10
2013
Mike Piazza: Guilty By Association
An article by 
This should have been Piazza’s plaque being added into the Hall of Fame
So, like everyone else, I was very disappointed yesterday that Mike Piazza did not get elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame. And what was the reason? We all know that he has the stats during his career to be considered for the Hall. So, why didn’t he get in?
Piazza has been put in the group of players who played during the so-called “steroid era” and it’s just not fair. Where is the evidence that Mike was a cheater? Was his name in the Mitchell Report? Did Mike show obvious physical signs of steroid use? The answer to all of these questions is “no”.
In our country, we are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. With this result, Mike Piazza is considered guilty until he eventually gets voted into the Hall of Fame. This is not how we are supposed to view people in America.
I know that Mike will eventually get voted in – he’s just too good not to. He is arguably the greatest offensive catcher of all time. It’s just a shame that he has to be included with a group of players that everyone knows cheated. And hopefully, when Mike Piazza’s plaque is unveiled in Cooperstown, he will be sporting a Mets cap.
The people who are allowed to vote for these Hall of Fame players need to take a long hard look at the process in general. Maybe the voters need to include others, like broadcasters and current Hall of Famers who would be willing to take an objective look at the whole thing. The writers alone should not be the sole voters – it’s leaving out many more qualified individuals who could look past the suspicions and rumors to elect players worthy of the Hall and what it is supposed to represent.
Mike Piazza will get elected someday – - and that day will be a wonderful celebration for the man who lifted our spirits after September 11th and showed leadership and passion for the game. Thank you, Mike for all that you did for the Mets and the fans. You are already a Hall of Famer to us.
About the Author: Clare Lafferty
A Mets fan since 1968, Clare lives in southern New Jersey in a suburb near Philadelphia.. Her first favorite Met was Cleon Jones and my current one is David Wright. My favorite Mets moment aside from Game 6 was Robin Ventura's grand slam single.
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Combination of a lot of dumb ideologies resulted in Biggio and Piazza, two players who I classified as no-doubt HoFers in my mind, missing out on the Hall.
I’m pretty sure the two of them will get in next year and I’ll be happy when it happens. If Piazza doesn’t get in next year either, the riot will be incredible – because the “first ballot” excuse will be out the window.
i was listening to a sports writer on WFAN yesterday cant recall who it was I think he was on with Frnacessa. And from what I understand the reason a lot of writers shied away from voting Piazza in this year was due to a book(biography) he has written. It was was scheduled to come out this year prior to the hall of fame vote that took place yesterday but it was mysteriously postponed.
Apparently some writers are under the impression that in order for a baseball player to sell books they would have to have something big to write about like a scandal….For example: an admission of steroids.
And we all know sports writers particularly baseball writers are Geniuses that wont be and cant be outsmarted because they have much more intelligence than us mere mortals.
But there are 2 things that can be the reason for the book being postponed.
1. Piazza admits steroid use in the book and wants to be voted in 1st before telling the world. And the controversy and publicity received from this firestorm money couldnt buy.
2. Piazza wanted to get voted into the hall of fame 1st before releasing the book because the publicity generated from the hall of Fame hoopla will sell more books. Plus doesnt hurt sales to sell a book about a hall of famer Mike Piazza rather than plain old Catcher Mike Piazza.
Time reveals all truths!
Heres an article I found online saying as much
http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/bitterbill/2013/01/i-wonder-what-the-heck-is-in-this-mike-piazza-book
I work in publishing. Your second scenario is much more plausible than your first. The hype over a Hall of Fame induction will sell a much greater number of books. Also, the original date of release is a horrible time of year to release a book. Stores (and readers) are glutted after Christmas. Or, of course, it could be that the book was late delivering. (Mike has a ghost writer on this book. Athletes are not generally very proficient writers.)
It makes precious little sense to me that Piazza would incriminate himself in his book. To do that would take a remarkable gamble on his part that he was going to get elected. And if he didn’t (which has what’s come to pass) any admission would be bound to totally scotch his chances of getting in.
My suspicion is that what you’ll hear in the book about steroids is a lot of “Isn’t it terrible?” and “Boy, I’m sure glad I didn’t do that” and “When I said I took stuff off the record I was talking about Muscle Milk”. I am guessing about the book’s content….but I think it’s a good guess.
“(Mike has a ghost writer on this book. Athletes are not generally very proficient writers.)”
