Steroids in Baseball pt.3 (Bonds, Giambi, Sheffield, Palmeiro, BALCO, etc.)

>What of the off-years of Jim Thome, Ivan Rodriguez (hardly "Pudge"-y), Bret Boone, Mike Lowell, and Steve Finley?<

I believe except for Lowell "they're fucking ancient" is one explanation. (Pudge at 35 is an old catcher)

Those guys I named put up career/fantastic years last year.

I don't know how to judge pitching injuries, particularly those to young pitchers, wrt to the steroid issue. Kerry Wood's arm was abused in his early 20's, ergo, he's had a menu of arm problems since. I have no idea how to separate that from the possible benefits/drawbacks of using steroids to rehab his arm.

The question is not whether they were hurt or not but that they:

A) were injured for a lengthier period this year
B) declined in perfomance

based on not being able to reap the benefits of accelerated healing that certain chemicals provide.

-- he's not juicing

OR

-- he's another year older and his arm is that much more fucked due to all the injuries, which would have been the case with or without steroids

(Alex, y'know my list was a jokey joke, right?)

Also, G: Takatsu's suckage this year = THE LEAGUE FIGURING HIM OUT!(see also: any other one-hit wonders; fly-by-night reliever successes)

Todd Jones, tho - he's a total freak. And he's probably on the juice, too.

"OMG our first baseman only hit .201 for the year WTF LEARN TO HIT YOU HAYSEED HICK"

isn't this just getting old? I mean, it wasn't so long ago that it was pretty rare for players to play well in the latter half of their 30s.

.276 / .364 / .414

Get a sample, Bud!

In other news, does anyone dispute that Jeff Francoeur is an enormous roid-head?

Um, WTF?

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Barry Bonds used to commit any spare time before games to lifting weights, working meticulously to build up his leg strength for long nights of standing in left field and on the basepaths following his many walks.

His bum right knee no longer allows it. He is carrying a few extra pounds around his middle and vows to spend the offseason bringing his playing weight down from more than 228 pounds to about 200.

``I'm going to be skinny,'' said Bonds, who weighed 185 pounds as a rookie in 1986 but has not been near 200 for many years.

Such a drop is hard to imagine for the imposing Bonds, who steps into the batter's box with his body armor and proceeds to crowd the plate. But doctors have told the San Francisco slugger he must lose weight to protect his fragile knee, which required three surgeries since Jan. 31 and sidelined him for most of eight months.

Considering the way Bonds has been aching after his first four starts, he is likely to listen.

``I want to get my legs strong again,'' Bonds said in an interview Friday night with The Associated Press and MLB.com. ``Hopefully I'll train hard all winter. I can hit it, but I don't feel like I feel when I'm strong. I can tell out there. I'm older now. It's harder.''

This has been a trying year for the 41-year-old Bonds, who hit career home run No. 704 in the Giants' 5-4 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night. He didn't start Saturday -- his customary practice for day games after night games -- though he was available to pinch hit.

Bonds still defends his powerful swing against anybody else's in the game, though he acknowledges he no longer might be able to hit homers at the same rate he has in recent years.

``I may hit the ball 410 feet and the next one isn't going to go 410 feet,'' Bonds said. ``Maybe I'll grab my ribcage. That's life. I'm OK with it.''

His knee probably will never be the same, either.

Many think it's remarkable it only took Bonds 11 at-bats to hit his first home run in 355 days, since connecting for a solo shot against the Dodgers' Jeff Weaver on Sept. 26, 2004. But this is Bonds we're talking about.

He is third on the career home run list, 10 shy of tying Babe Ruth (714). After that will come the pursuit of his hero, home run king Hank Aaron (755).

``To see Barry here, knowing he's going to go back to the same guy ... you never knew if he was going to ever play again,'' manager Felipe Alou said. ``It's a good feeling for the guys.''

There have been plenty of times this year Bonds thought he might be done, frustrated with his painful knee and how it immobilized him. He just doesn't bounce back the way he did in his 20s or even his 30s.

Had he never been able to return and resume his chase of Aaron's record, Bonds wouldn't have known what to do. He wants to walk away on his own terms, not with an injury dictating his path.

``For me right now, it would be devastating,'' he said. ``I know I can still do something and my leg is preventing me. That hurts. ... So be it. I can't hang on forever, man.''

Just how strong his knee is he won't know until the offseason, when he really tests it and tries to regain strength in his legs.

Shortstop Omar Vizquel is eager to see how fans react to his teammate on the road, where Bonds can expect plenty of chatter about steroids.

Though Bonds never has tested positive for performance-enhancing substances and repeatedly has denied using steroids, the San Francisco Chronicle reported that Bonds testified to a federal grand jury in December 2003 that he used substances prosecutors claim were performance-enhancing drugs.

``People want to see everything,'' Vizquel said. ``They want to see him. They want to boo him. They want to watch him hit a home run. He's kind of like a Tyson fight. They don't care about the guy much, but they always want to see him fight. But it's not that people don't care about Bonds.''

Bonds looks at recently retired Jerry Rice -- the NFL's career touchdowns leader -- as the example of longevity in professional sports.

``He could still score touchdowns. And I bet Joe Montana can still throw touchdowns,'' Bonds said. ``As an athlete, your time's going to come and your time's going to go. I can outrun you once, I just can't do it three, four or five times.''

When his day does come to call it quits, Bonds insists he will walk away and not turn back.

``The same thing when I went to high school, I graduated and said bye,'' he said. ``I left college and said bye. That's the same thing I'll do now, say bye and do something else.''

Bonds is on record as saying he needs to get down to the 200-pound mark, something people are already mocking as covering for the loss of muscle many expect to see. This is normal advice for any person, athlete or not, with knee problems. Yes, Bonds admitted past steroid use during his BALCO testimony, something we may yet hear in open court. He's tested negative in 2004 and 2005, so wouldn't that muscle loss have already come? Let's all quit speculating and focus on what Bonds does or doesn't do on the field.

It's weird to think that he's gonna lose 25 pounds though. We're the same height and he only weighs 6 pounds more than me (He's 228#). And I'm in the best shape of my last 10 years, I just ran a 5k in 19 minutes (on the track) this past weekend (caveat: results of the urinalysis yet to be determined).

I could go yard twice in 6 games. If I didn't suck.

Im just giving Bonds a hard time. Do you think the Giants are going to hold onto him next season or trade him to Anaheim?

http://www.jsonline.com/packer/sbxxxiii/image/tfavre91898.jpg

http://www.uniontribune.net/sports/images/040212bonds_trainer.jpg

and even if favre added the typical ten, bonds dropped at least that. he's gotta be 240++ there.

...He's tested negative in 2004 and 2005...

since when did mlb release negative test results? i don't remember hearing anything about this...

gygax!, does Bonds look smaller? One way or another, he's still a big mofo.

tested in 2004:
http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/news/mlb_news.jsp?ymd=20040924&content_id=869909&vkey=news_mlb&fext=.jsp

tested in 2005:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2068706

right but that doesn't really answer the gist of my question but whatever.

When did this happen? How is this even possible?

2004 (640 ABs): 19 (7 triples, 12 HRs)
2005 (466 ABs): 1 (1 triple)

SB/CS:
2004: 70/13 = 5.4
2005: 56/23 = 2.4

But the reason for putting him on this thread is that I do think he made a jump out of the minors unusually late, combine that with a swift decline in speed and triples/HR the year that the game begins testing for steroids makes him a little suspicious.

But he's still very fast and can get on base reasonably well for the $$$.

Raffy narcs on teammate to possibly save hide.

...which Tejada denies of course. While Tejada's HR stats are down to LY, the rest of his stats are pretty close to LY. Palmeiro is a desperate dude.

And WHAT THE HELL Raffy? That's some desperate chickenshit stuff he's pulling. Even if it is true, trying to involve Thee Oriole (as of right now) is suicidal.

raffy is done as an o w/o a question.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/22/AR2005092202388.html

That said, the evidence 'clearing' Tejada is kind of silly. The MLB drug office asked him for a bottle of whatever he injected into Palmeiro's ass and said 'yeah, that's B-12.' But we have absolutely no way of knowing if the substance provided by Tejada is actually what he put in Palmeiro, so it's an excercise in futility.

MLB's method of clearing Tejada: testing him.

Bottom line: Tejada's clean, Raffy's not.

But we have no way of knowing that the vial provided to MLB was the same as what got shit into Raffy's ass.

I don't think Tejada injected Palmeiro, but the proof of his innocence is a joke.

Pre-August 1st: .321 BA/.368 OB/.584 SLG; 19.14 AB per HR
Post-August 1st: .272 BA/.319 OB/.387 SLG; 63.67 AB per HR

The announcement came Tuesday, shortly after the 2005 playoffs began. Almanzar is the 10th major league player banned 10 days this year under the sport's new policy, and the second Texas pitcher. Right-hander Agustin Montero was suspended on April 20.

Almanzar had ligament replacement surgery on his right elbow in May and missed the remainder of the season. He reported to Texas' spring training headquarters in Surprise, Ariz., in July to continue his rehabilitation.

The right-hander allowed eight runs in five innings spanning six appearances this year following an extended stay on the bereavement list. Just before the season began, he found out his mother and brother had died in the Dominican Republic. The pitcher went home and didn't rejoin the Rangers until April 15.

Almanzar went 7-3 with a 3.72 ERA in 2004.

...I didn't make much of it until we talked to Baseball Prospectus' Will Carroll on today's Sports Bloggers Live. Will writes a weekly column for BP that Peter Gammons has called an "industry standard," and he also wrote a book called 'The Juice' earlier this year. His response when told of the rumor?

Carroll: "I really can't talk about it right now. It should be coming out within the next two weeks."

SBL: "Is this a name we're actually going to care about?"

Carroll: "Yes."

SBL: "Is it a World Series champion?"

Carroll: "I really can't talk about it."

SBL: "I would hope not, because that might turn those White Sox black... Will, cough once if he's on the White Sox... Cough twice if it's Gary Sheffield."

Carroll: "I was involved in the appeals process so I can't comment at all."

Given what we presume to know -- that the guy is in the AL, made the playoffs, is relatively significant and plays outfield -- the list of possibilities is only 12-deep:

· Chicago: Podsednik, Dye, Rowand

· Anaheim: Anderson, Guerrero, Finley

· New York: Matsui, Sheffield, Williams

· Boston: Ramirez, Damon, Nixon

CWS: Podsednik
ANA: Finley
NYY: Sheffield
BOS: Damon

My money's on Podsednik... actually it was last month when I made this post:

Scott Podsednik
Triples, HRs, SBs
2004 (640 ABs): 19 (7 triples, 12 HRs)
2005 (466 ABs): 1 (1 triple)

SB/CS:
2004: 70/13 = 5.4
2005: 56/23 = 2.4

-- gygax! (gygax0...), September 22nd, 2005 9:21 AM. (gygax!)

xpost!

Steroids would explain Carl Everett's bedside manner, too.

Podsednik is an MVP candidate for the best team in the AL, hit 2 significant postseason HRs after hitting none all season, and seems to have lost a full second in the 90 foot dash this year...

4/13/2005: Scott Podsednik - Day-to-Day [Strained right groin]
8/13/2005: Scott Podsednik - 15-Day DL [Strained left adductor muscle]

Hahaha no fucking way. I bet he don't get a single vote. No one gives a shit about Scott Podsednik.

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22jayson+stark%22+podsednik&hl=en&lr=

There's an arguable defense to be made for S-Pod (eg, the Sox' struggles while he was injured) but it's up to the sports writers of America (incl. Stark) to be the judges.

http://www.deadspin.com/sports/baseball/sources-lawton-has-tested-positive-134775.php

We’ve been hearing the same thing from several different, reliable people today, so, since this is what we do, we decided it was time to print it. Multiple sources tell Deadspin that Yankees outfielder Matt Lawton has tested positive for steroids and is currently entrenched in the appeals process, with Major League Baseball keeping the whole thing quiet until the process is done and some of the dust has settled.

Lawton, who just filed for free agency from the Yankees, was traded from the Cubs before last year’s trading deadline. (He was with the Yankees for such a short period of time, we’re having difficulty finding a picture of him in pinstripes.) We emphasize that this is just a rumor, has no connection to our poll last week (we, sadly, did not even mention Lawton) and only what we’re taking from a bunch of people we’re talking to. We have not seen any positive tests, samples, press releases, Lawton peeing in a cup, anything like that. This is just what we keep hearing.

Oh, and we’re sorry the rumors are about Matt Lawton. We were kind of hoping it would be someone cooler as well.

I had Alex Sanchez for a spell as well, just for the record.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rafael Palmeiro gave his first public explanation of his failed drug test Wednesday, on the eve of a congressional report on whether the former Baltimore Orioles slugger lied under oath when he denied using steroids.

In a statement released by his lawyer, Palmeiro acknowledged several facts of his case that already had been reported, including that the anabolic steroid stanozolol was found in his system in May, and that he had raised the possibility that a shot of vitamin B12 he took in April ``might have been the cause.''

``I have never intentionally taken steroids,'' Palmeiro said in the statement.

When he testified before the House Government Reform Committee on March 17, alongside Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco and others, Palmeiro jabbed a finger in the air and said: ``I have never used steroids. Period.'' On Aug. 1, baseball suspended Palmeiro for 10 days after he tested positive for steroids.

Two days later, Government Reform Committee chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., said the panel would open an investigation into whether Palmeiro committed perjury. A report on that investigation will be released Thursday, and Davis spokesman Dave Marin wouldn't comment Wednesday on the report's contents or Palmeiro's statement.

