Rolling Steroids Thread 2009

i didnt really know where to post this, figured it would be good to have a thread dedicated just to steroid talk/rumors. big papi came out in favor of a one-year suspension for all steroid users today, which is kinda o_0 in about a hundred different ways

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2009/news/story?id=3911153

Why is it o_O? Seems pretty rational if you are not cheating (assuming Papi is not) to be all for folks you perceive as cheating to have to deal with the threat of serious punishment.

why o_O? what's the current typical suspension?

A lot less.

apparently great hitters not nec very bright.

what's not to like?

kind of a dated thread title imo, pretty much everyone has moved on to designer PEDs at this point... steroids (in name) are a thing of the past.

PEDs like... steroids?

lol my b (xpost)

the main o_0-ness is im not buying papi is totally clean. also, i did not read this fully at first, and i thought he was talking about guys like a-rod who have tested positive in the past, which if i've got this straight, is not what he's saying

seeing as mlb tests for anabolic steroids, so like, the PEDs that aren't being tested for...

not baiting you bro but those are??? genuinely curious to know

i mean u seem to know way more about this than i do but are players still fukkin with hgh? also isnt mlb attempting to test for it? i kind of thought you meant synthesized steroid hormones when you said "designer PEDs" but maybe not?

apparently great hitters not nec very bright.

― Dr Morbius, Tuesday, February 17, 2009 2:13 AM (9 hours ago) Bookmark

Morbs, why do you heart illegal drugs so much?

theyve been part of baseball (Prohibition booze aside) for at least 60 years. I dont heart em, but the choice of what is legal and what is not is left to people whose moral authority I don't recognize.

A year is bullshit; Ortiz may have a future as a sanctimonious media loudmouth.

lamb:

http://thesteroidera.blogspot.com/2006/10/human-growth-hormone-hgh-history-side.html

Here's Mike Schmidt in a radio interview, talking about the "mistakes" people made in his day (scroll down to find the audio link on the sidebar):

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/spring2009/news/story?id=3911899

You mean ... um ... there was a different sort of PED drug culture in the sport in the squeaky clean 1980's? Say it ain't so, Mike!

And what's that, Mike? It's impossible to subtract unknowns from unknowns that are spanned across different eras? You mean we can't just reinstate Roger Connor as the career leader in home runs?

Kepner, NYT:

The 14-time All-Star catcher Iván Rodríguez, who is still looking for a place to play this season, said he might sign with the Florida Marlins, the Houston Astros or the Mets. He also said he might need to stay patient.

Rodríguez, 37, said "only God knows" whether he is on the list of 104 players who tested positive for steroids during baseball's 2003 survey. José Canseco, his former teammate with the Texas Rangers, has said he injected steroids into Rodríguez.

"Rodríguez, 37, said "only God knows" whether he is on the list of 104 players who tested positive for steroids during baseball's 2003 survey."

Hilarious.

I HAVE THEE SOLUTION, BEWARE IT IS A SERIOUS BOLD CLAMS.

You know about the dearth of controlled scientific study into the efficacy of PED use? WELL! Have everyone in the NL juice!! (AL would be the control, obvs.) We all know NL's the weaker league, so when the chips are down (i.e. the ALL-STAR GAME!!), we would see if Jose Juice really truly helps!! YOU KNOW THIS WILL WORK.

but this is the year we're prank-voting in an all-bad AL team!

Rick Reilly is so horrible:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3915217

lol reilly's gonna have a FIT when half those rightful winners are on the list of 103

http://www.press-citizen.com/article/20090218/SPORTS/902180329/1025/

Tim McClelland is a fan of baseball, in addition to being a Major League Baseball umpire, and he's tired of the constant steroid talk.

"I'd like to see people kind of get over it," McClelland said. "It was part of that era. In 2004, baseball instituted the ban on steroids. The previous 15 years, you just have to realize there were a lot of people taking steroids."