Lol…It was just a figure of speech I wasnt suggesting that he wrote it himself…
Thats another reason why I dont think he admits to using roids/hgh…too many eyes would have been privy to the book prior to release and you would of heard some kinds of whispers.
And you would have heard them promoting what a bombshell this book was going to be. They haven’t. Their blurb on Amazon reads:
“He addresses the steroid controversy that hovered around him and Major League Baseball during his time and provides valuable perspective on the subject.”
“Valuable perspective” tells me we’re going to get platitudes or pontificating or head-shaking — not confession or accusation.
The book does not appear to be advancing particularly well. On Amazon, its demand is lagging behind the bios of LaRussa, Terry Francona, and even Frank Pastore — a journeyman pitcher turned Christian radio talk show host. I don’t believe this book is going to pack any particular punch. Again…just my guess.
No sooner said….
A tweet from Adam Rubin:
Lonnie Wheeler, co-author of Mike Piazza’s upcoming autobiography, told Newsday Piazza will address steroids — and deny use — in book.
BBLB? THE CONCEPT, PIAZZA WOULD REVEAL SUCGH A SELF-CONDEMNATION IS INCONCEIVABLE; HOWEVER THE CIONCEPT THAT SUCH AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY WRITTEN BY A FRESHLY MINTED HOFere IS EXTREMELY SOUND MARKETING CONCEPT.
I TEND TO BELIEVE BILL MADDEN’S REASONING THAT THERE HAS BEEN CONSIDERABLE WHISPERING SURROUNDING MIKE & ‘ROIDS FOR SOMETIME IN MLB LOCKERROOMS. THE SIMPLE FACVT THAT THRERE’S AN ESTABLISHED LIST OF 100+ NAMES OF INJECTORS YET TO BE RELEASED HAS ASTUTE VOTERS WANTING TIME TO CONSIDER THE LIKES OF PIAZZA & BIGGIO SIMPLY BECAUSE ONCE VOTED INTO THE HALL THERE IS NO EXTRICATING THEM IF THEIR NAMES ARE ON SAID LIST OF CONDEMNED.
AS TO AUTHOR’S INNOCENT/GUILTY RANT I SHOULD THINK THE SIMPLE COURT OF POPULAR OPINION IS EXEMPT FROM SUCH A PROUD & HONORABLE TRADITION. MUCH LIKE THE CONCEPT OF “TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION BEING TYRANY IS MODIFIEDB TO ALLOW MILLIONS OF VOTERS AN EXEMPTION FROM TAXATION WHILE THOUSANDS OF TAXED ENTITIES [CORPORATIONS] ARE LEGISLATIVELY EXCLUDED FROM POLL PARTICIPATION.
IT APPEARS THAT HOF INDUCTION IS AN HONOR, WHILE FIRST BALLOT SELECTION IS A PRIVLEDGE RESERVED FOR THE FEWEST.
Huh, a new writer. Welcome to the MMO family, or in your case, the MMO IMMORTALS family. Great job on this, we’ve covered this all morning. kudos from the CORE & THE DRUNK TANK buddies..
Hey Alex,
I think Clare started in August last year. Although I’m sure she’ll appreciate the welcome, lol.
Lmao, @ perseus.. Satish you’re too much, and thanks for the heads up. I did not know, it’s good to see new writers here and see what they bring to the table.
HI Clare,
It’s not a matter of innocent until being proved guilty but rather a cloud that all the players and owners together created themselves. It probably was not intentional by those who took the drugs or were indifferent to it one way or the other and most likely was they could not simply forsee the severity of the reaction by the fans Does not make them bad people or underserving of the hall of fame but for many of us it opens up not the question of personal integrity but the integrity of the actual athletic performance.
It’s because many of us grew up when we saw our most cherished records broken by Roger Maris and Hank Aaron. They were important to us. As we saw, those records became important as well to McGwire, Sosa and Bonds as well as they strived to break them.
It’s because those things were so important to many of us is that we feel that whole generation – and it is not a moral question or one of even cheating – took away from the integrity of the performance that we respect. Others might feel it allowed these athletics to do things never done before and it was great to see.
Depends upon the opinion. But if one does not want to see Sammy Sosa using a corked bat, the same has to be said about using a corked body – for everyone. Otherwise, allow for the bat to be corked as well.
“It’s not a matter of innocent until being proved guilty but rather a cloud that all the players and owners together created themselves.”
