We’re approaching Spring Training for Major League teams.
Among the most enjoyable movies regarding sports was ” Major League “, a 1989 release with Tom Berenger, Rene Russo, Wesley Snipes & Charlie Sheen pertaining to the sad-sack Cleveland Indians and their financially strapped ramshackle operation.
While Berenger & Russo were the love interest stars of the movie, there was ample screen time for Sheen who played fireballing relief pitcher Ricky ” Wild Thing ” Vaughn.
Vaughn was a reliever for the fictional Indians whose wayward pitches were often “ jussst a bit outside,” as Bob Uecker’s character, radio broadcaster Harry Doyle, sarcastically announced during the hit comedy.
Turns out Wild Thing’s fastball was juiced.
In the last year, Sheen told Sports Illustrated that he took steroids for weeks
while filming the movie and related the performance-enhancing drugs enhanced his performance, at least from a pitching standpoint.
Sheen/Vaughn says while using steroids his fastball accelerated from 79 miles per hour to 85 miles per hour.
But more significant than the alteration to his fastball, was the realization that it took the steroids more than 20 years to created the erratic behaviour Sheen displayed prior to getting gassed from the TV show “Two and a Half Men,”
And while it’s not a sure thing, when I watch a Major League flamethrower struggle with his control, I’ll always wonder if he just can’t find the location, or if he’s been consuming steroids like Charlie Sheen and Ricky ” Wild Thing ” Vaughn did in 1989.
I’m Fred Wallace