McClelland, who lives in Des Moines, was the guest speaker at the sixth annual Iowa Baseball Lead-Off Dinner on Tuesday at the Coralville Marriott Hotel and Conference Center. About 400 fans celebrated the night two days before the Hawkeyes leave for their first road trip of the season.

McClelland, famously known for the George Brett pine tar incident, as well as the Sammy Sosa corked bat game, said umpires saw players getting bigger during the '90s.

It was the first time weight training was introduced to the sport, and yes, many players took shortcuts to build those muscles.

"They used it to make themselves better," McClelland said. "I can't fault a player for doing that. It was not against the rules of baseball, so I can't fault a player for trying to make himself better."

The MLB banned performance enhancers in 2004. In spite of efforts to clean up the game, not every substance shows up in a test.

"I had a catcher tell me, 'Us peons have to get off steroids; we can't afford them,'" McClelland said. "He said the guys that make the big money, because they put up the big numbers, can get the synthetic steroids, and they can stay on them, and that's not fair.

"What he was telling me is that there were a lot of guys on steroids."

mcclelland way contradicting himself.

He's not to going to not take money to not talk about steroids so get over it.

Maybe this Will Carroll blog post belongs on the dumbass media thread?

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/unfiltered/?p=1183

Yeah, we know that one-man witchhunts are a disgrace to the game. Couldn't he make that point without dragging a bunch of random guys' names into the mud? How is it any better to cherry pick a few players and spread baseless rumours about them?

i think he's trying to be provocative or something. unfortunately will carroll is a moron.

seems clear to me he was just being hypothetical re those names.

have yo read The Juice, cad?

Hypothetical or not, he's contributing to the same kinds of unfounded smear campaigns that have turned these steroid "investigations" into complete jokes.

Make what you will of this anonymous survey of 2500 retired NFL players:

NFL players who use steroids have more injuries

xpost no morbs, i have not. is it worth picking up?

I read it from the library; yeah.

"Because of the nature of the offense, considered a petty offense, not a crime of moral turpitude, we believe it will have no impact on his immigration status at all. And he plans—and he will soon in the next few years—to be welcomed to citizenship in the United States."

—Mark Tuohey, Tejada's lawyer, on how the guilty plea will affect his client's immigration status.

"Um, last night, I took a couple of drinks."

—Tejada, after the judge asked him if he'd taken anything in the past 24 hours that could affect his decision-making.

lol awesome

there are no such things as meaningful stats because THEY ARE ABOUT DUDES HITTING BALLS WITH STICKS

doesn't mean they aren't fun to argue about, but you know, who gives a fuck

anyone getting indignant about steroids is holding company with mike lupica and no one wants that

MY DADDY TOOK ME TO SEE MICKEY MANTLE AND AFTER THE GAME I WATCHED MICK GET JACKED OFF UNDER THE BLEACHERS NO STEROIDS WERE INVOLVED LEAVE THE MEMORIES ALONE

WHEN I WAS A BOY I WOULD SIT IN MY ROOM AND HAVE MADE UP CONVERSATIONS WITH TED WILLIAMS HE WOULD CALL ME A LAZY LITTLE FAGGOT AND IT MADE ME GROW UP FAST AND YOUNG AND I WORK HARD TODAY BECAUSE OF THOSE MADE UP WORDS NO STEROIDS WERE INVOLVED LEAVE THE MEMORIES ALONE

MY GRANDPA LOVED BASEBALL AND HE DIED THE DAY HE FOUND OUT A NEGRO WAS THE NEW HOME RUN KING NO STEROIDS WERE INVOLVED LEAVE THE MEMORIES ALONE

I ONCE PLAYED CATCH WITH A DRUNK CATFISH HUNTER HE THREW THE BALL INTO THE WOODS AND THEN FUCKED MY MOM WHILE I WAS SEARCHING FOR THE BALL NO STEROIDS WERE INVOLVED LEAVE THE MEMORIES ALONE

Chass spills on Piazza back acne ("smoking gun"?):

http://blog.nj.com/mets/2009/03/chass_speculates_on_piazza_rum.html

reading the phrase "piazza's acne-covered back" about 5 times in less than a minute made me close that article and strongly consider vomiting.

