Numbers on Steroids is a look at baseball players during the 90s to see if anything screams out at you.
It's time for the Big Mac to get investigated. He didn't want to say he did steroids in congress so what do the stats look like?
Explaining It Away
Mark McGwire came into baseball as a massive slugger and continued that trend throughout his career. As a 23 year old rookie in 87 he hit 49 homers. Sure that did a little dipping during the next few years, but he was still hitting in the 30s every year without fail. The disturbing view is 1991 year where he hit .201 with 22 home runs, but this can possibly be partially explained away by his divorce and his subsequent quote that he did not lift any weights that entire year. Perhaps this was reason enough for him to dedicate himself to training so that he would never replicate that horrible season.
The Verdict
I actually think you can explain away most of the stats thanks to his overall career stats, especially his rookie year explosion, and his personal problems in his worst year. The issue with McGwire is the substance that was found in his locker, which wasn't illegal in baseball at the time but illegal everywhere else, and of course his testimoy in front of congress. His inability to deny anything just presents too much of a cloud to continue to believe in him being clean. So...
If You're Too Scared to Say You Didn't Do It Then You Probably Did It
It's time for the Big Mac to get investigated. He didn't want to say he did steroids in congress so what do the stats look like?
Averages Say: What's with the dip at 27 and the rocketing post 27?
At Bats Per Home Run Says: Why do the power numbers suddenly get way better in his 30s?
At Bats Per Home Run Says: Why do the power numbers suddenly get way better in his 30s?
Explaining It Away
Mark McGwire came into baseball as a massive slugger and continued that trend throughout his career. As a 23 year old rookie in 87 he hit 49 homers. Sure that did a little dipping during the next few years, but he was still hitting in the 30s every year without fail. The disturbing view is 1991 year where he hit .201 with 22 home runs, but this can possibly be partially explained away by his divorce and his subsequent quote that he did not lift any weights that entire year. Perhaps this was reason enough for him to dedicate himself to training so that he would never replicate that horrible season.
The Verdict
I actually think you can explain away most of the stats thanks to his overall career stats, especially his rookie year explosion, and his personal problems in his worst year. The issue with McGwire is the substance that was found in his locker, which wasn't illegal in baseball at the time but illegal everywhere else, and of course his testimoy in front of congress. His inability to deny anything just presents too much of a cloud to continue to believe in him being clean. So...
If You're Too Scared to Say You Didn't Do It Then You Probably Did It
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