the Sox a slight edge. I don’t believe this is true, of course, mostly because Thome is to classy to pull a stunt. Ozzie? Not so much.), at least when compared to the other four leagues. If it were, maybe other players would be investigated more thoroughly when they are introduced as candidates for possible steroid use, like Bret Boone, as an example, or Luis Gonzales names that aren’t Bonds or Sosa that have been bandied about.

If they want to pin a player though, it seems as there is a current player who looks as though he almost certainly juiced. That player is Steve Finley.
Early in his career, Finley was mostly a slap hitting, top or bottom of the order typr of guy. He played all 162 games at age 27, generally around the first year of a players increase in power stats. He hit 5 home runs and stole 44 bases. And so it went in Houston. In 1995, when Finley was 32, he went to San Diego, which has always been notorious as a hitters ball park. Players that stick around for a while usually put together their best seasons in terms of power around the age 32-33 season, the peak of a career arc, and age 32, Finley hit 10 homers.

Finley had his breakout year at age 33. After playing a year with admitted and now deceased steroid user Ken Caminiti, Finley’s homerun total tripled. Like I said, the typical player hits their career high in power stats around 32 or 33, not break out as a power hitter. If anything, players gradually transition to sluggers, actually more in the mold of Barry Bonds. Finley’s slugging percentage went up .111 points in one season. That just doesn’t happen in your 8th season in the league, especially in San Diego. Finley’s comparable players went from Mookie Wilson to Ruben Sierra in a matter of a couple seasons.

the most pertinent point is that Finley didn’t become a better hitter, just a more powerful hitter. In that jump of 20 home runs, his batting average went up only 1 point, and in the years following, his homerun totals remained in the 20s as his batting average was typically in the .260 range.

If my allegations are, in fact, accurate (something we’ll likely never know) I can’t say I entirely blame Finley. He started his career as a speedster, known for stolen bases and triples in Houston, and then he started lose that speedy touch. To be fair, he had aboided the Ken Caminiti temptation in Houston, but now with his livelihood threatened by aging legs, maybe he thought he needed a boost to continue his career. Maybe he was upset that of the sporting Finleys, he was the most nondescript, what with Chuck getting beaten by Tawny Kitaen and Michael being the basketball playing one. I don’t have anything against Finle. Rather, he’s an example I came across while looking up something else, so I don’t have a vendetta against the guy, but it seems to me that his is an example of how seriously Major League Baseball is, or rather is not, taking the whole steroids issue. I’m sure there are a couple other players out there that fit his profile as well, and it’s these guys baseball should look at if they want any credibility.