Neyer gets some perspective from (Dr.) Rany Jazayerli:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=3952658&name=Neyer_Rob

Ew

pepperoni piazza

Drug items link Clemens to McNamee

Drug paraphernalia that Brian McNamee says he used to inject pitcher Roger Clemens has performance-enhancing substances on it, according to people briefed on the case, who were quoted anonymously in The New York Times on Tuesday.

McNamee has said he used syringes, vials and gauze pads to inject Clemens with steroids and human growth hormone in 2000 and 2001. McNamee said he kept the items in a FedEx box in his basement.

A grand jury is investigating whether Clemens perjured himself in front of Congress when he denied using performance-enhancing substances.

Clemens said McNamee did inject him, but the substances were vitamin B-12 and lidocaine, which is a painkiller.

"I assumed, and I am not surprised, that the tests were positive for both DNA and for performance-enhancing drugs, because that's what Brian said all along, and there's not much doubt that Brian's been telling the truth," McNamee's lawyer, Richard Emery, told The Associated Press. "The confirmation of that fact, once again, just seems to me to be another significant step towards jail for Clemens."

Clemens' attorney, Rusty Hardin, told The Times he wasn't surprised at the report. "Do you really think McNamee was going to fabricate this stuff and not make sure there were substances on there? The fact is Roger never used steroids or HGH," Hardin said.

So their story now is that McNamee smeared performance-enhancing substances and blood on a bunch of syringes to fuck with Clemens? That's a good one.

Pud Galvin, juicing w/ animal gonads in 1889:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5314753

"(Nook) Logan currently co-owns Change The Game Athletic Performance Enhancement & Motivational Speaking with former NFL players Sean Lewis and De'Von Hutchins. The company focus is 'not only helping young people reach their goals, but also to provide mentoring, opportunities and leadership.'"

(Clemens) even suggested Tuesday that "common sense" had to tell you he wouldn't take steroids, because of a history of heart trouble in his family. One of the people he cited was a stepfather who died of a heart attack.

ill buy that for a lollar

YOU GIVE HIM HELL, CAL!!! The baseball community would really like to know why Rodriguez would take these so-called performance-enhancing drugs.

Cal Ripken Jr., the Hall of Fame shortstop who played in an MLB-record 2,632 straight games for the Baltimore Orioles, wonders what Alex Rodriguez's motives were for using performance-enhancing drugs and plans to ask the New York Yankees third baseman himself.

"I really want to know why," Ripken said Thursday night at a banquet in Florida, according to The Palm Beach Post. "I'm going to make it my business to find out."

Ripken, who the report said has known Rodriguez for 16 years, said in a speech at the Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County's Men's Night Out that he thought the problem of steroids in baseball was improving, and "the willingness to suspend Manny Ramirez" is proof.

"The steroid era really puts a dark cloud over baseball," said Ripken, who was inducted into the Hall in 2007. "And that dark cloud is hanging and hanging."

Rodriguez returned to the Yankees last Friday after missing the first month of the season as he recovered from hip surgery. He admitted in February to using performance enhancers while with the Texas Rangers from 2001 to 2003.

Ramirez was suspended 50 games by Major League Baseball last Thursday for violating baseball's drug policy.

nothing too see here, move along

sosa tested positive in '03

Woo hoo! Perjury!

