Craig Calcaterra
flags a voice of reason on the steroid issue: Bob Gibson.
Guys have always been cheating. Period. It just takes a little different form today. I'm just glad they didn't have steroids when I was playing. I don't know what I would have done. It's very difficult to go out and perform when you know the guy next to you is taking steroids or some kind of drug to make you perform better and not do it yourself, to let this guy get an edge on you . . .
. . . I don't know that I really criticize the guys. Whoever the first guy is that started it, that's the guy I criticize. The rest of the guys just followed suit. I don't think its OK. I'm not sanctioning it, but I understand why it happens.
Gibson's statement pretty much crystallizes my thoughts on the steroid issue. It should have been the players who policed it, because they knew what was really going on. But nobody -- or almost nobody -- stepped up to the media or the union to get the others to stop it. So it became an arms race.
Yes, I'm glad the arms race is over, but I don't really blame or want to vilify the players who shot up. Either does Bob Gibson.