Major League Baseball executive vice president Rob Manfred declined comment.

``Nobody is more frustrated and disappointed in me than I am. Throughout my adult life, I have worked very hard on and off the field to live my life in an honorable way. All my accomplishments are now tainted, and many people have been hurt,'' Palmeiro said.

``I deeply regret the pain I have caused my family, my teammates, my fans and the game of baseball. I am sorry for the distraction that I have caused to the Orioles clubhouse and the League. I remain opposed to the use of steroids by athletes.''

Palmeiro's case has been cited as one of the reasons that lawmakers have continued to pursue legislation to mandate tougher rules for steroid testing and harsher penalties for positive tests in baseball and other major professional sports leagues. The Senate appears to be nearing a vote on a bill calling for a half-season ban for a first steroid offense, a full-season ban for a second offense, and a lifetime ban for a third.

``Since I was informed last May that I tested positive for steroids, I have fully cooperated with Major League Baseball and Congress in their respective inquiries into this matter,'' Palmeiro said. ``I have done so because I have nothing to hide.''

Palmeiro -- one of four players in baseball history with 3,000 hits and 500 homers -- agreed to let Major League Baseball turn over to Congress information about the failed drug test.

Committee investigators also interviewed some of Palmeiro's current and former teammates and training partners. Those included two-time American League MVP Juan Gonzalez and Colorado outfielder Jorge Piedra, the second player publicly identified under the sport's new steroid rules when he was banned for 10 days in April.

When Palmeiro rejoined the Orioles after his ban, he said he would not speak about the case until Congress concluded its perjury investigation.

Palmeiro, 40, had just two hits in 26 at-bats after returning from his suspension and was booed by spectators at Baltimore and on the road. He was sent home to Texas to rehabilitate injuries; the Orioles eventually told him not to return to the team.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/1110052palmeiro1.html

Players to be tested randomly; first positive test will result in 50-game ban

Updated: 1:11 p.m. ET Nov. 15, 2005

NEW YORK - After repeated prodding by Congress, baseball players and owners have reached an agreement that would toughen the penalties for using steroids, NBC News reported Tuesday.

Under the agreement, first-time offenders would be banned for 50 games, and a third offense would result in a lifetime ban.

Amphetamines were also banned.

Negotiators would not discuss the talks, which began last spring. Several player agents said in recent days that the sides were making progress toward a deal, though they did not have direct knowledge of the bargaining.

“Last I heard, the sides were really close,” Kansas City Royals first baseman Mike Sweeney said Monday.

Representatives of management and the union will head to Capitol Hill on Tuesday for a meeting with House Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis, R-Va., to discuss their progress toward a stiffer testing agreement, Davis spokesman Dave Marin wrote in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

Davis’ committee held the March 17 hearing at which Rafael Palmeiro, Mark McGwire, Jose Canseco and other players and baseball officials testified — and where lawmakers soundly criticized the sport’s steroid penalties as too lax.

Baseball owners are to meet Thursday in Milwaukee. Last January, when the union and management revised their 2002 agreement, the changes were announced following an owners meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Baseball executive vice president Rob Manfred and union general counsel Michael Weiner both declined to comment on the talks. Commissioner Bud Selig said last week that he was “hopeful that baseball can solve this problem itself.”

The penalty for a first positive test was said by several people to be the largest obstacle to an agreement.

Selig proposed in April that the penalties be 50 games for a first positive, 100 games for a second and a lifetime ban for a third, up from 10 days, 30 days and 60 days under the deal that began this year.

In September, union head Donald Fehr countered with 20 games, 75 games and a penalty set by the commissioner.

And last week, Sens. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., and John McCain, R-Ariz., revised their proposed legislation to soften the penalties, which now call for a half-season ban for a first positive, one season for a second and a lifetime penalty for a third. Their bill would apply to Major League Baseball, the NFL, NBA, NHL and baseball’s minor leagues.

At a Sept. 28 hearing of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, McCain scolded Fehr in particular for not having reached a deal on a new steroids policy.

“We’re at the end here, and I don’t want to do it, but we need an agreement soon. It’s not complicated. It’s not complicated. All sports fans understand it,” McCain said at the hearing. “I suggest you act — and act soon.”

In addition to the Bunning-McCain bill in the Senate, three pieces of legislation have been proposed in the House, including one by Davis.

© 2005 NBC Sports.com

Hmmmmmmmmmm ...

I have to credit both sides with sneaking this in there with hardly any major media attention.

First positive test: mandatory additional testing.

Second positive test: 25-game suspension.

Third positive test: 80-game suspension.

Fourth positive test: commissioner's discretion, with an arbitrator able to review.

"There is no data to do that. There's been a lot of innuendo, finger-pointing and accusations, but with no empirical data to support it."

--Commissioner Bud Selig, on revising record books for steroid violations (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Lawton admits steroid use; says 'I was desperate'
Lawton failed test after taking veterinary steroid

Matt Lawton admitted that he took the veterinary steroid boldenone last season, just before he was suspended for 10 days for violating Major League Baseball's steroids policy.

Lawton told Sports Weekly's Bob Nightengale that he was playing poorly and was hurting, so he turned to steroids.

"I wasn't playing well enough to be on a Little League roster, let alone be on the roster of the New York Yankees," Lawton told Sports Weekly in its current issue. "I just wasn't physically able to do the job. I had never been in the playoff hunt before. So I did something that will always haunt me."

Lawton said that he's never taken amphetamines, but injected the steroid on Sept. 20. The next day, he started in center field and hit a home run in his first at-bat. He said he didn't feel any pain.

He was tested the next day.

"It was such a stupid thing, but I was desperate," Lawton told Sports Weekly. "Maybe it was the pressure of playing in New York, I don't know. I never had the urge to take any of that stuff before, but I was talking to some guys, and they guaranteed it would get the pain out."

Lawton, 34, hit .254 last season while playing for three teams (including the Yankees). He was left off New York's postseason roster after hitting .125 in 21 games for the Yankees. They acquired him from the Cubs. He started the season with Pittsburgh.

Lawton, an All-Star in 2000 and 2004, is currently without a team.

"I don't want people to think that everything I did, the good years I had, were steroid-related," Lawton told Sports Weekly. "I learned a lot about myself last year, and I'll be better for it.

"Now I'm ready to prove it."

"Lawton, 34, agreed to a one-year deal for $400,000, plus up to $1.25 million available in incentives, a lot less than the $7.5 million he made last season with the Pirates, Cubs and Yankees. His arrival is preparation in case the Red Sox come after Mariners center fielder Jeremy Reed."

i guess denise lopez was wrong. sometimes, sayin' sorry does make it right.

Congressman Writes Selig About Steroids

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Prompted by an upcoming book about Barry Bonds, a congressman who sponsored legislation calling for tougher drug testing in pro sports wrote a letter Wednesday asking baseball commissioner Bud Selig about his role in policing steroid use from 1998-02.

''As commissioner, you have the essential responsibility to safeguard the integrity of the game and to ensure that cheaters have no place in professional baseball,'' Rep. Cliff Stearns said in the letter.

Stearns' House Energy and Commerce subcommittee held hearings last year about steroid use and he introduced the Drug Free Sports Act, one of several bills that would have made sports leagues give players lifetime bans for a second or third steroids offense.

Under pressure from Congress, baseball's players association agreed to toughen drug testing rules and penalties for 2005 and again this season.

''The Congress remains very concerned about the use of illegal, performance-enhancing drugs in sports at all levels and the effect that unpunished professional athletes who use such drugs will have on future generations,'' Stearns wrote to Selig.

''We have been encouraged by the tougher policy and penalties you re-negotiated with the MLBPA, and will withhold judgment of their effectiveness until sufficient time has elapsed.''

Specifically, the Florida Republican asked Selig for information about a 2004 meeting with Bonds, baseball's policy for addressing alleged steroid use if a player doesn't fail a drug test, and what Selig's authority is to investigate alleged steroid use.

Bonds, who broke Mark McGwire's season homer record in 2001 and is approaching Babe Ruth's career total, is accused in an upcoming book of using steroids, human growth hormone and insulin for at least five seasons beginning in 1998. Baseball did not ban performance-enhancing substances until after the 2002 season.

Last week, Selig wouldn't commit to investigating. He said baseball will await publication of the book, ''Game of Shadows,'' which is due out March 23, then decide how to proceed.

The New York Daily News, however, reported Thursday that Selig has already decided to begin an investigation, according to an unidentified baseball official. The newspaper said Selig is expected to announce the decision next week, but hadn't yet decided if the investigation will be done by Major League Baseball officials or outside investigators.

Investigating what? The article doesn't say what or who would be investigated. I'm assuming this means an MLB-sanctioned witch hunt aimed only at Bonds.

"I certainly believe the commissioner has the power to invalidate records. In my view, it's inherent in the 'best interests of the game' clause. I think if a player was found to have cheated his way to a record, that record could be and probably should be invalidated. Obviously you can't go back and invalidate entire seasons. But I do believe you can declare individual records invalid. It's too important for the game and its integrity."
--former commissioner Bowie Kuhn, on what to do with Barry Bonds' records (New York Newsday)

ESPN via NY Daily News says a Bonds-only witch hunt is happening:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2370762

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=AugmgLwZy.8K8uo3Ib2My84RvLYF?slug=ap-steroids&prov=ap&type=lgns

So Canseco's 2005 claims that 75% of the league was on the juice (in the late-80s) and Caminiti's 2002 claim that at least half of the league was (in the mid-90s) were simply not enough. McGwire and Sosa's breaking of Maris' record were not enough. Bonds breaking McGwire's record was not enough. Here we are in 2006, after the first full season of steroid testing, and now it's finally time to all of the sudden look back and investigate?

Pete Rose on steroid positive testers not being admitted into the HOF:

"In my case, I broke the rules and I've been suspended 18 years, so if guys broke the rules the last two years then they have to be handed out some kind of sentence.'' Palmeiro is the only HOF candidate that has tested positive.

Rose also called to attention Jimmy Rollins' streak: "One thing about a hitting streak is the stamina."

Pete Rose on Barry Bonds:
"I don't know what he did the last two years. All I know is the guy can hit," said Rose, "(He's) one of the top five players in baseball history."

Just mentioned that the investigation MAY go further into the past at Selig's wishes.

Barry Bonds
Jason Giambi
Gary Sheffield
Marvin Bernard
Benito Santiago
Randy Velarde
Bobby Estalella
Armando Rios
Jeremy Giambi
and possibly AJ Pierzynski

Even if Mitchell proves Bonds and others took steroids, it would be tough to suspend players, largely because the union would intervene and say that baseball didn't have a steroid testing policy before 2003 and players weren't subject to disciplines until 2004.

Probably just to decide once and for all whether asterisks should be handed out?

Selig's intentions are purely cosmetic -- convince the public that they're looking into matters, forming committees, and taking the issue seriously so that people stop hounding them about it. It certainly has nothing to do with the integrity of the game, if it did then they'd be looking into who did and didn't do steroids instead of focusing on the BALCO-associated players who have done the most damage to the sport's reputation.

"In my case, I broke the rules and I've been suspended 18 years, so if guys broke the rules the last two years then they have to be handed out some kind of sentence.''

Pete, you scumfuck, there was no rule, like the one on the clubhouse wall that you knew about.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=ap-steroids&prov=ap&type=lgns

Apart from the rule of law, which states that steroids are a controlled substance, and illegal to take without a prescription.

Maris never received an asterisk.

Apart from the rule of law, which states that steroids are a controlled substance, and illegal to take without a prescription.

It's not too difficult to get prescriptions, there are plenty of doctors who will provide them. Being able to attract clients who are involved in major organized sports gives them plenty of enticement to do it.

Babe Ruth was a roaring drunk during Prohibition, everyone and their mother was popping dexedrine and the like for the last thirty years, etc.

but we've been over this before, i guess!

How many laws do each of us break every day? esp since Jan 20, 2001, I'm all about perpetrating victimless crime.

-c'mon dude.

Also, plenty of football players were questioned along with Bonds, Giambi and Sheffield in the BALCO fed grand jury hearings.

i'm in no way suggesting that the nfl is "clean" per se, but they've made a visible attempt to go after guys and even if it's just window dressing, it seems to play. it probably helps that tagliabue and his predecessors haven't been such blatant company men as bud & co.

I also don't see how "coming clean" mitigates the punishment.

maybe you're right about favre. i just don't look at his prescription drug problem the same way as the priates and mets coke scandals, steve howe or ped misuse and maybe that's a reflection of my own ignorance on the matter.

but generally speaking, if you're looking at folks who get caught for first time offenses in the criminal justice system, taking a plea and receiving treatment are, indeed, serious mitigating factors.

I don't have it in for Favre, but he barely received any negative media attention for his drug problems at the time -- certainly nothing compared to the written attacks we're seeing aimed at baseball players right now.

I don't see why it's so bad that for once, someone with a drug problem (ie. addiction, not just trying to get more power at the plate - as if there was a correlation) was treated with sympathy. And I don't see how you could possibly equate having an addiction with doing steroids. They're completely different, as far as I see it, as addiction is a disease and doing 'roids is just hubris.

It seems like people are railing against Barry Bonds but not against Randy Velarde or Wally Joyner or Ken Caminiti or any of those guys on the Carolina Panthers, and that's what makes it infuriating to me...

It's hard to rail against people who are dead.