http://rotoinfo.com/read_article.php?articleId=318

Rumored steroid list

1.Nomar Garciaparra
2.Manny Ramirez
3.Johnny Damon
4.Trot Nixon
5.David Ortiz
6.Shea Hillenbrand
7.Derek Lowe
8.Pedro Martinez
9.Brian Roberts
10.Jay Gibbons
11.Melvin Mora
12.Jerry Hairston
13.Jason Giambi
14.Alfonso Soriano
15.Raul Mondesi
16. Aaron Boone
17.Andy Pettitte
18.Jose Contreras
19.Roger Clemens
20.Carlos Delgado
21.Vernon Wells
22.Frank Catalanotto
23.Kenny Rogers
24.Magglio Ordonez
25.Sandy Alomar
26.Bartolo Colon
27.Brent Abernathy
28.Jose Lima
29.Milton Bradley
30.Casey Blake
31.Danys Baez
32.Craig Monroe
33.Dmitri Young
34.Alex Sanchez
35.Eric Chavez
36.Miguel Tejada
37.Eric Byrnes
38.Jose Guillen
39.Keith Foulke
40.Ricardo Rincon
41.Bret Boone
42.Mike Cameron
43.Randy Winn
44.Ryan Franklin
45.Freddy Garcia
46.Rafael Soriano
47.Scott Spiezio
48.Troy Glaus
49.Francisco Rodriguez
50.Ben Weber
51.Alex Rodriguez
52.Juan Gonzalez
53.Rafael Palmeiro
54.Carl Everett
55.Javy Lopez
56.Gary Sheffield
57.Mike Hampton
58.Ivan Rodriguez
59.Derrek Lee
60.Bobby Abreu
61.Terry Adams
62.Fernando Tatis
63.Livan Hernandez
64.Hector Almonte
65.Tony Armas
66.Dan Smith
67.Roberto Alomar
68.Cliff Floyd
69.Roger Cedeno
70.Jeromy Burnitz
71.Moises Alou
72.Sammy Sosa
73.Corey Patterson
74.Carlos Zambrano
75.Mark Prior
76.Kerry Wood
77.Matt Clement
78.Antonio Alfonseca
79.Juan Cruz
80.Aramis Ramirez
81.Craig Wilson
82.Kris Benson
83.Richie Sexson
84.Geoff Jenkins
85.Valerio de los Santos
86.Benito Santiago
87.Rich Aurilia
88.Barry Bonds
89.Andres Galarraga
90.Jason Schmidt
91.Felix Rodriguez
92.Jason Christiansen
93.Matt Herges
94.Paul Lo Duca
95.Shawn Green
96.Jeromy Burnitz
97.Adrian Beltre
98.Eric Gagne
99.Guillermo Mota
100.Luis Gonzalez
101.Todd Helton
102.Ryan Klesko
103.Gary Matthews
104.Oliver Pere

http://www.cliffandsunmie.com/archive/Archive.old/Archive/archive/Archive/comments/cliff/cheaters_logo3.jpg

"I drank a Red Bull in the fifth inning and said to myself, 'Man, this thing didn't do anything for me today.' And then I started warming up in the eighth inning and the Red Bull kicked in hard. When I got on the mound I was like, 'Whoa, man. I'm wired right now.' I had to step back."
—Phillies reliever Scott Eyre, on his blog.

Think I've linked to this before, but:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?id=3490998

"He (Zumaya) chugged Red Bull and espresso in the bullpen, as if they fueled his power. On the mound, his eyes would dart all over the place, and sometimes he returned to the dugout unable to recall anything that had happened."

i pounded a redbull before an ultimate game once and my stomach felt like poo about 20 minutes after. never did it again.
although there's alot less running around as far as baseball's concerned.

McGwire admits steroid use

drudgesiren.gif

wau

I guess soon he sits down with Costas, MLB's own Oprah? or Gammons.

wow, good for him.

now here to talk about the past

surprised at where this story is at!

is this a hall vote drive?

some serious reverse psychology shit going on there, if that's the case.

I still question his honesty:

he hit 53 home runs in 3 years at USC.
he hit 48 home runs in 2 years in the minors.
and then he hits 49 home runs in his rookie year in the big leagues...

costas will interview him tonight at 7 on mlbn

and it's unfathomable that this isn't the lead of "rolling steroids thread 2010"

i believe you have that power...