And the writers. They were complacent in all of this.
“It’s because many of us grew up when we saw our most cherished records broken by Roger Maris and Hank Aaron.”
Yes, 61* was a very important record.
And let’s not forget that they all admitted to using banned substances that were also illegal.
“It’s because those things were so important to many of us is that we feel that whole generation – and it is not a moral question or one of even cheating – took away from the integrity of the performance that we respect.”
The problem I have with that is you are so obviously viewing things through rose colored glasses. Now, if it were just you reminiscing, I’d say more power to you. But people who should know better (BBWAA) are using it against players.
“But if one does not want to see Sammy Sosa using a corked bat, the same has to be said about using a corked body – for everyone. Otherwise, allow for the bat to be corked as well.”
Except corked bats were already banned when Sosa got caught.
If you were to say no one who used since the ban should be allowed in, I’d be with you. If you say you want them gone, fine.
I take issue with a post facto witch hunt led by the very people who rode the gravy train with the players.
Hi Donal,
That is all I am doing – reminiscing about how those records meant something to us, as did the individual career totals of the players who made the hall of fame. I said, it is not a moral issue on my part even though I don’t believe the players would have cared about how many of us felt about those records anyway.
Yes, the drugs made for a more exciting game for me as well. Seeing Canseco blast a ball into the upper deck at Sky Dome was awesome as it was with ARod hitting a shot more than half way up the back wall of the former visitor’s bullpen at the old Yankee Stadium. It was thrilling when I was at a game and saw Mo Vaughan hit a ball that bounced high off the old right field scoreboard at Shea. Although I was sad to see Roger Maris’s record broken, it was exciting to see it happen.
But I would want to see it happen without a juiced up body. With the juice, even sixty home runs a season became nothing of special. It’s a matter of feeling it was unfair to us who loved seeing records being challenged. Others don’t see it being unfair and thus have that different perspective mentioned earlier.
I feel as strongly as you do about the hypocrisy of those BBWA witch-hunters who were in on the drug use as much as the players, managers, owners and commissioner were. I was seething with anger as Mike Francesa said it was hidden by the media then happens to mention he had his suspicions as well. Now, I don’t know what Mike might have said during the late nineties before the use came out publicly but I don’t recall it being an issue raised very often on his show. If I am right on this, then he is even a bigger hypocrite than the hypocrites he is pointing fingers to. It’s saying it was OK for me not to pursue the subject more but not OK for you.
And in relation to Selig, that was a pathetic statement he made yesterday, completely evading the issue which he knew caused nobody to be elected to the hall of fame this year – an issue of which he himself was a major player of in exploiting it for the big money it was bringing in.
Yeah it was unfortunate that Biggio, Piazza, Morris and Schilling being mixed up with these cheaters. I hope next year will have a brighter and more upside inductions in 2014. The cheaters should never and ever will be in the baseball hall of fame in my opinion.
I loved hearing that Joe and Evan ripped Davidoff apart, who apparently voted based on WAR or something stupid like that.
Piazza has the 7th highest WAR of all time for catchers. 4 of the 6 ahead of him are in the HoF. The other 2 are Joe Torre and Pudge Rodriguez, who himself is probably going to the HoF.
So, that makes the WAR excuse really dumb.
So…..Joe Torre was a better player than Piazza?
He had some pretty good extra base power. Of course, Torre also had quite a few more PAs than Piazza, which also factors into a higher WAR.
I’m using fWAR. Baseball Reference has Piazza tied with Berra at 5th, well ahead of Torre.
I listened to the entire interview, he did rip him. Afterward I DMed him on Twitter he admitted he was wrong and wished he would have included Piazza. He also posted as much in an updated article on the matter and also publicly on Twitter. So I feel he got taken in by that stat and realized the error of error of relying on WAR and JAWS.
BREAKING NEWS!!!!! Justin Upton just rejected a trade to Seattle
http://msn.foxsports.com/mlb/story/justin-upton-seattle-mariners-no-trade-clause-texas-rangers-atlanta-braves-still-interested-011013
This CBS article goes on to add that according to it’s sources the deal would have included from Seattle relievers Charlie Furbush and Stephen Pryor, minor-league shortstop Nick Franklin and, likely, one of three minor-league starting pitching prospects: Right-hander Taijuan Walker, lefty James Paxton or lefty Danny Hultzen.
http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/blog/scott-miller/21535174/justin-upton-rejects-deal-to-mariners-but-still-could-be-shorttimer-in-arizona
Former NYTimes sportswriter Murray Chass has been telling anyone who will listen to him that Piazza was a steroid user – how did he know? The acne on his back.