This is exactly right, and it infuriates me. It's the same exact offense no matter who's doing it.

according to gordon edes of the boston globe, "Fay Vincent sent a letter to all clubs in 1991 stipulating that steroid use was banned in baseball, it wasn't until late in 2002 that baseball agreed to a steroid-testing policy, negotiated between the players and owners as part of the collective bargaining agreement."

so while they were illegal since '91, there was no way to prove anyone was on them until '02.

Five more minor leaguers suspended for positive tests

April 18, 2006

NEW YORK (AP) -- Arizona Diamondbacks minor league pitcher Angel Rocha was suspended for 100 games Tuesday, the toughest penalty baseball has levied for a positive steroids test.

Rocha was suspended for 15 games last June 6. The Diamondbacks would not say which farm team he had been assigned to, spokeswoman Lynita Johnson said.

ADVERTISEMENT


Four players were suspended for 50 games each for testing positive: Los Angeles Angels pitcher Karl Jelinas, New York Mets pitcher Jorge Reyes, St. Louis outfielder Yonathan Sivira and San Diego pitcher Matthew Varner.

The penalty for an initial positive test this year was increased from 15 games to 50 for players with minor league contracts, and the penalty for a second positive test rose from 30 games to 100.

For major leaguers, the punishment was lengthened from 10 days to 50 games -- but any test for major leaguers is treated as a first positive test.

There were 81 suspensions last season for violations of the minor league drug program, and four minor league pitchers were suspended last week.

Barry Bonds
.214/.511/.321 (0 homeruns)

Ichiro Suzuki:
.177/.271/.258 (1 homerun)

Manny Ramirez
.260/.373/.280 (0 homeruns)

Jim Edmonds
.158/.267/.289 (1 homerun)

Chipper Jones
.238/.385/.286 (0 homeruns)

1) How long is Albert Pujols (currently on pace to shatter Bonds/McGwire/Sosa's tainted/asterisked efforts) immune from any PED fingerpointing?

I sense a media hangover/backlash over the 2006 homerun explosion* on any issue with the exception of Bonds (big surprise). Will Fat Albert continue to get a free ride?

And it's not only Pujols, 17 players are on pace to break Bonds' record.

OR...

2) Are pitchers coming back down to earth? Of the 12 players who've tested positive for PEDs in MLB, six of them were pitchers (in fact, there was only one power hitter in the list:

http://www.mopsquad.com/artman/uploads/raffy_001.jpg

The lone player in violation of the WBC's testing was also a pitcher (from South Korea). Is the power surge of 2006 due to dead-arms?

*ESPN JUICEBOX

Through Apr 25	 2002	 2003	 2004	 2005	 2006
Homers Per Game	1.043	1.071	1.123	1.032	1.201
Runs per game	4.618	4.728	4.814	4.592	5.025
Doubles pr game	1.793	1.816	1.837	1.823	1.871
Aggregate SLG 	0.417	0.422	0.428	0.419	0.439

IT'S NOT A TUOMAH!

[aka: check Helton's career home/away splits.]

Steve

Sure, but he was always good for 30-35 hr, 100-115 rbi. Last year out of nowhere his production dropped quite a bit (although his average/obp didn't dip too much). It's not like he played extra road games last year.

Steroids are often necessary in initial stages and during flare-ups, although long-term steroid therapy is discouraged because of its well-known side effects. Traditionally, Corticosteroids such as prednisone are used because they have the longest medical history of anti-inflammatory use. However, their side-effects are also the most severe, causing insulin resistance and frank diabetes, hypertension (high blood pressure), glaucoma, osteoporosis, severe psychological issues, and many other problems after long-term use.

He had a slow start, which was probably a fluke because he'd never hit below .300 in any one month during his entire career. Then he got hot, went on the DL for a couple of weeks (the first DL stint of his career) and came back hotter than ever.

Basically, I don't think that his abilities declined at all in 2005.

I guess chicks dig the longball!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ltD21rYWVw

"They're going, 'Here, take this, take this, take this.' Afterwards, I've got sterazolidin, butazolidin, Clenerol, Indicin. I've got everything in me. I can pitch in the American League, but I couldn't run in the Kentucky Derby. Holy cow, I'm glowing in the dark. Now all of a sudden (current players) are doing it on their own and now it's a crime?!"
--former pitcher Bill "Spaceman" Lee, on when he hurt his elbow once and was given drugs by the Red Sox (Marin Independent Journal)

"I'd hire him right now as my own advisor. Anything that can take the pain out of the inside of my knees and allow me to hit a three-run homer at the age of 62, I'll do it. If I die rounding third, so be it. What a way to go."
--Lee, on BALCO founder Victor Conte

"I felt so sorry for BALCO when all this happened. If you can take a follicle of my hair and tell me what I'm deficient in my life, I want to know."
--Lee

"He's an arrogant, (jerk) and he's got a show that I would never watch, but he's still has the best swing that I've ever seen and the best eye. He's the best hitter we'll ever see in our lifetime. I rather face Bonds than Frank Robinson, though."
--Lee, on Barry Bonds

"It doesn't bother me. I'm going to get him out. I'm going to throw him sinkers in on his hands and jam him and make him run the ball off his armor-plated foot and armor-plated elbow and everything else. I'm going to pitch him like he's a little tank."
--Lee, on how he'd like to pitch to Bonds

"And he steps out and says, 'Why don't you challenge someone you gray-haired old fart?' I drop down and throw him a hard sinker in on his hands. He hit it like two inches from his hands. He went down on one knee."
--Lee, recalling the time he pitched to Bonds in 1984 at Arizona State

"That's why we used them, because we were hung over and you couldn't get that much caffeine in you in a short period of time. You can drink five cups of coffee and run to the bathroom all day or you can take one black beauty. It was better work through chemistry."
--Lee, on amphetamines

"Oh, really? Bummer. They got discos out, too. That's the only reason we were doing drugs: To stay up late. That's where the girls were."
--Lee, after being told that MLB was cracking down on amphetamine usage

"Everybody's gotten bigger. Everybody's gotten stronger. The thing is the Perdue chicken matures at 6 1/2 weeks now. It used to take eight. They come off the truck and they don't even have feathers. You just give them a couple of shakes. Are our kids getting smaller or are they getting bigger? And they talk about how we're all concerned, 'Oh my God. There's a couple of ballplayers out there who are chemically enhanced!' Everyone's running around like the sky is falling."
--Lee

http://www.marinij.com/sports/ci_3742010
http://www.marinij.com/sports/ci_3741998

He'll have 2 games left to break the record, which is held by Luis Gonzalez and Ken Griffey Jr.

Pujols (as a rookie) already broke McGwire's April record and he's outpacing Bonds 73HR mark (11 through April).

Eighth inning, tie game, nobody on -- why would you pitch to Pujols?

I'm starting to get lost among the layers of sarcasm on threads like this, so could we have a show of hands:

1) who thinks that a significant number of players are using drugs and aren't getting caught (due to masking agents, cycling on and off, taking things there aren't any tests for, etc.)?

2) who thinks that steroids don't affect hitting performance that much (and the continued success of suspected and/or admitted users like Thome, Giambi, Sheff, Pujols, etc. attests to this)?

My opinions sways heavily toward #2, which probably isn't shocking based on my comments on the steroid threads.

Grimsley (6'3" 200#) is a gargantuan power hitter with a career 4.77 ERA and 1.55 WHIP.

Or didn't find ... no packages linked to Bonds or Palmeiro = we never hear about this incident ever again?

Grimsley said that greenies have "been part of the game" at least since Jim Bouton wrote about them in "Ball Four," his landmark book in 1970. Commissioner Bud Selig has said he first heard about greenies in the Milwaukee Braves' clubhouse in 1958. All these years later, he is adamant about eradicating them in baseball, citing the health risk.

Others, like Grimsley, do not seem quite as concerned. "There are some things that don't need to be in the game, but there are things that have been in it for a long time," Grimsley said. "It's almost like they're trying to change everything about baseball. It's become sterilized."

I’m following the Jason Grimsley situation. It looks like the entire 2003 list, in the hands of IRS investigators, is going to be checked. If so, the Mitchell investigation will be moot. The biggest worries at this stage are the continued use of performance-enhancers like HGH for the future and the release of the names that, by agreement, should have not been trackable. The list of nearly 100 names caught in 2003 has been in Federal hands, but Grimsley’s statement, in which he named well over 20 teams and team-related drug sources, is pure dynamite, and sure to leak in a non-redacted form very soon. Within baseball, the guessing game of which names are blacked out is already in full effect, largely because many are easily connected to Grimsley and because there are some big, juicy names. Someone’s going to equate this with Grimsley’s corked bat caper years back and they’ll be wrong. This, perhaps more than the Barry Bonds situation, will be the one we remember. It’s not the bosses that roll, it’s the lieutenants; Jeff Novitzky now finally has his Joe Valachi. The ball is now in the court of Ken Kendrick and, more importantly, Bud Selig.

On the other hand, does anyone have any pictures of Big Papi before he changed his surname to Ortiz? There's got to be some gems right there.

Grimsley has spent much of his career as a journeyman, but made headlines in 1999 when he confessed to his role in the Albert Belle corked bat caper.

Grimsley, who had been Belle's teammate with Cleveland, admitted he worked his way through a crawl space at Comiskey Park in 1994 and dropped through the ceiling in the umpires' room to replace the illegal bat.

http://www.deadspin.com/sports/baseball/so-weve-got-some-affidavit-names-179400.php

Jun 10       The Associated Press reports Arizona Diamondbacks OF Luis Gonzalez hasn't homered in 157 at-bats.

2005
Nov. 2 Matt Lawton, OF Yankees
Oct. 18 Felix Heredia, P Mets
Oct. 4 Carlos Almanzar, P Rangers
Sept. 7 Michael Morse, SS Mariners
Aug. 2 Ryan Franklin, P Mariners
Aug. 1 Rafael Palmiero, 1B Orioles
July 8 Rafael Betancourt, P Indians
May 2 Juan Rincon, P Twins
April 26 Jamal Strong, OF Mariners
April 20 Agustin Montero, P Rangers
April 11 Jorge Piedra, OF Rockies
April 4 Alex Sanchez, OF Devil Rays

2006
June 12 Jason Grimsley, P Diamond Backs

It's purely cosmetic, because the suspension wouldn't even start until he was placed on a 40-man roster. I don't think anybody's under the illusion that his career isn't over.

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/pa/news/article.jsp?ymd=20050720&content_id=1138110&vkey=mlbpa_news&fext=.jsp

That new outlook had a positive effect on the rehabilitation process. It relaxed me. It made me realize that anything that happens from here on in my baseball career is a bonus. I knew I'd been given another chance. So I told my doctor, Timothy Kremchek, and my trainer, Chris Mihlfeld, that my arm felt good and I wanted to step on the gas. I told them, "I want to push it and see if my arm will break. I'm not afraid because I don't have anything to lose."

IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW

Jason Grimsley was on the mound when the Oakland A's set the American League record with a 20 game win streak. Scott Hatteberg's pinch-hit/walk-off homerun off of him is retold in great detail towards the end of Moneyball.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2489724

http://www.sfgate.com/c/acrobat/2006/06/22/BALCO_quash_subpoena_sfchronicle.pdf

It's only a matter of time before Word, InDesign, QuarkXPress, etc. have a "Redact Selected Text" function.

ex bosox pitcher says steroid use is everywhere, varitek and wakefield get ultra-defensive.

Thank god we have so many young clean players in the game to take our minds off of Bonds' trail of death, murder and deception of our precious national pastime.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2516737

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/12/sports/baseball/12bonds.html

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2516689

"He came and we met in a conference room," Enos told The Times. "He said: 'I have three doors. If you don't drop this memorabilia issue, I'm going to ruin Barry. Behind door No. 1 is an extramarital affair. Behind door No. 2 is failure to declare income tax. And behind door No. 3 is use of steroids. And I will go to the press and ruin Barry. His records will be ruined. He will never get into the Hall of Fame.'"

Should we start a new thread: "Tax Evasion in Baseball (Rose, Strawberry, etc.)"?

The keynote speaker at our luncheon was Jim Bouton, who opened with a diatribe against steroids. He called the effect they'd had on baseball's record book an even greater menace to the game's integrity than was the Black Sox scandal. Whether or not you agree with that, it is certainly a defensible position. What followed was not. Bouton proposed that SABR investigate the impact that steroids had on home runs and then make adjustments to all the totals. He wanted SABR to determine how many home runs in the "steroid era" were tainted and then replace each "tainted players" actual home run totals with this SABR adjusted total. (The actual number would appear alongside in parentheses.) Now such a proposal might go over well with an audience of Rotarians or members of the local church's softball team, but it took a while for most of this audience to realize that Bouton was not being his usual irreverent self. He was serious about this. Coincidentally, Bouton and I happened to be waiting for cabs together that evening. I didn't mention that SABR's role was to get the numbers right, not to make judgments about them. I simply asked him if he was really seriously proposing this to a SABR audience. He said he was, and when I asked him if he?d thought through all the ramifications of such a proposal, like making adjustments to runs scored, RBI, ERA, hits allowed, etc. He said "nobody gives a shit about that stuff except you people." I was surprised that Bouton, who obviously cares about preserving the integrity of the records, would so offhandedly dismiss what we are trying to do. Now I agree with Mark Armour and others who said that the average fan really doesn't care if things like runs scored and runs allowed in a season balance out. Yet surely it's not just SABR people who think the only numbers that count are home runs hit.