With this news coupled with the news that Simon Cowell is Idol, I don't know what to believe in anymore. :(

xp well it's too late now isn't it!

of course mcgwire's rookie year was 1987, when the ball was most definitely juiced. i was trying to find a stat how many players hit career highs in home runs that year, but i can't track it down. i remember a ton of outlier seasons for a lot of players w/r/t HRs (dawson, bell, murphy, boggs, dale sveum, and a ton of other dudes who never flashed power before or since...)

i think the ball was juiced after a certain period in the '90s, too.

what's "ball juicing"? (sorry i'm new)

i don't know what's involved but it involves tightening the ball somewhat? it's all a little murky and not certain.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2719191

aight here we go!

just got my last grolsch

already choked up

mcgwire, not me

WALKING MASH UNIT

he is SO uncomfortable and fastidiously maintaining that steroids only helped him come back from injury

OK dude you're making it worse.

WE KNOW YOU WERE NOT OZZIE SMITH BEFORE THE ROIDS

arrrrrgh

GIVE HIM HELL BOB

God

thinking that mark came up jusssst short when trying out for the debate team

Hey Bob, would you like to ask Hank Aaron how he managed to hit a shitload of HRs between 35-40 years old?

Kobe mouth

this is unbelievable

these theoretical crimes

fuckin costas

the next frontier in steroid confessions--ie dudes admitting that they used and um lots of people knew about it--needs to happen like NOW

damn is he not doing that after all?

the irony of Jose Canseco having the most integrity of any of those late 80s sluggers is just precious.

ITS THE POWER OF MY MIND

yeah he's saying that no one knew before yesterday or whatever--his wife, tony larussa, his teammates, etc. he strongly denied cansecos account that they used to inject together--i don't even know why that would be a big deal after the big admission except i guess no one within the game probably wants to give canseco any credibility

deep in his heart he was hurt by tony larussa pinch hitting kerry robinson for him

has there been anyone that Canseco named that didn't either:

a) fail a test
b) admit to it
c) get mentioned in the Mitchell Report?

also new '10 thread please? who the hell is the mod here anyway?

every single time--

1) canseco names (x) as a user
2) (x) denies it strongly and says canseco has no cred
3) (x) tests positive
4) canseco shrugs, says "i told you so."

cansecowned

Bernie Miklasz interview w/ him.

Q: What’s the hardest part about this for you?

“It’s pretty emotional, telling my son Matt, and telling my parents and telling family members, and close friends. My coaches. I’ve left messages with former teammates. This was the first time they’ve heard it from me. I hid this from everybody. The good lord upstairs only gives you things that you can handle on this earth, and so it’s just something else I have to handle and work through. Just be yourself, and be honest. So here I am.”

Q: It seems that you lied about this when it benefited you to do so, and now it appears that you are telling the truth when it benefits you to do so. How do you respond to that?

“What time frame are we talking about? Throughout my career I was never asked about steroid use.”

Q: But what about the statement that you put out after the Canseco book, denying that you had ever used steroids.

“That was a statement drawn up by my PR group, and yes I agreed to that statement. But then again, they did that statement because I was hiding it from them. I didn’t want them to know.”

Q: And what about your appearance at Congress? Why did you take the position of refusing to talk about the past?

“If you go back to the Congressional hearing five years ago, I was willing ready and prepared to talk about it. And tell it all. That’s all I wanted to do. My two lawyers, one was a former prosecutor. And he gave me a couple of scenarios where there was a chance of a prosecution. A chance of subpoenas for grand jury testimony. So those 48 hours were very tough on me. All I wanted to do was to tell the truth. One thing I was not going to do is lie. That’s not me.

“Prior to the testimony, we were in the back rooms with Congressmen (Tom) Davis and Congressman (Hennry) Waxman. My lawyers advised them that Mark is willing to go ahead and talk about it. But we wanted immunity because of the risk of possible prosecution and possible grand-jury stuff. So when the immunity didn’t come forward, I was advised by my lawyers not to do this. We told both Congressmen that I was not going to talk about the past.