He has run a one man campaing against Piazza for years now.
This from his blog last week:
“Maybe the two writers who told me they voted for Biggio will come to a similar conclusion before the next vote. Those writers said they also voted for Piazza, which is troubling because I don’t know if there’s anyone in baseball who doesn’t think Piazza used steroids.
For some reason, the news media have not talked about the former catcher and steroids the way they have talked about Bonds, Clemens and Sosa. When I worked for The New York Times, I tried more than once to write about Piazza and steroids, but the baseball editor said I couldn’t because his name hadn’t been linked to steroids.
I can link his name to steroids, I countered, but I had to wait until I started this Web site to talk about Piazza’s acne-covered back, a generally accepted telltale sign of steroids use. Piazza’s passionate fans ridiculed me for that assertion (and surely will again) and ignored the fact that Piazza’s back cleared up as soon as baseball began testing for steroids.
A book for which Simon & Schuster paid Piazza an advance of $800,000 or $750,000 had been scheduled for publication next month, but there’s talk about a delay because of a dispute between the publisher and Piazza over the subject of steroids and their presence in the book.
The Hall of Fame wouldn’t look too good if Piazza were elected next week, and then his book came out with his admission that he used steroids. But maybe the Hall doesn’t care about Steroids.”
Full blog: http://www.murraychass.com/?p=5663
Chass, for you who didn’t follow him, was always a Mets hater. He despised Bobby Valentine – he thought Willie Randolph was a great manager – probably because he knew deep inside how bad he was. Anything the Yankees did was great and the Mets were pathetic.
And this is years before they became pathetic!
I don’t know what Mike did to Murray besides become a Met.
Knowing the way Piazza handled things I don’t think he would give Chass the time of day despite the allegations. But if Chass is ruining Piazza’s reputation simply on his feeling that Piazza was a doper because he had pimples on his back when he played and no longer has them now, then Chass should be ashamed of himself.
I didn’t like Chass when he was with the Times – I don’t like him now.
I used to have a lot of respect for Chass before it turned into disdain.
Hey Joe -
Chass was a respected baseball writer but for reasons that I can only guess, he became full of himself and turned into an arrogant, petty man.
This is not about baseball knowledge which I’m sure he has a lot of, this is about using his NYTimes column and now his blog to character assassinate. Making a statement like “…I don’t know if there’s anyone in baseball who doesn’t think Piazza used steroids.” is irresponsible because I think that if everyone in baseball thought Piazza used steroids then it would have come out. In today’s 24 hour news fetish and the internet you simply can’t hide something like that.
Did Piazza ever use steroids? I don’t know definitively. I have no proof that he did. I did know someone who was very close to Piazza – spent a lot of time with him while he was with the Mets – she says no way! I believe her.
And until someone steps forward with a Fed Ex Box with dirty syringes or I hear leaked grand jury testimony that Piazza told a girlfriend that he used or a teammate who says he saw Piazza injecting himself or anything that would make us wonder – then I will continue to believe that Mike was clean and deserves to be in the Hall.
Nice job, Clare!
Don’t know what he will say in the book but he ADMITTED BRIEFLY USING ANDRO early in his career. I found this from a New York Times article from 2002 when the steroids scandal was first breaking . http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/30/sports/baseball-steroid-use-becomes-a-topic-of-discussion-in-clubhouses.html
A look at his stats shows that with the exception of the 1994 strike year from ’93 to ’02 he hit 30 or more HR’s. In 2003 with the scandal blown wide open and players being tested he hit 13 and no more then 24 there after. He was also getting injured more. Both symptoms can be plausibly attributed to advancing age as well as coming off ‘roids. If he went off ‘roids from ’03 on he could definitely say he never tested positive for it. A book by Jeff Pearlmen has actual quotes from named opponents who believed he did it. I did not “prove” he did it during his time here but I made a strong enough circumstantial case that we should automatic dismissing the idea that he juiced here is far from warranted. He is the 2nd most popular Met of all time and all around class guy. Maybe as with Andy Pettite another admitted “brief” user being and all around class guy should and will count for a lot, that is a judgement call for you but that judgement call should be made with all the information possible..