"By now, the Jose Canseco / Mark McGuire - Jason Giambi / Gary Sheffield West Coast Balco thing is old hat but the Steroid trail doesn't just burn from Oakland. The Texas Rangers with Juan Gonzales & Rafael Palmero are also a major source of Steroid corruption. Canseco goes to the Rangers in '92 where Juan Gonzalez numbers suddenly spike from 27 homers in 1991 to 43 in 92. Then Palmeiro's totals jumped from 27 doubles and 22 homers in 92 to 40 doubles and 37 homers in 93. The young up and comers down in Houston may have taken notice...This came from a blog...

Unbeknownst to the general baseball public, steroid use began in earnest with the 1992 Astros. Up to that point in his career, Bagwell had not yet developed his power-stoke, and in 1992 he set out to do something about it. Bagwell began pumping iron maniacally, and juicing up, and the difference quickly became evident. Bagwell's teammates were immediately impressed with his increase in size and production and demanded that he share the wealth.

Pete Incaviglia haunted Bagwell for months, following him through the clubhouse and cajoling him for a sample of the special juice. Incaviglia had joined the Astros in 1992, several years removed from the productive part of his career, and saw divine providence in his chance discovery of Bagwell's magic potion. Once he finally convinced Bagwell to share, he immediately began juicing and pumping through the end of the season with an eye on 1993. Released by the Astros that winter, he signed with the Philadelphia Phillies in December. As he gathered his things from the clubhouse at the Astrodome, Bagwell was there to help him pack, slipping him a "goodie bag" on his way out of the clubhouse.

Incaviglia would loyally adhere to the juicing regimen which Bagwell recommended for him, and his new teammates in Philadelphia wanted in on the action. Incaviglia was reluctant at first, but when care packages arrived for him during spring training in Clearwater with a "Kissimmee, FL" return address on them, he knew that Bagwell would keep him supplied. So Incaviglia shared his juice with new teammate Lenny Dykstra, and the Phillies had quite a year. Incaviglia hit 24 homeruns in only 116 games, more than he had hit in the previous two years combined. But the story of the 1993 Phillies was Dykstra, who hit 19 homeruns, nine more than his previous career high and 13 more than the previous year's total, and led the league with 143 runs scored and 194 hits as the Phillies made it to the World Series, losing in a dramatic game six on Joe Carter's walk off home run (Carter's link to Bagwell is as yet undiscovered).

Karl Rhodes, one of the youngest members of the 1992 Astros, began using 'roids to help his power stroke in the fall of 1993. A year later, as a member of the Chicago Cubs, Rhodes would hit three home runs on opening day 1994. This power surge would not last, and he would only hit 5 more homers in 94 games that year. His perseverance ultimately paid off, though, and Rhodes became one of the most prolific power hitters in the Japanese Major Leagues. But his effect on the Cubs would be more significant - the seed had been planted in the mind of a young Cubs outfielder, Sammy Sosa, who would watch carefully the exploits of those around with an eye towards the future.

In the off-season between 1994 and 1995, the Astros traded Bagwell's teammates Ken Caminiti and Steve Finley to the San Diego Padres for Derek Bell and Phil Plantier, amongst others. Bagwell never took to Bell and Plantier, and despite desperate pleas from each of them for Jeff to help them with their own hitting troubles, Bagwell refused to help his new teammates and they never regained their strokes. However, Caminiti and Finley did quite well in San Diego. In addition to their own personal power surges, Caminiti and Finley were able to sell their new Padres teammates on the juice. Wally Joyner was impressed with the former Astros' offensive improvements, and juiced up himself for 1997, increasing his home runs total by more than half, and raising his slugging percentage from .404 to .486. Greg Vaughn, who had hit 41 homeruns in 1996, objected to the usage, pointing out that he had topped Caminiti by one homer despite his refusal to juice. But when his power shorted out in 1997, he quickly caved and spent the entire off-season juicing up and returned to hit 90 home runs in the next two seasons combined.

Karl Rhodes' opening day outburst had been enough to catch Sosa's attention, but it took the arrival of Luis Gonzalez in 1995 to really sell Sosa. After being traded to the Cubs in the middle of the season, Gonzalez told Sosa that he had not yet tried steroids, but that Finley and Caminiti had been hitting them pretty hard back in Houston, and they were expecting big things. The following year, 1996, Sosa and Gonzalez watched from Chicago as Caminiti's home run production jumped from 26 the previous year to 40, and Finley's jumped from 10 home runs to 30 home runs. Sosa was impressed, but having hit 40 that year himself, he still didn't feel the need to start pumping with 'roids. Only when, like Greg Vaughn, his home run total slumped in 1997 (from 40 to 36) would he take Gonzalez's advice and begin juicing. What happened in 1998, of course, has become baseball history.

A trade in 1995 which sent Phil Nevin to the Detroit Tigers would change several careers. Nevin himself was not yet convinced that he wanted to juice up. But he discussed the Bagwell experiment with his Tigers teammates, and many of the Tigers players were eager to get some of the juice. In the years to come, Tony Clark, Bobby Higginson, Melvin Nieves, Damion Easley, Bob Hamelin, and Travis Fryman would each experience a brief period of offensive productivity before prematurely fading into obscurity. Ironically, Luis Gonzalez would arrive in 1998, reuniting with Nevin after having briefly rejoined the Astros for a season, all the while resisting the temptation to juice up.

Gonzalez took his own advice that off season, though, having seen so many teammates do well with the juice, and began pumping steroids into his puny little body. As the veins began to pop out of his arms, his hits began to fly out of the park, and Gonzalez watched his home run production increase each of the next five years, from 10 home runs in 1997 to a high of 57 home runs in 2001. Gonzalez would reunite with Finley in Arizona in 1999, and together they were able to convince Jay Bell and Matt Williams, two veterans in the twilights of their careers, into juicing as well. Bell and Williams, each of whom hit 20 home runs the year before, increased their home run totals to 38 and 35 respectively, and managed to salvage their eroding skills and prematurely fading careers.

Perhaps the most shocking participant in the great San Diego juice-up of 1997 was none other than future Hall of Famer Tony Gwynn. After several seasons of being one of the greatest hitters of all time, Gwynn went into the off-season of 1996 having not played more than 141 games since 1989. In 1996, Gwynn had watched his teammates enjoy fabulous years while he suffered through an injury plagued year in which he played only 116 games, hit only 3 homeruns and drove in only 50 runs. So, desperate to regain his stroke, Tony joined in the 'roid parties at Greg Vaughn's house, packing on several pounds of undetectable muscle under the layers of fat on his body, and emerged in 1997 ready to pack some punch with his lunch. He rebounded with a career high 17 homeruns, 100+ RBIs for the first (and only) time in his career, and a career high 220 hits while batting .372, the highest full-season average of his career. At season's end, Gwynn had set career highs in hits, doubles, homeruns, RBIs, and slugging. In each of the next two seasons, Gwynn would again hit double digits in the homerun column, but his body paid the price for his new addiction, and he would never again play a full season after that fateful 1997 campaign."

HAHAHA?!?!

One part I definitely believe is that Bagwell didn't like Derek Bell. Operation: Shutdown!

seriously tho, look at Bagwell's rookie card. talk about head expansion.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2609002

Clemens, Pettitte, Tejada, Gibbons, and Roberts were all listed on Grimsley's affadavit.

If Tejada is guilty, then we all need to FREE RAFFY.

SAN FRANCISCO -- A federal judge ordered Barry Bonds' personal trainer Greg Anderson released from prison Thursday, saying a legal "snafu" had arisen in his case.

U.S. District Judge William Alsup said Anderson must be freed because a federal appeals court hadn't affirmed his contempt order within the required 30 days after he was jailed for refusing to testify to a grand jury investigating the Giants slugger.

Anderson, 40, could be returned to prison if the appeals court affirms Anderson's Aug. 28 contempt citation for refusing to answer questions before the panel probing whether Bonds committed perjury when he said he never knowingly used steroids.

Bonds told a grand jury investigating the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative steroid ring in 2003 that Anderson gave him what he believed were flaxseed oil and arthritic balm. Anderson later pleaded guilty to distributing steroids and money laundering.

Anderson, who served three months in prison and three months of home detention for his conviction, has appealed his contempt jailing on several fronts.

His main contention is that a secret, illegally recorded tape of him discussing Bonds' steroid use is the basis for grand jury questions he faces.

Although Alsup dismissed that claim and others, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals last week sent Anderson's appeal back to the judge, saying Alsup's ruling regarding the tape was not clear enough.

"This snafu has arisen by an apparent failure by the court to be clear of its findings," Alsup said.

In clarifying his order Thursday, Alsup said he agreed with prosecutors that there was ample evidence beyond the tape to question Anderson. Prosecutors on Thursday said the questions they want answered are based on athletes' secret testimony in the BALCO case and a search of Anderson's house that turned up drug records, some with Bonds' name on it.

The appeals court could rule any day.

Anderson has now been imprisoned twice for refusing to testify whether Bonds used steroids. He served 15 days in July and was let out because the grand jury probing the Giants slugger had expired and a new grand jury was formed.

Other than the tape dispute, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected the merits of Anderson's appeal. Among them, Anderson claimed his BALCO plea deal prevented him from cooperating with the government's steroid investigation.

Anderson will seek to withdraw Anderson's 2005 guilty plea because his lawyer, Mark Geragos, said the tape amounts to an illegal wiretap and may have been the basis for the BALCO case against Anderson.

Prosecutors claim the tape is legal and was made in a face-to-face meeting with Anderson.

The case is United States v. Anderson, 06-90292.

Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press

Roger Kint’s Second Trick

by Will Carroll

On the heels of two interviews - first with HBO’s Bob Costas and then on ESPN Radio - the reaction to Patrick Arnold actually speaking has been interesting, to say the least. Barry Bonds had a typical reaction, saying he didn’t know Arnold. No one, including Arnold, is disputing this fact. Arnold is known to have kept his distance from athletes, while Victor Conte, the man to which he sold most of his run of THG - the drug now known as “The Clear” - has a love for the spotlight.

Inside this article by MLB.com’s Barry Bloom, I find an interesting and compelling argument from Conte:

“The program I created for Barry was a comprehensive nutritional supplementation regimen and had nothing to do with ‘the clear’ or any other anabolic steroids,” said Conte, who has never implicated Bonds in the scandal, although he said in a television interview that he watched track star Marion Jones inject herself with the performance-enhancing drug under his supervision.

In a subsequent interview with The Los Angeles Times, Conte told the newspaper that he didn’t give steroids to Bonds.

“Why would a baseball player have needed an undetectable steroid when drug testing wasn’t mandated until 2003?” Conte said. “To suggest that Barry’s 2001 record of 73 home runs was assisted by ‘the clear’ is ridiculous and simply makes no sense.”

I have a hard time believing anything that Victor Conte has to say, but this statement is true, at least in the sense that there was absolutely no need for an undetectable steroid. THG (not discovered by authorities until 2004) is no super-steroid. It’s actually, according to testers like Dr. Don Catlin, similar to stanozolol. Remember, despite the Commissioner’s memo, steroids were neither banned by baseball, nor tested for until 2003. Prior to that and at the time Bonds is alleged to have used steroids, Bonds or any player could have used any substance in any amount in any combination without fear of testing positive. Why? No tests!

While there’s a clear argument for why a player wouldn’t do these types of substances in the open, there’s never been made a clear or even compelling argument - even in the well-researched Game of Shadows - for why a player would take a less-effective, more-costly anabolic agent like THG rather than more widely used and available steroids if they’d chosen to take that route. It’s important to note that none of the positive tests we’ve had in the last three years have been for any substance other than these “normal” steroids, such as Winstrol, synthetic testosterone, or dianabol.* It stands to reason that if these types of drugs are used in a tested environment, then there would have been no need for these types of drugs in a non-tested environment.

It’s also important to note in the light of Arnold’s remarks and those of Gary Sheffield that flaxseed oil was the preferred delivery method for THG. This article from 2004 shows that “the coach”, later shown to be Trevor Graham, who was indicted in the BALCO case himself, told authorities that the steroid was ingested with flaxseed oil. Also notable is that THG is most effective when taken sublingually (dripped below the tongue.) I’m unsure about Arnold’s statement amount being able to tell the difference between flaxseed oil with and without THG added. While THG was called “the clear,” it was a reference to the testing, not to its appearance. THG looks like maple syrup. Flaxseed oil is touted for its reduction of arthritic inflammation, though there are only mixed results from scientific studies. The taste is … well, to me, it’s terrible. While some describe it as “nutty” or “buttery”, I would say it tastes like ****. I’m not sure if I could taste anything over that and while I don’t know the taste of THG, most steroids are described as bitter.

I’m sure there will be plenty that see this as a defense of Bonds when in fact, it’s a defense of logic. Conte’s assertion has enough logic behind it that trying to see past the source has some value. If we’re truly interested in the truth, we’ll have to swallow it no matter how it tastes.

* There are unconfirmed rumors that one test this season was for a designer steroid.

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/unfiltered/

http://sports.espn.go.com/oly/trackandfield/news/story?id=3049333

not baseball but anyway

Some info on flaxseed oil and why athletes my take it, most interesting for the acknowledgments.

i thought that was common knowledge about flaxseed oil (sorry, i am also a hippy living in hippyville).

This is what I meant to point out:

Explainer thanks Jose Antonio of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, Roger Clemens of University of Southern California, Lisa Hark of University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and Hector Lopez of Physicians Pioneering Performance.

Ya ya coincidence whatever.