“Here’s the reason why. Here I am with two scenarios of a possible prosecution for something that I did that was so ridiculously wrong. And when that stuff happens you think about trying to protect your family. And why would I put my family, close friends, coaches, anybody surrounding me. Why would I put them in that situation. So I took the hits. I’ve been taking the hits for five years, because I couldn’t risk that. And the one thing I was not going to do there is lie. I tell you what, to sit there and take the beating that I took, and to hear every time what I said, ‘I’m not going to talk about the past,’ and I have Don Hooton and his family, and all of the other families that said behind us who lost their loved ones to steroid use – it was tearing my heart up. But I would do anything to protect my family. That’s how that went down, and nobody’s know that. For five years, I’ve had to hold this in and not talk about it. And I think anybody who was in my shoes for those 48 hours would have done the same thing.”

Q: Why did you finally decide to come clean?

“I knew some way, some how, some way, some day the time would come. When the opportunity of becoming a hitting coach of the Cardinals -- which I am so excited about and I can’t wait to get started – when that came about, and talking to ‘Mo’ (John Mozeliak) and Tony (La Russa), I told them we need to do something. I need to come out, I need to do this. I don’t want any distractions with this ballclub about what happened to me in my past. And I bought into them by saying, ‘Listen, I want to come forward and I want to come clean. I want to get this behind me. I want to move on.” I want to start my second career as a hitting coach and that’s all I want to concentrate on. So this has given me the forum. I knew some day I would have the forum but I didn’t know what type of forum I was going to be in. But you know what, it’s funny how things work out. By accepting the job, it started the forum. And here I am.”

Q: Does this have anything to do with a desire to gain support for the Hall of Fame?

“It has absolutely nothing to do with that. This is about my desire to finally come clean. And if I am going to be a good batting coach for the Cardinals, I owed it to everyone to do this and try to put this behind me so I can do a good job and not distract everyone.”

Q: You do realize that some people will never forgive you. What would you say to them?

"It's understandable. It's something that I totally regret, and everybody is going to have their own opinions. All I can do is tell you is that I'm just being honest and I'm coming clean. It’s totally regrettable what I did, and what I got caught up in. I can't say that I am sorry enough.”

Q: Now that you have admitted use of performance-enhancing drugs, should your numbers count? Should any of your achievements be negated?

“The reason I used steroids was because of my injuries. It was brought to my attention that it could help speed up healing. It could get my body back to normal, through the grind. There is no way that a pill or an injection will give you the hand-eye coordination you need to hit a baseball. There’s one thing that I know: I was born a home run hitter. My track record starts in Little League and my first at-bat was a home run. They still talk about the home runs I hit in high school. They still talk about the home runs I hit in college. I led the nation in home runs in college. All the way through the minor leagues and through my first year (in the majors), hitting 49. I was born a home run hitter. But I didn’t really start learning how to become a really good hitter until 1993, 1994 once I got hit with the injuries and I had to sit back and realize that this is what the game is all about. I have to study these pitchers. I have to study my swing. I knew my swing was evolving into a different swing. From where I started which was natural, raw ability and the back leg was in the swing to where I became a hitter that knew had to hit through a baseball. As far as my hand-eye coordination and my ability, the great genetics that my parents gave me from birth. I could understand why people might be questioning those things as far as my health and why asking that stuff for my health is wrong. But as far as my hand-eye coordination and ability, the (questioning) I don’t agree with.”

Q: But wouldn’t using steroids help improve your bat speed? That’s one thing I’ve heard. Bat speed is so important and steroids can enhance that.

“I’ve always been quick through the zone. I think I’ve had one of the shortest, sweetest swings in baseball. It improved over time because of my stance, and my work ethic and the hard work that I put into it. The thing is I never talked about hitting with any media. With anybody. I never talked about hitting with any players. Nobody ever asked. I did things on my own. That’s the kind of player I was. I took care of my own business, and I did everything I can to prepare myself to play that given day. I did my tee work, my soft-toss work. And over the course of time, when you do things correctly, your swing is going to change over time. I started as a back-legged hitter. A wall-scraping, towering home run run hitter that barely made it over to a guy that knew how to hit through the baseball. And the ball kept getting backspin and carrying further.