Andro is NOT the same thing as anabolic steroids. For one thing andro was completely legal at the time. MLB didn’t ban it and it wasn’t banned in the U.S. either. Second, andro, while a precursor to steroids, does NOT have the same impact on performance that steroids do. So, for many reasons, it would be unfair to compare Piazza to Pettitte. What Pettitte did was against both MLB rules and illegal in the U.S.
Also, I think Pearlman is referencing the andro admissions in his book, but it’s interesting he never says “andro” but instead uses the generic term “PEDs.” I think he did it to sell more books and smear Piazza. Because if he said “andro” then it’s no big deal. But if he says “PEDs” well then people can speculate and assume it means anabolic steroids. And it’s important to note that not once in that passage regarding Piazza’s admission does he use the word “steroids.” Only when he starts to talk about Reggie Jefferson’s wild speculation does he say “steroids.” So he purposely leaves it up to the reader to make the worst assumption.
So, Pearlman in my book is just as bad as Chass.
A guy who is such an expert…. Must be a user or a maker of it. How much did it help you?
I’m Victor Conte posting under an alias. Didn’t you know??!
It is a steroid and increases testosterone for a short period of time. Not enough studies have been done to see it it increases strength.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Androstenedione
It’s not an anabolic steroid, though, which is different in nature from a generic steroid. It technically is a precursor to a steroid. Bottom line, it is not the illegal heavy duty anabolic steroid drugs that Bonds and Clemens used to break records.
What bothers me is how Pearlman insinuates in his book that Piazza admitted to taking anabolic steroids. He did no such thing.
Goose Gossage has become my favorite Ex-Yankee player—
Read:: Yankees great Gossage says he won’t go back to Hall of Fame if Bonds, Clemens elected http://www.nypost.com/p/blogs/yankeesblog/yankees_great_gossage_says_fame_iTzWhacqKki0Gb82lpSGaM#ixzz2HfPdRC1Y
I’m actually mad at him. Gossage said in an interview with Joe and Evan yesterday that he knew “something was going on”. He’s either talking out of his butt now with hindsight or he stayed quiet just like everyone else.
He was quiet as a tomb about the subject until it became safe, even trendy, to speak out.
Gossage said the same things on the FAN yesterday. I never thought this would be possible, but everything he said in that interview I agree with. His views match mine exactly.
He said:
–Piazza belongs in the HOF because there is no substantive evidence against him like there is for Bonds and Clemens
–Bonds and Clemens don’t belong because there is substantive evidence they cheated and he won’t attend their induction ceremonies is they are ever inducted
–If a HOF member were later found to have cheated with steroids, then his plaque should come down. They take away Olympic medals after the fact. So why not HOF plaques? What’s the big deal?
–Regarding the spit ball and guys like Gaylord Perry, well more power to them for being able to do that little manipulation. It is not the same thing as steroids.
While I don’t applaud the spitball the way Gossage does, I agree with him that the spitball is not the same thing as anabolic steroids. And so I have no problem with Perry in the HOF either.
And Gossage was right. Just take the plaque away if a player is later found to have done steroids. If they put in such a rule, then that would solve the silly issue of many writers afraid that a player they vote in will later be found to be a cheater. Withholding a vote for this reason is silly so the rule should make that a moot point.
Hopefully he will lobby the HOF for such rule changes. I believe it’s not MLB who decides such things but rather the HOF executive committee.
“While I don’t applaud the spitball the way Gossage does, I agree with him that the spitball is not the same thing as anabolic steroids.”
The difference being there were actually rules against doctoring the ball when Perry played.
And there were MLB bans in place covering steroids (any substance banned in the U.S.). So those who like to say there was no ban against steroids in place at the time are wrong.
Also, as Gossage said yesterday (he was asked about the very same thing) the players knew it was wrong. They went to great lengths to hide it. They knew.
There was no official PED policy until 2002.
Unless of course we are honest with ourselves and admit that amphetamines should fall into that category. Baseball specifically banned them in the 1960s, and players still used them after. I wonder why Goose never says anything about that.
“Also, as Gossage said yesterday (he was asked about the very same thing) the players knew it was wrong. They went to great lengths to hide it. They knew.”
which is why I don’t care for his current moral outrage.
Yes, there were. And they’ve been outlined in the Mitchell report and other places.
In 1971, MLB banned the illigal use, posession, and distribution of drugs including the use of any prescription drug unless prescribed by a physician. This essentially mandated compliance with federal, state and local drug laws. At that time, steroids were banned in the U.S. (except by prescription) by the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.