Also, I'm not old like you so I wasn't too hep with this "omega-3" voodoo. ^_^

Mitchell report to name (new) names:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3060689

lol @ the mets...

why u hate?

who do you think on the mets was juiced?

what year?

2007_george_mitchell.doc w/o redactions

Short of administering tests, who knows? If applying the Br*dy Anders*n Cloud of Suspicion is having a couple outlier seasons in a career of general suckitude, Todd Hundley comes to mind.

I kinda love that the end product of this lengthy investigation is NOT instituting a tried and true PED-testing system, but instead they're just going to out mailing list members to the press and call it a day. way2go.

I guess Paul Byrd did HGH.

So much for those articles about how HGH doesn't do anything, or is too expensive to be practical.

In 2005, in an interview with the college newspaper at his alma mater, Louisiana State University, Byrd said the problem of steroid use in baseball was overblown.

"Kids need to know that when they tested us, only 7 percent (of major-leaguers) tested positive for steroids," he was quoted as saying. "Everyone isn't using steroids, and you don't have to use them to succeed."

In a May 2006 interview with the Cleveland Plain Dealer, Byrd denied using steroids.

"I strongly disagree with the use of steroids and cheating in the game," he said. "I have a huge problem with that. I work as hard as I can to compete within the rules."

In a recent interview with ESPN.com Page 2 writer Sam Alipour, Byrd talked about how important the role of religion was in his life. Byrd has written a manuscript called "The Free Byrd Project" that details his spiritual journey through the major leagues and the pitfalls that pious jocks must leap in navigating a ballplayer's lifestyle.

So much for those articles about how HGH doesn't do anything

Meaning, Byrd is headed for Cooperstown? sure.

Yep, I definitely meant that he's heading for Cooperstown.

why don't these folls buy their roid rage juice through a proxy. there's got to be a guy at the gym who can get it for them. fuck the failed piss tests, it's the sales documentation that just astonishes me.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v212/etienne_saint/atumor.jpg

hahahahahaha

"I have a reputation. I speak to kids and to churches. I do not want the fans of Cleveland, and I do not want honest, caring people to think I cheated, because I didn't,"

i love the fact that he already has a book planed.

but poly, you're clearly saying HGH use led to Byrd's (rather limited) success, and while possible that's not provable.

but poly, you're clearly saying HGH use led to Byrd's (rather limited) success, and while possible that's not provable.

I think the widespread use, on a long-term basis, suggests that it has some positive benefit. I guess it's possible that it's like those magnetic necklaces players are wearing -- all reputation, no provable results -- but some of the articles I read insinuated that HGH was barely used, and too expensive for most players. It now seems obvious that that isn't true.

Isn't inability to produce HGH on your own a symptom of taking a shitload of it to the point your body doesnt need to produce any on its own because youre ingesting it on a regular basis? I remember they were talking about this in the context of Chris Benoit a couple months ago.

to be fair to Byrd, the HGH was prescribed by a dentist

Sara (Vermillion, SD): Do you think the results of the Mitchell investigation will actually lead to changes in MLB?

Keith Law: (1:18 PM ET ) No, I think it's a pointless exercise in self-congratulation. So Paul Byrd used HGH in 2005. Guess what? It wasn't prohibited by MLB. What a waste of everyone's time. And by the way, nice bit of ethics releasing that info right before Game 7.

And by the way, nice bit of ethics releasing that info right before Game 7.

thank you SF Chronicle whose idea of world-class journalism is bribing crooked attorneys for illegally sourced sealed federal grand jury testimony.

not exactly roids-related, but mike cameron's been flagged for a second stimulant violation. 50 games if it holds up.

NY Times page one today: against the rules, teams are being alerted in advance when the pee-testers are coming.

http://www.marshalledwards.co.uk/baseball.jpg

cameron's 2nd positive stimulant test now earns him a place in mlb history shared only with the esteemed neifi perez.

I just finished a quick reading of "Juiced". Canseco is ... an interesting fellow. His persona feels very familiar to me ... a certain type of kid I grew up with.

He strikes me as having good mental health.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/05/MNM2T2U24.DTL&tsp=1

Jose Guillen, Matt Williams, Ismael Valdes...

Oh, Matty. T_T

Will Carroll:

Lots of speculation on who the “active player” talking to the Mitchell Commission is. I don’t have any more information than you do, though people have suggested to me that it’s one of the Signature names.

Eleven current free agents will be named in former Senator George Mitchell's report on steroids use in baseball and all 11 players have been notified by the commissioner's office, The Boston Globe reported on its Web site Thursday afternoon.

The newspaper, citing two agents who attended Wednesday's union meeting in New York, said the agents confirmed this news Thursday.

Jose Guillen, a free-agent linked to a Florida anti-aging clinic at the center of a federal investigation into illegal steroid sales, is one of the 11 players who allegedly bought steroids, The Globe reported.

Baseball team officials were told last month to be prepared for Mitchell, a former Senate Majority Leader and director of the Boston Red Sox, to issue his report by the end of the year.

Mitchell's staff sent lawyers representing some players with ties to the BALCO investigation letters that notified them of the deadline, CBS News reported Wednesday, citing a lawyer who received the letter.

Lots of speculation on who the “active player” talking to the Mitchell Commission is. I don’t have any more information than you do, though people have suggested to me that it’s one of the Signature names.

This wound up being Gary Matthews, right?

news to me

http://www.boston.com/sports/baseball/articles/2007/11/08/matthews_meets_with_mlb/

Los Angeles Angels outfielder Gary Matthews Jr. met with baseball officials yesterday to discuss allegations that he received human growth hormone.

Matthews was sent HGH in 2004 from a pharmacy being investigated for illegal distribution of performance-enhancing drugs, The Times Union of Albany, N.Y., reported last winter. Matthews denied using HGH, which was not banned by baseball for players with major league contracts until 2005.

but they've had those 'meetings' w/ several other guys, right?

Is it April yet?

"During the criminal investigation, evidence was obtained including positive tests for the presence of anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing substances for Bonds and other athletes," the indictment reads.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/sports/15wire-bonds.html?hp

This is going to be fun, isn't it?

whoa!

lol, when was this piece written?

He will soon in all likelihood surpass Aaron's career mark of 755 homers.

The indictment.

my thoughts were with gygax when I heard this (r.i.p.)

http://www.greenpeace.org.uk/files/images/oceans/dead_dolphin_ezperanza.jpg

haha billy beane:

Asked if the indictment would affect any interest he might have in Bonds, Billy Beane, the Athletics’ general manager, said yesterday, “The great thing about my position on free agents is I don’t publicly talk about them.”

In related news, MLB made $6 billion last year. FANS BE ANGRY.

And JEETZ may owe NY millions in back taxes. FRY 'IM!!

http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/yankees/ny-nyjete165463025nov16,0,6338721.story

i hope he gets the chair...

frequent BP legal guy Keith Scherer does a Bonds FAQ at Hardball Times:

Unless Bonds takes a deal, his case won’t go to trial before the end of the 2008 season. It can take several months—often more than a year—to bring a relatively simple case to trial in federal criminal court. Even when both parties expect that the case will eventually end in a plea, it can take that long to get to it.

As a media event it has grown tedious, but as a legal event it’s just getting started. In Bonds’ case, there are likely to be tens of thousands of pages of documents—lab reports, bank records, phone records, emails, and so on—and it will take the defense months to analyze them. There might also be wire recordings and transcripts, and other kinds of non-documentary evidence, and it will have to be analyzed. In addition to the time it will take to review the government’s evidence, you can expect many months of pretrial motions, contested hearings, status hearings, and scheduling delays. The defense is going to be very aggressive, especially since this case, win or lose, is as much about rehabilitating Bonds’s public image as it is about defending the case.

If the case ever gets to a contested trial, it will involve all those documents, plus numerous lay and expert witnesses, and several more motion hearings. Once the trial is over, if Bonds has been convicted the court will take some time before holding the sentencing hearing. There is almost no chance this case will be resolved before the end of the 2008 season, so if a team wants to use Bonds, he’ll be available.

http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/barry-bonds-a-guide-to-help-you-cut-through-the-noise/

Jose Guillen and Jay Gibbons receive 15 day suspensions for receiving steroids and HGH from 2002-2005.

Gary Matthews Jr., Rick Ankiel, Troy Glaus and Scott Schoeneweis receive NO suspension for their links to shipments of anabolic steroids and HGH from 2002-2005.

.........anddddddddddddddd in other news, Barry Bonds arraignment is today in San Francisco, he is facing a maximum penalty of 30 years in prison.

http://www.youcanbefit.com/images/roid_busters.gif

yes! Mitchell report due out on Thursday too... ROFL @ Mets.

Former player: 60-80 percent of players were juicing
Sunday, Dec 9, 2007 7:29 am EST

Former big-leaguer Jack Armstrong, once an all-star game starter, told the New York Daily News that 20%-30% of the players in his era — 1988 through 1994 — were juicing in a big way. He believes that 60%-80% of players — many of them average or even borderline big-leaguers — were doing it in a subtler, maintenance kind of way, getting enough of an edge to keep the oversized paychecks coming.

"It's time to call the rats out," Armstrong says. "The guys who did this are cheaters - and that's the bottom line. They are people who made tens of millions of dollars doing something they weren't supposed to do, at the expense of guys who were doing things the right way.

"The biggest key to hitting is how long you can wait on the ball, and how fast you can move the bat through the zone. That's what made Bonds so great; he could wait longer than anyone, and then get his bat through the zone faster than anyone. Don't give me that crap that steroids don't help you hit a ball."

Source: New York Daily News

ROFL @ Mets.

? Go ta hell.

about 50 names in Report due tomw, sez NY Times

How did they decide which names to put in the report and which ones to leave out? Was there any credible methodology behind those sorts of decisions, i.e. whose reputations to ruin and whose to leave alone?

http://rawstory.com/news/2007/Roger_Clemens_listed_in_report_due_1213.html

i wouldn't mind if it was just his name 50 times.

drudgesiren.gif

revenge of gygax U_U

http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/imgad?id=CO6T7fyKhtP5mQEQ0AIYjQIyCHJ-6olzWs4o

THIS IS MORE EXCITING THAN CHRISTMAS MORNING
OH OH PLEASE OH PLEASE PUT CAL RIPKEN IN THE LIST

^^^^^YES^^^^^^

i'm trying to think of some more smarmy golden boy douchebags who would be ROFL inclusions.

Alex?
David Wright?
Jim Abbott's stump?

moral orel hersheiser (no wai) or schilling :D

i'm weirdly excited about this report. i don't even follow baseball that closely outside of the twins. i'm a hater i guess

Schilling would be great considering he's been so outspoken about how Bonds ruined baseball.

oh god that would be too perfect

(also, its obvious Clemens will be on the list, so get that gloating out of your system now boys)

david wells plz.

i'm wondering what the legal recourse is for the named? there has to be defamation/slander countersuits being prepared...

Fay Vincent had tried to crack down on steroids in his last year as the commissioner. In June 1991, he sent every major league club a memorandum saying all illegal drug use was “strictly prohibited” by law, “cannot be condoned or tolerated” and could result in discipline or expulsion. Vincent specifically highlighted steroids in the memo.

way to write a memo dude

does anyone else think, considering the three teams do battle for market share and fan loyalties to a degree, that it's kind ridiculous that Mitchell, a director on board with the Red Sox, would grab a Mets trainer to rat people out, and a Yankees trainer as a secondary source? please tell me they put in half an effort with some small market teams..

Don't all the names (60-80 now, right?) have to be players active when MLB actually had *any* rules against PEDs? So that makes Ripken safe.

Gagne?

The funniest name, of course, wd be Eckstein.

The Bergen (N.J.) Record, citing a baseball industry official, says "several" prominent Yankees will be named in the Mitchell report. The paper said the source spoke to a third party who had seen the final report.

"It's going to be a rough day in the Bronx," the paper quoted the source as saying.

It's go-onna be a-great day.... lol sanskrit

DEREK
JETER

DON
ZIMMER

Pettitte (for realz)

http://blogs.villagevoice.com/runninscared/archives/2007/12/clemens_is_a_bi.php

"training partners"

SPOILER ALERT

The following names are expected to be named in the report, according to WNBC:

Brady Anderson, Manny Alexander, Rick Ankiel, Jeff Bagwell, Barry Bonds, Aaron Boone, Rafaeil Bettancourt, Bret Boone, Milton Bradley, David Bell, Dante Bichette, Albert Belle, Paul Byrd, Wil Cordero, Ken Caminiti, Mike Cameron, Ramon Castro, Jose and Ozzie Canseco, Roger Clemens, Paxton Crawford, Wilson Delgado, Lenn y Dykstra, Johnny Damon, Carl Everett, Kyle Farnsworth, Ryan Franklin, Rich Garces, Jason Grimsley, Troy Glaus, Juan Gonzalez, Eric Gagne, Nomar Garciaparra, Jason Giambi, Jeremy Giambi, Jose Guillen, Jay Gibbons, Juan Gonzalez, Clay Hensley, Jerry Hairston, Felix Heredia, Jr., Darren Holmes, Wally Joyner, Darryl Kile, Matt Lawton, Raul Mondesi, Mark McGwire, Guillermo Mota, Robert Machado, Damian Moss, Abraham Nunez, Trot Nixon, Jose Offerman, Andy Pettitte, Mark Prior, Neifi Perez, Rafael Palmiero, Albert Pujols, Brian Roberts, Juan Rincon, John Rocker, Pudge Rodriguez, Sammy Sosa, Scott Schoenweiis, David Segui, Alex Sanchez, Gary Sheffield, Miguel Tejada, Julian Tavarez, Fernando Tatis, Maurice Vaughn, Jason Varitek, Ismael Valdez, Matt Williams and Kerry Wood.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/22243678

mets got off easy

PUJOLS - THE NEW CLEAN FACE OF BASEBALL
by Tom Verducci

Bagwell, Dykstra, Farnsworth more 'shockers'

Joyner is the biggest "Mr Clean" I see

Seeing Barry Bonds's name among this list of cheaters and charlatans is demoralizing and an outrage, but Wally Joyner played long enough to get named?

