I like to read articles about Carlos Delgado, as his years with the Jays made him one of my favorite all time players. You don't hear much about him these days, which kind of goes hand in hand with the theme of the article. Anyways, interesting read...especially this bit;
"
When I ran down the list, Mets first baseman Carlos Delgado stood out as the guy most pushed into the shadows. This season, be it anything close to ordinary for him, Delgado will become only the 11th player in baseball history with 500 home runs, 500 doubles and 1,500 RBIs. It is a club with no back door. The others: Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, Willie Mays, Frank Robinson, Eddie Murray, Griffey, Ramirez, Palmeiro and Bonds. And yet Delgado never is talked about as a first-ballot Hall of Famer, and is rarely discussed as a Hall of Famer at all. He started only one All-Star game (and made only one other, while a juiced Giambi started three), never won an MVP award (he was robbed of one by a juiced Rodriguez) and never won a home-run title (he once finished second to a juiced Rodriguez), even though he hit between 38 and 44 home runs seven times."
Delgado goes on to vehemently deny any steroid use;
"The first thing I needed to do was sound out Delgado on steroids, seeing that the unfortunate fallout from the era is that almost no one escapes suspicion. I began to ask him if he was tempted to try steroids, but he cut me off before I could even finish asking the question.
"Not one time," he said firmly. "I don't want to interrupt you, but ... People can think whatever they want. They're going to anyway. What are you going to do? React to what some guy in Kansas says, or some guy in Philadelphia says or some guy in L.A. says?"
If you believe Delgado and assume he is clean as he says, then that puts him in the top 10 sluggers of all time - you can take out Bonds and Palmeiro from that list of 11 players, leaving 9 plus Delgado.
Yet you never hear about the guy.
Full article here:
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200...ado/index.html