In 1991, Fay Vincent issued a memo expressly listing steroids as against MLB’s drug policy.
Again, the problem was that there was no testing — no cops on the street — so players figured at the time if they kept it under wraps, no one would ever know. Little did they know!
I believe you can still download the Mitchell report on the web. If not, let me know and I’ll upload it for you to a file sharing site. Read the beginning of the report. It clearly outlines how steroids were illegal in baseball far back before Canseco started using.
I also have zero issue with greenies. Heck, I took them myself in college pulling all-nighters. There is nothing especially magical about them.
Baseball players had been taking greenies for decades prior to the steroids era and they never resulted in unnatural bumps in HR production the way steroids did … or players in their late 30s having CAREER years. It could be argued that Aaron had a career year in his late 30s, but it you look at his record, it wasn’t far off from his previous stats. He had no unnatural bump.
At least half the ’86 Mets team probably took them and no one had unnatural numbers that year.
So I’m in complete agreement with Gossage. I applaud his stance.
For those scoring at home, I did not take greenies in college to stay up because I didn’t care enough about school to do so.
Metro 12 – Apparently you’re the THIRD person here who is or will be accused of being an alter ego of me. Just a few words of advice – don’t let it chase you from MMO and consider it a compliment when considering the source of the accusation.
Be well.
LOL, thanks and no worries.
Controlled substances? check
Federal laws about their distribution and use? Check
Used by players without valid prescriptions? check
Used by players to enhance their performance? check.
Banned by Major League Baseball? check.
Negative side effects that can cause permanent damage, especially when used by younger people still developing their bodies? Check.
So, where to greenies not fall into the same category as steroids?
Because they don’t have the ability to distort the playing field the way anabolic steroids do. They don’t enable anyone to have career years that are significantly better than any year before at the ripe old age of 37 and 39. They don’t allow a power pitcher to extend his career into the late 30s and win CY awards. They don’t enable someone to become the fastest man on earth!
Are they a PED? Yes. But a relatively mild one.
So, they didn’t allow players to pad their stats by keeping them going longer into the season?
Also, there is more documented evidence for the effectiveness of amphetamines than there is for hGH.
Donal, no one said that. But with greenies, a player maybe got a little thin padding. With anabolic steroids it was like super thick industrial-strength padding.
As for HGH, how is that relevant regarding greenies vs. steroids?
To expand on that, it’s really annoying when people say there were no rules against steroids at the time.
There were definitely rules against it. And the Mitchell report outlines them. The problem was that there was no enforcement. IOW, no testing which would have been the chief way to enforce the rules. That’s the fault of the players, the players union, the commissioner and the owners. I give the media only partial blame and much less than those other parties. It took Congress to force the players and the union to accept testing.
There are Federal laws that have been in place, so they have been using illegaly:
Federal and most state laws dictate that the sales of anabolic steroids, possession of steroids, or possession of steroids with intent to sell, are all classified as felonies. Any individual who is convicted of the sale of steroids, or possesses steroids unlawfully with intent to sell, may be penalized by up to five years in prison under federal law. That same individual may face more than 5 years of punishment, depending on their states law. Almost every state has sanctioned various laws placing anabolic steroids in the Controlled Substance category.
We as Met fans knew Hundley and Dykstra were not taking “vitamins” and pumping iron when they came in all pumped up from one season to the next. The team, GM, Manager and even Owners must have looked at guys coming in and wondering how they did this over the winter and not questioned it.If you look at Piazza over his whole career, he looks about the same. So unless he was doing it before he got to the majors, we don’t know.
We’re talking about degree here.
Yes, greenies allowed players not to tire out and as Keith Hernandez has observed, that is why we see players less alert in extra inning games. So greenies prevented their performance level from dropping during a game and toward the end of the season. Unfair advantage, especially when it comes to records achieved by generations before that. But, at the same time, those older players had an unfair advantage in that they didn’t have to deal with the physical rigors of cross-country traveling and having to play a game in New York one day and Los Angeles the next night or flying from one city to another after a night game. In the old days, a western swing meant catching an early evening overnight train ride to St. Louis.
As far as greenies, I used to take “no-doze” which was a non-prescription strength over the counter pill to keep me awake for whatever purposes. Didn’t work, however, for I usually wound up falling asleep even faster.