Gooden's off to prison

[LoneStarCubFan]

I have a legitimate question....

 

Why is it that this guy has not been banned from baseball yet? Is his cocaine addiction not as bad as gambling? I know he will probably not become a hall of famer but how many strikes will they allow guys like this. These drug addictions should be taken just as seriously as gambling/steroids if you ask me.

 

Do you need to ban a guy who pretty much banned himself?

 

Yes, because if he cleans up his act, I am sure someone would be willing to give him some sort of job at some level of a major league organization. I just dont think he should get to even sniff that possibility.

 

If he cleans up his act why shouldn't he have the opportunity to work for an MLB team?

[BigbadB]

Well I am a bit out of my league since I was all of 1 year old in 1985 so I don't think I followed baseball then as much as other people may have. I realized that after I wrote my previous response.

 

We were 4-14 against the Mets in 1985. They flat-out owned us that year. That was back in the glory days before the NL Central. The Mets were probably more hated as rivals than the Cardinals. People your age will probably never appreciate the hatred people my age and older hold for the Mets. A lot of it has gone away since the Central was added, but I still remember those days.

 

I just hate the Mets because they are a New York team and I tend to despise all teams from New York in any sport. I understand it's not the same thing.

 

Read up on the 1969 baseball season to get the full effect of Met hatred among elder Chicago fans. It was the one true chance for guys like Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, Ron Santo, Fergie Jenkins and Randy Hundley to make the playoffs and possibly win a World Series. There are a lot of years of service with the Cubs for the names listed above. It's a shame they never reached the promised land. That was a good Cubs team.

[NCCubFan]

For those not around back then, 1985 turned out to be a nightmare for the Cubs. They were coming off the division championship in 1984, and expected to contend again in 1985. Things looked good until early June. They spent some time in first place, and were within a few games of first continuously through the first part of the season. Then, the wheels fell off. The regular starting pitchers all suffered injuries and were on the DL at the same time (even worse than the current situation), and the Cubs had pitchers who were career minor leaguers, some no better than AA-caliber pitchers, in the rotation They didn't have prospects with potential similar to Guzman, Marshall, or Hill to step in and fill the void. As a result, the Cubs wound up well below .500. So when someone claims that it was the worst year pitching-wise from a Cub fan's perspective, that's true.

 

I also agree that the Mets were the Cubs' big rival back then (it all stemmed from 1969). The Mets were the Cubs' main competitors throughout most of 1984 (although I believe they faded to third by the end of the season). The Cardinals have always been rivals because of geographic proximity, but the Mets and Cubs were rivals because of pennant races.