D'Backs Feedback

In our bi-weekly segment, D'Backs Feedback, the FutureBacks.com readers shoot back at the writers, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse. This is the last DBF of the month, so in the spirit of Sunday's Oscars...And the winner is...Joe V of Glendale Arizona! Joe get's our Feedback of the Month award, winning a FutureBacks.com T-Shirt and a free one year 'Premium Subsciption' to FutureBacks.com.

I talk to my son about all sports, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I recently took him down memory lane with some past sluggers like Bob Horner and Dale Murphy to name a few. I remember when 35-40 home runs were considered a great feat in itself for a season high homerun total. That was good times.

In recent years players homerun totals were going beyond 35-40. I told my son I do not believe this is not normal. Unless the pitchers really were floating the ball for the batters to hit. This is the bad.

Now we have the steroid issues and other drug abuse going on in baseball. Jose naming names and pointing fingers. The denials and the court room hearings taking place. This is the ugly.

I believe baseball can be a good sport to watch and enjoy with the family by going to the ball park and eating a dog, and collecting the cards and just maybe your favorite team wins. There is a black mark on baseball and I believe the MLB should get even more involved with this issue of drug abuse. ZERO TOLERANCE. A player gets caught using or cheating I believe MLB should ban a player just like the Olympic committee does.

 

Mike 

There aren't many things uglier than a cheater, and Jose openly admits to being one of those, but Chad Jones' whole 'Blue Falcon' theory is almost as ugly.  Is Jose Canseco a better person because now that he's out of baseball he's naming names?  No.  But if someone, perhaps a clean player (are there any of those left) had stepped up earlier, maybe we would be able to look back on the last 20 years in baseball and not wonder if those records are real.  Instead of a 'Blue Falcon' what we needed was one of the Blue Angels.

Steve

Phoenix, AZ

How refreshing to hear a player ask for fan support (Player Journal: Alex Frazier) rather than demand it, or worse yet, scream that he should just be left alone.  I know it might be selfish, but I'm hoping Alex starts 2005 at South Bend, just so I can come out and watch a player who actually likes playing, and understands he's playing for the fans.  Maybe just a couple of weeks Alex, just start hot and you'll get promoted right?

David

South Bend, IN

In response to Chad Jones' question, Roids vs. Gambling: What’s Worse for Baseball?, it's a pretty simple answer.  Steroids can kill you.

Denise

Flagstaff, AZ

Chad Jones asked a tough question Roids vs. Gambling: What’s Worse for Baseball?.  As a high school teacher and coach who has seen the devastating effects of both, it is really tough for me to pick one, but I'd pick gambling, simply because it seems to start so innocently.  Five bucks here, ten bucks there, and then all of a sudden a kid isn't reading the sports section, he's checking the lines, stealing, lying, and in some cases, getting hurt.  I know steroids are getting more and more common, but gambling is everywhere.

John S.

Los Angeles, CA

This is a message for Thomas Fitzgerald, Chad Jones, and everyone else at FutureBacks.com, WE DON'T CARE THAT MUCH ABOUT THE YANKEES AND RED SOX!  Please, write about the Diamondbacks, their prospects, their season and their players.  Leave the Boston/New York rivalry to Boston and New York!

Alex

Peoria, AZ

As promised we compiled all the letters, evaluated, and made the call, this month's winner of a free FutureBacks.com T-Shirt, and a free one year 'Premium Subscription' to FutureBacks.com is Joe V. from Glendale, AZ

I remember watching Chip Hale play with the Twins, he was too small, too slow, didn't have the natural tools that some of the guys he played with and against had.  But he played hard, he ran out every ball, he sacrificed his body, he played the game the right way.  I'd like to thank James Renwick for bringing attention to Hale, and thank the Diamondbacks for putting a man like Hale in such a valuable position.  For Hale's sake I hope he does get a Major League job soon, but I wonder if he might not be making even more of a difference at the Triple-A level.  The kids he's coaching there are still young enough, and fresh enough, that maybe Hale's lessons will actually take, at the Major League level, with the 'Win At All Costs' mentality, steroids, egos, and $100 million contracts, would he still be able to instill the concept of playing the game the right way?

Joe V

Glendale, AZ

Please keep the emails coming to , if your letter is chosen as the best of the month, you could win a free FutureBacks.com T-Shirt, and a free one year 'Premium Subscription' to FutureBacks.com.