It's really not surprising that it would be Curt Schilling to say such a bold and yet utterly obvious thing. Schilling was on the radio in Philadelphia talking candidly about steroids that tainted the era of his career. Perhaps, he was pointing out how his own incredible pitching results have more meaning given the juiced-up batters he faced or maybe he was just speaking truth to a system we all knew at the time was wrong.
↵"There isn't a team in the last 20 years that has won clean," Schilling said.
↵And to be clear, that 20-year time frame does include the 2001 World Series Champion Arizona Diamondbacks.
↵In 2001 Luis Gonzalez hit 57 home runs which was a crazy number for a guy who never hit more than 31 in any other season. But it's not Gonzo who comes under the most scrutiny despite the wacky numbers.
↵Big first baseman Erubiel Durazo was raising suspicion even at the time and we know now that Matt Williams "purchased $11,600 worth of HGH, steroids and other drugs from the Palm Beach clinic in 2002".
↵It's almost impossible to think that the Diamondbacks 2001 World Series team was clean while the rest of baseball wasn't and Schilling confirms that without getting into specifics. Does that taint their title?
↵No.
↵There might not be a level playing field between baseball in 2001 and baseball in 2011 but the D-backs were playing within the "rules" of their time.