Haha well Steve must be rubbing his hands together with glee over Pujols name being on there. ;)

Hah xpost!

I don't know Morbs, Varitek is pretty much like the opposite of Bonds in the media's eyes...

yeah V-TEK! not quite as good as if schillz were on it, but prety nice

Schilling pitches to Varitek though, so he's basically enabling steroid use in baseball.

xp: or as worshipful Boston gay guys call him, THE CAPTAIN.

always a lol: neifi

well really, imagine the star player on a LaRussa team showing up on such a list.

yeah varitek is kind of great. maybe he can go halfsies with damon on attorney fees for the slander suit.

Was going to mention Joyner as a golden boy dark horse pick but got sidetracked by, uh, work. WOW.

Juan Gone on list 2x

Prior and Wood obv took the wrong stuff.

Poo noooo :(

naming Darryl Kile is classy

'Roids a PRIORity.

xpost

that list isn't on that site (anymore at least) btw

http://www.wnbc.com/sports/14845845/detail.html

NEW YORK -- WNBC.com's Jonathan Dienst has obtained names expected to be on George Mitchell's list of baseball players linked to performance-enhancing drugs. Baseball officials are refuting several names on the list.

A high-ranking MLB official said there are several errors in the list provided to WNBC.com, but two seperate sources are standing by the preliminary list provided to WNBC.com.

oh man, loool

HOWARD PUJOLS-THE NEW CLEAN FACE OF BASEBALL
by Tom Verducci

juan gone got two mentions, one for each head-scratching mvp award

Wally Joyner admitted his steroid use a few years ago.

well, you see how that stuck in my head.

Another hour! I can't wait that long! ;_;

i'm here near st. louis and after witnessing the post-ankiel fall out, if pujols is on the list... it would be the city's JFK assassination.

recent and current red sox i wouldn't be surprised to see were juicing:

varitek
pedroia
nixon
lowe
foulke
bellhorn
lugo

Ne!f!'s single-seaon at-bat Rockies team record EXPLAINED

it takes a lot of juice to swing on the first pitch that many times!

lugo and pedroia?

CLEMENS IS A BI

LODUCA

(hi dere)

409 pages?!

B. Steroids Found in Boston Red Sox Player's Car, June 2000

"McNamee injected Clemens approximately four times in the buttocks over
a several-week period with needles that Clemens provided."

if pujols is on the list... it would be the city's JFK assassination.

Having witnessed the MANY things there are to do in St Louis this summer, this is possibly not hyperbole.

damn

so from what i can tell from quickly checking the part i read, pettitte and knoblauch were on hgh and clemens was on 'roids.

NOOK LOGAN

According to the notes of an internal discussion among Los Angeles Dodgers officials in October 2003 that were referred to above, it was reportedly said of Lo Duca during the meetings:

Steroids aren’t being used anymore on him. Big part of this.
Might have some value to trade . . . Florida might have interest.
. . . Got off the steroids . . . Took away a lot of hard line drives.
. . . Can get comparable value back would consider trading. . . . If
you do trade him, will get back on the stuff and try to show you he
can have a good year. That’s his makeup. Comes to play.

lol re: lo duca's note to radomski: my phone is TOAST

http://files.mlb.com/mitchrpt.pdf

No Pujols, Prior, or Varitek that I can find in the report.

Why does the Mitchell Commission hate bulleted lists so much?

Biggest names already leaked: Clemens, Pettite, Manzanillo, etc.

lol manzanillo

Carroll is chatting at BP right now...

Matt (backshegoes, PA): I don't like the fact that if someone using isn't on the list, IT DOESN'T mean they are clean... Do you think this report will do more damage in those regards?? Letting some players feel like they are off the hook, it only means they weren't ratted on.

Will Carroll: We'll never know ...

... oh good, there's Don Hooton. He's received better then $2 million from MLB. Would someone please tell me what he's done with it? Forums? Education programs? Anyone?

... never know the full scope. If that's what you want, you're going to always hate sport. How many cyclists used? Olympic athletes? How many of you had a cup of Starbucks this morning? Sports is what fits between the Lipitor and the Viagra ads today. It's a chemical society.

Alfred Einstein (America): Why would anyone ever pay for steroids/HGH/crack/viagra with a check?

Will Carroll: These aren't rocket scientists.

The names on the list are pretty interesting, but the leaked list was NOT correct. There's going to be some questions about that.

The leaked list was way more fun though.

no kerry wood, no pujols, no prior, no ivan rodriguez

Let's feed Shastaman his crow, then!

FP Santangelo's name surprised me. He's a total "play the game the right way" cheerleader.

Separately, Giambi also obtained human growth hormone from “a guy in Las Vegas.”

Carroll:
Wow, Mitchell just called for amnesty. Didn't expect that.

gregg zaun?!

amnesty for those who are already named or those who will subsequently come forward?

dunno; I would think amnesty is meant for what's already happened.

Carroll again: "I think it's interesting that the names tend to have a couple things in common -- a lack of effectiveness, a lack of the 'big year', any discernible increase in performance, and a high incidence of injury. Let's hope that gets noticed."

Eric J (Norman OK): "If Barry Bonds doesn't go into the Hall of Fame, neither should Roger Clemens." Is John Kruk actually right about something?

Will Carroll: What's that line about Shakespeare and monkeys?

zing zang zong

Todd "Stays Out Late" Hundley and David Justice, too

from deadspin:

Lenny Dykstra
David Segui
Larry Bigbie
Brian Roberts
Jack Cust
Tim Laker
Josias Manzanillo
Todd Hundley
Mark Carreon
Hal Morris
Matt Franco
Rondell White
Roger Clemens
Andy Pettitte
Chuck Knoblauch
Jason Grimsley
Gregg Zaun
David Justice
F.P. Santangelo
Glenallen Hill
Mo Vaughn
Denny Neagle
Ron Villone
Ryan Franklin
Chris Donnels
Todd Williams
Phil Hiatt
Todd Pratt
Kevin Young
Mike Lansing
Cody McKay
Kent Mercker
Adam Piatt
Miguel Tejada
Jason Christiansen
Mike Stanton
Stephen Randolph
Jerry Hairston
Paul Lo Duca
Adam Riggs
Bart Miadich
Fernando Vina
Kevin Brown
Eric Gagne
Mike Bell
Matt Herges
Gary Bennett, Jr.
Jim Parque
Brendan Donnelly
Chad Allen
Jeff Williams
Howie Clark
Nook Logan

i am glad no pujols

Also, no Jose Guillen or Mike Cameron.

The Oakland A's may not play a lot of small ball, but a lot of their former players have shrunken testicles.

espn is still running a headline that makes tejada look guilty. FUCK THEM.
-- Jams Murphy (ystrickler), Friday, September 23, 2005 1:44 PM (2 years ago) Bookmark Link

When the Boston Red Sox were considering acquiring Gagné, a Red Sox official made specific inquiries about Gagné’s possible use of steroids. In a November 1, 2006 email to a Red Sox scout, general manager Theo Epstein asked, “Have you done any digging on Gagne? I know the Dodgers think he was a steroid guy. Maybe so. What do you hear on his medical?” The scout, Mark Delpiano, responded,
"Some digging on Gagne and steroids IS the issue. Has had a checkered medical past throughout career including minor leagues. Lacks the poise and commitment to stay healthy, maintain body and re invent self. What made him a tenacious closer was the max effort plus stuff . . . Mentality without the plus weapons and without steroid help probably creates a large risk in bounce back durability and ability to throw average while allowing the changeup to play as it once did . . . Personally, durability (or lack of) will follow Gagne . . ."

http://jl13.com/images/gagne.jpg

so was anyone expecting the -Rod to be on the list? anyone think he announced his deal today to bury it under this thing?

Baseball 1995 > now = *

Whatevs, baseball has always been a huge asterisk, popularly acknowledged or not.

Also Bonds not on the list Shasta vindicated either way lol.

I'm pretty sure that Bonds' name is in the doc (along with the other Balco folks--Giambi(s), Sheffield, Santiago, etc.)

PUJOLS - THE NEW CLEAN FACE OF BASEBALL
by Tom Verducci

-- Steve Shasta, Thursday, December 13, 2007 5:19 PM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Link

Bonds is mentioned, like, two dozen times!

most surprising name: Raposa (hi!)

lol @ Lo Duca being the Tony Montana of this shit.

a little suspect that lo duca, gagne and pettitte all signed deals within the past 5 days and that tejada got moved this morning.

SK (Maryland): David Segui really comes off as "patient zero" of the so-called steroid epidemic. He appears to infect everyone he came in contact with.

Will Carroll: Yeah, I call it the "Canseco Effect" or in football, the "Romanowski Effect". It tends to come into a clubhouse due to one evangelist and if they're effective, it tends to spread. Segui was hardly the first and probably not the worst, but I think this keeps him out of the Hall of Fame.

nice HOF joke

Shasta, I tried. :\

Jayson Stark: "the Brian Roberts 'evidence' is so flimsy, so disgraceful actually, that it wouldn't stop the Cubs from pursuing him."

What exactly does the MR say about Roberts?

actually, Stark just answered:

he's mentioned three times: 1) that he lived with David Segui and Larry Bigbie but they never saw him use steroids. 2) he had lunch with those two and Kirk Radomski, and afterwards Segui went to buy steroids but Roberts wasn't there. And 3) Bigbie claimed Roberts mentioned that he'd tried steroids "once or twice," but Bigbie never witnessed it or even suspected it -- and there was ZERO evidence that it was true. So how'd THAT guy wind up in the report?

perhaps because he's a key member of an important division rival to mitchell's beloved red sox o_O /ny media

yo morbs (and stark) - it's not a legal brief, they're just putting out what they have. if that's all they have then in what way does the report give "evidence" that roberts was using???

i love how there's this parallel baseball legal system that gets cranked up from time to time. investigations, reports with zero legal standing, meant to "clean up the game" (when it's the same mafia of owners that have been in charge of everything since the very beginning).

the thrill points out the same thing: "I mean Brian Roberts's name was included, and I think people everywhere assume that, since he's on the 'list' of names ESPN presented, he's one of the guilty ones? If you read the report, his name was included because Larry Bigbie told the Mitchell investigators that Brian mentioned to him that he'd tried it. Is that right? I don't think it is."

the problem in this case is with ESPN, not the report

I undrestand those points.

David Justice points out in the NYT today that they don't have a check from him to NcNamee, and yet he's lumped in with the others.

(At least Kevin Brown was 'smart' enough to send $8G in cash.)

The St. Louis Cardinals experienced a gamut of emotions Thursday when a rumored list of names that began circulating before the official release of the Mitchell report included former NL MVP Albert Pujols.

Pujols was angered to hear his name mistakenly linked to the report. WNBC-TV in New York, which posted the rumored list on its Web site, apologized for "for providing the incorrect information."

When former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell's report on performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball was released at 2 p.m. ET Thursday, Pujols' name was not among the 86 current and former players listed.

On Thursday evening, Pujols' agents issued a statement on his behalf.

"It has come to my attention that several national and local news outlets have published false reports that associated my name with the Mitchell Report. I have never disrespected, nor cheated the game of baseball and knew without a doubt that my name would not be mentioned in the official investigation," Pujols statement read. "I would like to express how upset and disappointed I am over the reckless reporting that took place this morning. It has caused me and my family a lot of senseless aggravation due to their inaccurate information.

"What concerns me, is the effect this has had on my family and that my character and values have now been questioned due to the media's lack of accuracy in their reporting. I have never had a problem with the media when they do their job correctly, whether it is positive or negative -- just as long as they report truthfully.

"I would like to thank my fans for their continued support and never doubting my integrity. God has blessed me and allowed me to play a game that I would never take for granted."

On its Web site, WNBC ran a "correction and clarification."

"I didn't think it was true," Cardinals team president Mark Lamping said, according to MLB.com. "I'm glad I was right. And my thought at the time was how unfair it was to Albert, Dede [Pujols' wife] and his family that his name got thrown out in an erroneous way."

New York Yankees center fieler Johnny Damon's,name was also incorrectly included on the WNBC list, and he told the New York Post that it made him furious.

"I woke up and my brother is telling me there are reporters at my father's house," Damon said, according to the Post. "My dad told them, 'My son isn't a liar, my son doesn't lie.'"

"I walk around with my shirt off. If I had anything to hide I wouldn't do that. I really don't know what to say," Damon said, according to the newspaper. "I asked my agent about legal action, but he said it wasn't worth it. Maybe the president [of NBC] will write me a nice letter."

I walk around with my shirt off.

do steroids users have some kind of identifying sign on their chests??

"I walk around with just an athletic supporter, or assless chaps." -- Clemens

is Damon referring to bacne?

Will Carroll:

"While I agree with Sen. Mitchell’s call for a blanket amnesty for all users, named and not named, prior to the testing agreement in 2004, I have a problem with several of the players in the report acting as salesmen and distributors for Radomski. Drug use is wrong, but drug trafficking is a far larger issue and one that I feel calls for not only suspensions, but the consideration of larger penalties."