“Steroids or HGH didn’t give me the strong mind that I had or the determination to be the first one at the ballpark and the last one to leave. You saw that. How hard I worked. I’d go work out and you guys had to wait a long time for me to come out. That was my dedication. It was the most regrettable thing to get caught up in this and use it to make my body. Before I met you in 1993, 1994, ’95 and ’96 – all those years – I was a walking a MASH unit. Like last night I was telling my day, ‘Remember in ’96 how I tore my heel for the third time?’ I called him up and said ‘This is it, I want to retire. I wanted to get away. I couldn’t handle this anymore. But I knew the ability that I had and how my swing was evolving. He told me to stick it out. I just keep running into these roadblocks of all these injuries. It was hard. And on top of that, I was hearing people just walk by saying, ‘He’s always injured, he’s always injured.’ I wasn’t playable.

“The doses that I took of these steroids were so low. The most that I weighed was 250. And every year that I finished I finished around 235 or 240. I did not look like Lou Ferrigno. I didn’t take that (much.) I took very, very low dosages. I did it to keep my body and not break down. That was the reason.”

Q: Did you take HGH?

“Yes. I used HGH. I did.”

Q: Are you really saying these PEDs helped you in any way other then helping you avoid injuries?

A: “The way my body felt, dealing with my back every year, dealing with the foot injuries, dealing with the stress of being what I was, trying to perform at such a high level, all I cared about was having my body feel normal and not to the point where it was going to break down all of the time. In the ’97, ’98, ’99 years I was taking andro and my body was feeling good during the time. But then around July or the All-Star break I decided to take a month’s worrth of steroids to get my body to feeling normal to where I can finish up strong. I did not abuse them. I did use them. It’s so regrettable.”

Q: What about breaking the Roger Maris record for most home runs in a season? You said in your statement that you were using steroids in ’98 when you hit the 70 home runs. Do you feel guilty that you broke the Maris record?

“I called Pat Maris today and I told her how sorry I was.”

(Note: Pat Maris is the widow of Roger Maris.)

Q: The thing that disappointed a lot of people, even your supporters, is that you told Congress you would take a leadership role to warn young athletes about the dangers of steroid use. You never followed through. Why did you back away from your pledge? Do you plan to do something to make up for that?

“That’s a good question. No. 1, I didn’t receive any phone calls. And two, I’ve done some things privately, and I’ve always done charitable things privately. I’m not a guy who when I do charitable things or if I’m helping out on things, I don’t need to call the media and tell the media this is what I’m doing. Because I do it out of the goodness of my heart. And that’s the way I’ve always done it. I’ve done it privately and I will continue to do it privately.”

Q: But do you think given your public platform, you can use it to do some things to warn young athletes about steroids? You will have a valuable platform now.

“You’re absolutely right. And we’ll take that as it comes.”

Q: You are doing some media interviews. Who else have you opened up to?

“It’s very emotional, because I’m talking to coaches and family and friends. I called Pat Maris today. I called Don Hooten today. I called Bud Selig. And to tell these people for the first time to ever hear it coming from my voice, the admission of this, it’s very emotional.”

Q: Have they forgiven you?

“Everybody’s been fantastic. Everyone has been great. I couldn’t thank them enough. Then again I couldn’t say sorry enough to them, too.”

Q: Your steroid use will reflect poorly on others who were around you at the time, including Tony La Russa. Are you saying that none of your managers or coaches knew about this?

“Don’t blame others for what I did. Don’t blame them for what I did privately, off on my own. I hid this. Today is the first time that Tony, (trainer) Barry Weinberg, the coaches, Bill DeWitt or anyone else knew about it. And they heard it from me directly.”

One thing I was not going to do is lie. That’s not me.

rolling shamed minority superstar thread 2010