Numbers on Steroids is a look at baseball players during the 90s to see if anything screams out at you.
Ken Griffey Jr. is essentially the great clean hope. He's the one player with historic home run power who has never been remotely linked to performance enhancers. He's the one player who came up as a phenom and lived up to his hype. With his retirement yesterday, now is the best time to take a look at his numbers and verify the lack of suspicion.
Explaining It Away
Unlike the numbers of Bonds or others Griffey's fit the bill for what you would expect a major leaguer / phenom to do. He made the major leagues as a 19 year old and while his numbers were decent, they were spectacular. Over the course of the next few years his numbers steadily increased (1995 he was injured played 1/2 the season). Then after his age 27 season (the theoretical MLB prime) he steadily decreased.
The Verdict
All in all nothing in the numbers remotely suggests steroid usage unless it was constant from his high school days. He was a phenom that steadily improved to super stardom and then steadily faded until he finally was a mediocre player with no pop left in his bat at the age of 40.
Clean Stamp of Approval
Ken Griffey Jr. is essentially the great clean hope. He's the one player with historic home run power who has never been remotely linked to performance enhancers. He's the one player who came up as a phenom and lived up to his hype. With his retirement yesterday, now is the best time to take a look at his numbers and verify the lack of suspicion.
Averages Say: Initial ramp up into his prime and steady decline afterwards
At Bats Per Home Run Says: In 1993 Griffey turned 23 and started hitting homers at a high clip.
At Bats Per Home Run Says: In 1993 Griffey turned 23 and started hitting homers at a high clip.
Explaining It Away
Unlike the numbers of Bonds or others Griffey's fit the bill for what you would expect a major leaguer / phenom to do. He made the major leagues as a 19 year old and while his numbers were decent, they were spectacular. Over the course of the next few years his numbers steadily increased (1995 he was injured played 1/2 the season). Then after his age 27 season (the theoretical MLB prime) he steadily decreased.
The Verdict
All in all nothing in the numbers remotely suggests steroid usage unless it was constant from his high school days. He was a phenom that steadily improved to super stardom and then steadily faded until he finally was a mediocre player with no pop left in his bat at the age of 40.
Clean Stamp of Approval
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