Brian Roberts admits using steroids in '03

but just that one time!

Proposed recordbook annotation system:

* = Steroids
! = Amphetamines
$ = Gambling
|| = Cocaine
~ = Alcohol
≤ = Before integration
# = Before expansion
. = Dead ball era
∞ = Wore glasses
† = Crazy religious freak
¢ = Lousy tipper
ƒ = Womanizer
¥ = Asian fetish
œ = Funny accent
√ = Ass kisser
∆ = Trianglophobic
X = General douchebag

http://yanksfansoxfan.typepad.com/ysfs/2007/12/the-official-yf.html

A week after former Sen. George Mitchell released his blockbuster report on baseball and steroids, the U.S. District Court in Central Islip, L.I., unsealed a 27-page affidavit written by IRS agent and lead BALCO investigator Jeff Novitzky.

Perhaps the most notable new name to emerge from the affidavit is former Mets pitcher Sid Fernandez, who wrote a $3,500 check to Radomski in 2005, almost eight years after the lefty's last appearance in a major league game. The affidavit doesn't say what Fernandez got for his money.

Fernandez may be one of the two former players Mitchell kept out of his report because they had already retired from Major League Baseball at the time they allegedly bought drugs from Radomski.

now if that stuff had gotten El Sid back in the game, you'd have yer wonder drug.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vD0GHx980CU

roger clemens own his own backdrop?

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/22/opinion/22cole.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Not a good scale version in that there Roger 300 logo.

i read that op-ed; it kind of means nothing since they admit that it doesn't speak to players maintaining their level of excellence even as their age would normally dictate a decline - which is kind of the whole point

Wallace asked Clemens if he swears he didn't use banned substances. "Swear," Clemens responds.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3179745

Congress Calls Clemens and Trainer to Testify

By DUFF WILSON

WASHINGTON - The star pitcher Roger Clemens, his former trainer Brian McNamee and three others will be asked to testify under oath before a congressional committee at a hearing Jan. 16.

In addition to Clemens, the House Oversight Committee will call Andy Pettitte, Chuck Knoblauch and Kirk Radomski, according to a person with knowledge of the hearing who asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to talk about it.

Radomski is the former Mets clubhouse attendant who admitted distributing performance-enhancing drugs to dozens of major league players. His cooperation with federal authorities after his arrest formed the heart of the report by Senator George J. Mitchell into what Mitchell called baseball’s “steroids era.”

The report said that McNamee, who worked with Clemens, Pettitte and Knoblauch, said he injected Clemens with steroids.

Clemens has denied that and the congressional hearing was called to question him about the factual issues he has raised with the report. He is scheduled to appear on the CBS program “60 Minutes” on Sunday.

All five people are being asked to testify voluntarily, but the committee has not ruled out subpoenas that would force them to testify. Either way, they would be testifying under oath.

The committee had previously scheduled a hearing on Jan. 15 to take testimony about the Mitchell report from Senator Mitchell, Commissioner Bud Selig and the players association leader, Donald Fehr.

McNamee’s claims that he repeatedly injected Clemens with performance-enhancing substances were among the most jarring sections of the report compiled by Mitchell, who conducted a 20-month investigation on behalf of Major League Baseball. In the three weeks since the report’s release, Clemens and McNamee have assembled legal teams and strategies designed to propagate each side’s version of events in the court of public opinion.

Clemens previously denied McNamee’s charges in a video posted on the Internet, saying: “I did not use steroids or human growth hormone, and I’ve never done so. I did not provide Brian McNamee with any drugs to inject into my body. Brian McNamee did not inject steroids or human growth hormones into my body.”

Clemens had declined to speak on the subject further until after the broadcast of the “60 Minutes” interview, which was conducted Dec. 28 by Mike Wallace at Clemens’s home in Katy, Tex. It will be shown after CBS’s N.F.L. playoff coverage on Sunday.

CBS issued a news release on Thursday in which it said that Clemens acknowledged taking injections but denying that he used performance-enhancing drugs. According to CBS, when Wallace asked Clemens if McNamee had injected him with any drugs, Clemens responded: “Lidocaine and B12. It’s for my joints, and B12 I still take today.”

In the “60 Minutes” interview, Clemens said that McNamee’s claim that he had injected Clemens with steroids or human growth hormone was “ridiculous,” and that he had never used any banned substances.

Copyright 2008 The New York Times Company

Oooh, Congress.

The guy even lives in a town that starts with "K", sheesh.

"The higher you get up the flagpole the more your butt shows."

i actually found him pretty believable - and i dont want to believe

the only sort of red flag was his nonsensical explanations for why he wouldnt want to take the roids

Lidocaine is a local anesthetic.

"I should have a third eye growing out of my forehead" LOLs

omg, Clemens & McNamee talked on the phone for an hour on Friday.

http://www.newsday.com/sports/baseball/ny-spclemens065528014jan06,0,4838283.story

this is the same man that chucked the business end of a broken bat at a hitter and claimed he thought it was the ball.

wish I had something to listen to The Tape on.

Ain't Texas Great? Department: only one party has to consent to a recorded phone call.

I'm not sure Roger could do anything that would make think he didn't use steroids at this point, but this is great drama and frankly it could happen to a bigger doofus.

He would've been better off responding immediately after the surfacing of the report with "YES I TOOK THE SHIT FUCK ALL OF YOU."

Sheehan to Phillips on ESPN regarding effect of steroids: (paraphrasing) "I'm going on data. You're going on a belief system."

yeah, not sure why he would take lidocaine in his butt for a shoulder problem...

butthurt?

rumpumping?

Roger Rumpy Pumpy

The House committee investigating steroids in baseball is postponing a hearing featuring the star pitcher Roger Clemens and other players that was scheduled for next week until Feb. 13.

The committee wants to wait until after the sentencing of Kirk Radomski, the former Mets clubhouse attendant who pleaded guilty to distributing steroids and has been cooperating with authorities on the investigation into steroids use in baseball, according to a person with knowledge of the decision. Radomski had been called to appear before the committee on Jan. 16, along with the others.

-NYT

http://www.abovethelaw.com/images/entries/drudge%20siren.gif CLEMENS MAY HAVE HAD ASS ABSCESS http://www.abovethelaw.com/images/entries/drudge%20siren.gif

shit, sorry, put this on Hot Stove thread by mistake:

From Alan Schwarz on the NY Times Bats blog:

Christopher Shays, the Connecticut Republican, called the scene “surreal” in his opening remarks/diatribe, and then began some surreal questions of his own. He invoked the Black Sox scandal, and then suggested that players involved with steroids should be dealt with as harshly as Kenesaw Mountain Landis did with the Eight Men Out from 1919.

“Why should cheating be a matter of collective bargaining?” he asked rhetorically to Mitchell – who, as usual, had a measured and informed response.

“It has been settled law in the United States for more than 20 years that drug testing in the workplace is a subject of collective bargaining.” Showing some restraint, Mitchell omitted the requisite “duh”, given the solemnity of these proceedings.

Shays interrupted and plowed ahead: “But isn’t there a difference? The purpose of these drugs is not to give pleasure. It’s to give an unbelievable advantage to players.”

Shays continued, and later during his five minutes referred to Rafael Palmeiro as “Palmerry.” Mitchell kept his composure during a confounding question, regarding whether Palmeiro had tested positive “before his three-hundredth hit?”

A knowledgeable baseball fan despite recent events, Mitchell responded: “I’m sorry, before what?”

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

and more Schwarz:

Houston, you have a problem.

The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform delivered its promised news early in the hearing regarding steroids today, saying that it was going to investigate Miguel Tejada, the All-Star shortstop recently acquired by the Houston Astros, for providing material false statements during the committee’s perjury investigation of Rafael Palmeiro.

Palmeiro testified in the previous round of hearings before the committee, on March 17, 2005, that he never used steroids. After his positive test for Winstrol later that year, the Committee investigated him for making false statements. While that investigation could not prove that Palmeiro had lied, it was possible that he had taken the Winstrol after his testimony.­ The inquiry did involve an interview with Tejada, who according to Committee chairman Henry Waxman might have testified falsely.

“In that interview, Mr. Tejada told the Committee that he never used illegal performance-enhancing drugs and that he had no knowledge of other players using or even talking about steroids,” Waxman said in his opening statement.

waxman: fehr me!

Steroids not just for athletes. Kanye's Grammys deserve an asterisk!!

Err, I mean... Mary J. Blige!

CLEMENS EVIDENCE

http://assets.espn.go.com/photo/2008/0207/mlb_a_emery_412.jpg

OMG HE WAS INJECTING MILLER LITE!

scurrilous fabrications

I just heard an aside at the end of a little news update/interview with NPR's Juan Williams where he mentioned that even Clemens' WIFE was injected before a Sports Illustrated photoshoot.

Whaaaa?

^^LOL

WHEN WILL CONGRESS INVESTIGATE THESE STERIOUD-INJECTED [ATHLESTE/RAPPERS/SWIMSUIT MODEL;S]??

highlight of the whole 'scandal' thus far

Mets steroid supplier avoids jail. $18k and 1 yr probation WTF.

Rocket's busting a blood vessel on CSPAN 3 webcast if anybody's interested.

Pettitte be snitchin'

Jayson Stark blog:

Rep. Davis reported that McNamee had testified that Mike Stanton once noticed that Clemens was bleeding through his dress pants -- which caused him to start carrying band aids around, presumably for his bleeding butt. Yikes.

Prompting the following surreal exchange:

Rep. Davis: "Mr. Clemens, do you recall bleeding through your pants in 2001?"

Clemens: "I do not."

wow. and i thought clemens & petitte were going to be lifelong bff's.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/02/13/sports/baseball/13clem3-337.jpg

PLZ GOD SEND ROGER CLEMENS TO JAIL

Rep. Stephen Lynch turned his attention to an issue I thought I'd never see discussed on national television, from the floor of Congress -- a "palpable mass" on Clemens' buttock.

Lynch recounted how the Blue Jays' team doctor admitted he had given Clemens a vitamin B-12 shot. But Lynch said the doctor and the training staff said they'd never seen a reaction to a B-12 shot as severe as Clemens' reaction.

So the committee submitted Clemens' MRI to an expert on MRIs, Dr. Mark Murphy. And Dr. Murphy, according to Lynch, said the mass was "more compatible with Winstrol injections" than with B-12 injections.

Asked to explain this, Clemens threw the doctor under the team bus, saying, "I hate to get on Dr. Taylor ... but if he gave me a bad shot, he gave me a bad shot."

This grilling went on a while, whereupon Rep. Davis jumped in to complain about this line of questioning, even saying "this gave new meaning to the term, 'lynching.' "

Stark ends his entries with charcteristic lame nonjokes that I've been omitting.

"this gave new meaning to the term, 'lynching.' "
"this gave new meaning to the term, 'lynching.' "
"this gave new meaning to the term, 'lynching.' "
"this gave new meaning to the term, 'lynching.' "

Players implicated of taking PEDs in Jose Canseco's JUICED book, which at the time was critically and popularly disregarded:

Mark McGwire
Juan González
Rafael Palmeiro
Iván Rodríguez
Jason Giambi
Barry Bonds
Sammy Sosa
Bret Boone
Brady Anderson
Roger Clemens
Miguel Tejada
Dave Martinez
Tony Saunders
Wilson Alvarez

this gave new meaning to the term, 'lynching.' - ie questioning a baseball player abt performance enhancing drugs.

wow what a dumbass

Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton ran through a laundry list of all the unseemly stuff McNamee had allegedly done to Clemens -- lies about Ph.D's, claiming the Rocket's workout program was McNamee's workout program, using Clemens' photo in an ad without permission, etc. -- and wondered, "Why did you continue to employ him?"

This seemed like a set-up question -- a chance for Clemens to talk about what a great guy he is. Instead, the Rocket rambled all over the District of Columbia. After about four attempts to get Clemens to sing his own praises, Clemens finally caught on.

"Why did you keep this man? It's very simple," Norton said. "He did some pretty horrendous things."

"I'm a forgiving person," Clemens said, finally.

Oh. That explains it.

That satisfied Rep. Norton, anyhow.

"Mr. Clemens," she concluded. "All I can say is, I'm sure you're going to heaven."

oh my

thank god he's getting roasted

they have to investigate him after this right? he's probably committed perjury about 65 times today

Alan Dershowitz sez he should've taken the 5th, guilty or innocent.

Screw Stark, Alan Schwarz is blogging at the NYTimes:

In the first questioning period after the break, the ranking minority member, Tom Davis of Virginia, aggressively questioned Mr. McNamee’s representation of his medical credentials.

During his time in baseball the former police officer apparently advertised himself as a doctor. He is not a medical doctor, but earned a Ph.D. in behavioral sciences from Columbus University in Metarie, La. — the established name in distance education,” according to the school’s Web site, which carries the “.com” domain suffix and not the “.edu” more common for an educational institution.

Mr. Davis asked Mr. McNamee to describe the curriculum, which Mr. McNamee said included 11 courses and a written dissertation, all completed electronically, because Columbus University has no brick-and-mortar campus.

Was Columbus University a “diploma mill?” Mr. Davis asked.
“As I found out later on,” Mr. McNamee said, “it appears it is.”

This shit is bananas, B-A-N-A-N-A-S. Strong hints that Clemens leaned on their nanny a bit this past Sunday night before making her name known to the committee and before she made a statement to them.

