Sunday, August 2, 2009

Another Hero Fails Us

No, not David Ortiz*; Ernest Hemingway, who evidently spied for the KGB. I imagine it was more a product of anti-fascism than a rabid pro-Stalinism, but nonetheless, I'll never read Nick Adams the same way. I once read about a conversation between he and John Dos Passos during the Spanish Civil War in which Dos Passos expresses disillusionment about the motives and tactics of the Republicans, and Hemingway responds dismissively, with something to the effect of, "This is a battle of us versus them; whose side are you on?"

Incidentally, the article linked above refers to Somerset Maugham as "forgotten" after mentioning his relationship with British intelligence. Forgotten by whom? I hope that's not true. 

*At this point, the only slugger for whom I think there is a reasonable possibility that he maybe didn't use steroids is Albert Pujols. His numbers aren't totally off-the-wall (so much as they are consistently really good), nor have they jumped around wildly, nor has is he obscenely muscle-bound. It would be nice if there were one star from the past 15 years whose numbers were legit. 

4 comments:

Mr. Trend said...

Almost-off-topic, but the other slugger besides Pujols who I think MAY have not done steroids was Jim Thome. Like you said - never startlingly gaudy numbers, and consistent (35-50) throughout his career.

pc said...

Yeah I'd buy Thome too; he was always pretty big, wasn't he?

Mr. Trend said...

Yeah, and he was always a "homer/double-or-strikeout" guy, too. And the only time he really faced injuries, it was logical. He'd always had back problems in Cleveland, but we could just DH him and let him sit on the bench during defense for weeks at a time, if needed. Once he went to Philly and had to play in the field everyday, his back started landing him on the DL frequently. Once he was back in the AL (with the ChiSox), that issue suddenly went away as he DH'ed again. That doesn't mean he didn't use PEDs, but he (together w/Pujols and Griffey) seem like the most legitimate "never juiced" guys.

pc said...

Exactly, more of a traditional power guy, Dave Kingman-style (although that's kind of an insult to Thome).