Thank you for your e-mail.

It is our belief that the way to end the present steroid “witch hunt” would be if a player in the Hall of Fame admitted to using performance enhancing drugs. If a player made such an admission, the player would remain in the Hall and it would clear the way for other steroid era diamond heroes to enter the (hollowed?) Hall.

 

I believe any player in the Hall that made such an admission would become an even greater hero and would, in effect, save the game — or at least an era — of baseball.

 

We submit the question: Did Nolan Ryan use performance enhancing drugs?

 

As our investigation has evolved, we have been amazed at the anger & hatred the question elicits.

 

Our intent is not to master, nor “bring down” Nolan Ryan. Instead the hope has been to shed light.

 

Perhaps being overly dramatic, we feel like an isolated Bob Woodward overwhelmed by the Watergate coverup. Whispering “our lives may be in danger,” we ask you — either on or off the record — when you analyze Nolan Ryan’s statistics, do you believe there is reason for concern? Or are we off our rockers?

 

Sincerely,
Max Steingrout AKA The Chickenhawk

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I don’t see any reason to believe that Ryan used steroids, and I think it’s an improper line of journalistic enquiry.   The first half of your e-mail, I agree with.    I think that at some point, some player IN the Hall of Fame will be revealed to have used steroids, and this will change the discussion for the better.   From that point on the resistance to allowing steroid users into the Hall of Fame will gradually erode.   But I think it is very unlikely that Ryan used steroids, to begin with, and I think it is not right to target a person for investigation and innuendo without evidence. There must be a way to meet your larger goal–saving the game from the “steroid self-righteousness”–other than approaching it this way.  Bill