Wow, during Waxman's closing statement, he made it pretty clear that he believes McNamee over Clemens, Clemens started arguing with him, and Waxman told him to shaddap.

Schwarz:

Elijiah Cummings, the Maryland Democrat, began questioning Roger Clemens in the second session much as he had in the first — by asking Mr. Clemens about Andy Pettitte. Mr. Cummings repeatedly asked the witness why Mr. Pettitte, generally considered an honest person, would be so repeatedly off-base in his testimony under oath that backed up many of Brian McNamee’s assertions.

Mr. Clemens, as he had before, again provided a bit of a non sequitur in emphasizing his relationship with Mr. Pettitte, and that if Mr. Pettitte were using H.G.H. he would have told Mr. Clemens.

Mr. Cummings all but sighed and said, “It’s hard to believe you. It’s hard to believe you, sir. You’re one of my heroes, but it’s hard to believe you.”

The Rocket would make a great politician.

well, he'd fit right in - that's for sure.

I pretty much hate Waxman and Clemens equally.

Schwarz:

“This is what I’ve learned,” Waxman said. “Chuck Knoblauch and Andy Pettitte confirmed what Brian McNamee told Senator Mitchell. We learned of conversations that Andy Pettitte believed he had with Roger Clemens about H.G.H.­ even though Clemens says his relationship with Mr. Pettitte was so close that they would know and share information with each other. Evidently Mr. Pettitte didn’t believe what Mr. Clemens said in that 2005 conversation” –­ before Clemens spoke loudly into his microphone.

“It doesn’t mean he was not mistaken,­ sir,” Clemens said, violating House rules by speaking after witness questioning had completed.
“Doesn’t mean that,” Waxman said. Clemens replied: “That does not mean that he was not mistaken,­ sir.”

Waxman pounded his gavel and said: “Excuse me, but this is not your time to argue with me.”

actively looking for a fourth to round out the world's worst barbershop quartet:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/media/alternatethumbnails/storylink/2008-02/35586349-13101430.jpg

"I told the investigators I injected three people -- two of whom I know confirmed my account," McNamee said. "The third is sitting at this table."

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=bryant_howard&id=3244584

This pretty much sums up how I felt reading, watching this. McNamee comes off as pretty pathetic and despicable. Clemens OTOH was just sociopathic.

AP NewsBreak: McNamee's lawyer predicts presidential pardon for Clemens

By RONALD BLUM, AP Baseball Writer
February 14, 2008
One of Brian McNamee's lawyers predicted that Roger Clemens will be pardoned by President Bush, saying some Republicans treated his client harshly because of the pitcher's friendship with the Bush family.

Lawyer Richard Emery made the claims Thursday, a day after a congressional hearing broke down along party lines. Many Democrats were skeptical of Clemens' denials that he used performance-enhancing drugs and Republicans questioned the character of McNamee, the personal trainer who made the accusations against the seven-time Cy Young Award winner.

"It would be the easiest thing in the world for George W. Bush given the corrupt proclivities of his administration to say Roger Clemens is an American hero, Roger Clemens helped children," Emery said in a telephone interview. "It's my belief they have some reason to believe they can get a pardon."

ADVERTISEMENT


During Wednesday's session before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Clemens repeated his denials under oath, which could lead to criminal charges if federal prosecutors conclude he made false statements or obstructed Congress.

"I'm not aware of Mr. Clemens having been charged with anything," White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto said after being told of Emery's remarks.

Emery cited Bush's decision last year to commute the 2 1/2 -year prison sentence of I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, his vice president's former top aide. Libby was convicted in the case of the leaked identity of a CIA operative.

During the hearing, Clemens cited his friendship with Bush's father, President George H.W. Bush, a baseball fan who regularly attends Houston Astros' games. Clemens said he was on a recent hunting trip when the elder Bush called with words of support.

"They have some belief that even if he's prosecuted, he will never have to serve jail time or face a trail," Emery said. "This is a charade we're going through."

IRS Special Agent Jeff Novitzky attended the hearing and watched from the second row. Novitzky has been a part of the BALCO prosecution team that secured an indictment against Barry Bonds on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice. Bonds testified before a grand jury in 2003 and denied that he knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs.

Emery praised Clemens' lawyers, Rusty Hardin and Lanny Breuer, as knowledgeable and said the prospect of a pardon was the only explanation thaat allowed the pitcher to repeat his denials under oath.

"It's the only reason lawyers worth their salt would allow their client to run into the buzzsaw of Jeff Novitzky and the potential prosecution, tampering and lying to a federal official," Emery said.

Joe Householder, Clemens' spokesman, said he would attempt to reach Hardin or Breuer for comment. Republicans on the committee did not immediately return telephone calls seeking comment.

AP White House Correspondent Terence Hunt contributed to this report.

It's a disgrace to Abner Doubleday. I hope they throw the book at him.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v134/tracerhand/AFewGoodBallplayers.jpg

Roger Clemens: Hey, I was watching a TV show the other day.
Andy Pettitte: You bought a TV?
RC: No, Andy, I was watching TV, and there was this show about three old guys.
AP: How much did you pay?
RC: Pay for what?
AP: The TV? How much did you pay for the TV?
RC: Andy, I said I was watching TV. Come on, man. There was this show about three old guys.
AP: Three old guys on TV. Like Grumpy Old Men.
RC: There were only two of them.
AP: I thought three.
RC: Right. Anyway they were like, pretty sick, you know? Sickly and stuff.
AP: Maybe you should have given them food.
RC: What? Give who food?
AP: The old guys you were watching TV with. You could have given them soup. Chicken soup is good for you. Clears out your pores and stuff.
RC: I wasn’t watching TV WITH them, Andy, I don’t even know them. They were on TV. They were on a show.
AP: Oh. Gotcha.
RC: Anyway, one of them took this thing I’ve never heard of … human growth hormone. You heard of that?
AP: Heard of what?
RC: Human growth hormone?
AP: Yeah, I heard of it. HGH. Everybody’s heard of that. I think my Dad said something. You never heard of it?
RC: No, I’m just a big idiot when it comes to stuff like that. B12 vitamins is all you need.
AP: Cool.
RC: So, anyway, this guy takes the Human growth hormone — is that how you pronounce it? HOR-mone? Or is it hor-MONE — and man, he starts feeling a lot better.
AP: Amazing.
RC: I know. He started, like, playing golf and stuff. It was amazing.
AP: So where did this happen?
RC: Where did what happen?
AP: Where did you see the old guy who sold you the television doing HGH?
RC: Andy, man, you feeling OK? I didn’t buy any television from an old guy.
AP: So there was no old guy?
RC: The old guy was on television doing HGH. And it helped him, you know?
AP: Interesting.
RC: Yeah, I thought so.
AP: One question.
RC: What’s that?
AP: What’s it like doing HGH?
RC: How the hell should I know?
AP: Weren’t you doing HGH with some old guy in front of your television?
RC: You’re just crazy, Andy.
AP: It helped your golf game?
RC: Man, you know what? Just never mind, all right.
AP: I can’t wait to tell my wife about this.

http://joeposnanski.com/JoeBlog/2008/02/14/clemens-pettitte-the-misremembered-conversation/

Yankees's paternity claim to Pedro Martinez put in doubt, DNA testing demanded.

Clemens really has been baseball's prom king - good-looking, successful, charming and yet full of himself - for some time now.

He wants to take you out behind the middle school and get you pregnant.

Report: Photo exists of Clemens at Canseco party

i don't think i ever in my life considered Roger Clemens "charming".

Probably the most exciting B&N (?) in-store event in awhile:

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=3326985

Diagram of human networks from Mitchell Report data

Travis Hafner SLUGGING
2002 TEX .387
2003 CLE .485
2004 CLE .583
2005 CLE .595
2006 CLE .659
2007 CLE .451
2008 CLE .394

http://www.familycourtchronicles.com/opinion/witchhunt/witchhunt-thumb.jpg

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/yankees/2008/04/27/2008-04-27_sources_roger_clemens_had_10year_fling_w.html?print=1&page=all

Roger Clemens carried on a decade-long affair with country star Mindy McCready, a romance that began when McCready was a 15-year-old aspiring singer performing in a karaoke bar and Clemens was a 28-year-old Red Sox ace and married father of two, several sources have told the Daily News.

[...]

Sources say that when McCready, now 32, and Clemens were together, there was barely any friction between them. The two were known to take lavish trips to Las Vegas and New York. One time, McCready attended a Yankees game at the Stadium and jokingly donned a catcher's mask near the home dugout. During another Big Apple excursion, the two holed up in the trendy SoHo Grand and later partied with Monica Lewinsky and Michael Jordan. McCready, according to a source, even bummed a cigar off His Airness to give to Clemens. There were personal love missives to Clemens hidden in McCready's album liner notes.

I'm kinda dying to know more about this party with Monica Lewinsky and Michael Jordan. That sounds like a bad mid-90's SNL sketch or something.

McCready did not learn that Clemens was married to Debbie Clemens until McCready attended a baseball game with her two younger brothers and read Clemens' bio in the program.

I'm kinda dying to know more about this party with Monica Lewinsky and Michael Jordan. That sounds like a bad mid-90's SNL sketch or something.

Colin Quinn (who could screw up the timing on a knock-knock joke) as Clemens, obv.

http://www.rumorintown.com/

Zach (Brooklyn): Keith, I appreciate your raising the question of race, and i think the different ways black and white athletes get represented has a lot to do with the massive disparity in the ways Bonds and Clemens were viewed until a few months ago, or Bonds and Pettite now, or Bonds and Giambi, etc. But with Hamilton there's also the claim that as messed up as he was, he never "cheated," that what he's doing is despite the drugs rather than because of them, that he isn't a lie. Of course, if Hamilton looked more like Doc Gooden than like Steve Howe, the conversation might be completely different, but there is still the difference between PEDs and narcotics to consider when comparing him with the mitchell report rogues gallery.

Keith Law: (1:36 PM ET ) Before 2004 or so, narcotics and steroids were viewed by baseball in the same way - if anything, the punishment for narcotics abuse was more severe. So if one is "cheating," so is the other.

Tony, Chicago: Keith, what definition of cheating are you working from? Cheating requires, at a minimum, the effort to gain an unfair advantage. How does heroin improve one's baseball skills?

Keith Law: (1:41 PM ET ) About as much as HGH does.

Keith Law's smart about some things, but very dumb about others.

Just like me! :D

Andrew (Ohio): True, PEDS will not help you hit a baseball but it will help you hit further or harder. That is an unfair advantage.

Keith Law: (1:48 PM ET ) Steroids might, but HGH won't.

Whether it's an actually unfair advantage or not is sort of beside the point. The INTENT is to gain an unfair advantage which is why people are generally more forgiving of dopefiends, alcoholics and crackheads than they are of people who use PEDs (lately.)

That said I have no doubt that Hamilton's getting more of a pass than let's say Raines because he's white (also because it's a slightly more feel good story too, but being white doesn't hurt.)

Dykstra files for Chapter 11

NEW YORK -- Lenny Dykstra, the former star center fielder for the New York Mets and Philadelphia Phillies, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, court records show.

Dykstra, 46, has no more than $50,000 in assets and between $10 million and $50 million in liabilities, according to a petition filed Tuesday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Central District of California.

Jonathan Hayes, one of Dykstra's lawyers, had no immediate comment.

Dykstra's filing comes in the wake of some 20 lawsuits he faces tied to his activities as a financial entrepreneur, including The Players Club, a glossy magazine he had helped launch, according to published reports.

The bankruptcy petition shows several banks among Dykstra's largest unsecured creditors, including units of JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Bank of America Corp.

Known as "Nails" and "The Dude," Dykstra played for 12 years with the Mets and the Phillies before retiring in 1996 with a lifetime .285 batting average and 81 home runs.

He won a World Series with the Mets in 1986, and with the Phillies was runner-up in the National League MVP voting in 1993. The Phillies lost the World Series that year.

Hate that fuckin' asshole. Hope his balls have shriveled off and he winds up in a trailer park and discovers meth.

that GQ article by the guy who worked for The Players Club was pretty LOL/WTF

because i know morbs gets perturbed discussing him on the mets thread rather than the phillies thread:

http://savelenny.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/cropped-Save-Lenny-Banner_A11.jpg

Saving Lenny is NOT a non-profit organization.

Therefore, any help provided is NOT tax-deductible.

However, like a non-profit, all net proceeds will be advanced to help Lenny’s defense and secure his release by paying his bail premium.

http://savelenny.com

it shd be on the bozo thread

Charlie Sheen did steroids to get in shape for "Major League":

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2011/extramustard/06/29/charlie-sheen-interview-major-league-anniversary/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

The interview is pretty good, btw.

And by "good", of course I mean that Sheen is totally hilarious and delusional, you know, like always except this time he's talking about baseball.

I saw that spot where Ortiz walks around New York trying to get a hug for the first time today--great. Ten or fifteen years from now, somebody should undertake a study of all the factors that contributed to some players getting a pass over steroids while others were crucified.

biggest factor: sucking the media's collective dick

(hence Bonds as Voldemort)

Minor leaguer Jacobs suspended for HGH

http://danny-knobler.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/8590096/31396037

Absolute jewel of a tweet from Bob Nightengale today:

RIP Victor Conte, the founder of BALCO, who dies at the age of 75 from pancreatic cancer. Respect him or not, love him or hate him, the charismatic man was a scientific genius.

Famed bassist of Tower of Power!

Wow, I never knew that. "You're Still a Young Man"...it all fits together now.