For some reason Jason Giambi chose the eve of this season’s first Subway Series to make silly statements about the steroids in baseball issue. In an interview with USA Today Giambi said, "I was wrong for doing that stuff. What we should have done a long time ago was stand up — players, ownership, everybody — and said, 'We made a mistake.'"
The slumping Yankees DH went on to say, “We should have apologized back then and made sure we had a rule in place and gone forward. Steroids and all of that was a part of history. But it was a topic that everybody wanted to avoid. Nobody wanted to talk about it."
This part of the statement is foolish for many reasons, not the least of which is Giambi’s use of the term “we” instead of the more appropriate and accurate “I.” Despite the fact that this has been baseball’s steroid era, individuals decided to use steroids not the entire league. Jason Giambi decided to use steroids in order to get ahead, since when does that entitle him to speak for others or say that others should apologize?
Should guys like Cal Ripken, Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine and Craig Biggio be lumped in with, and have to apologize for the actions of players like Jason Giambi?
Giambi made an even more ludicrous statement when he asserted, "That stuff (steroids and human growth hormone) didn't help me hit home runs. I don't care what people say, nothing is going to give you that gift of hitting a baseball." This is just another myth the drug taking cheaters want to perpetuate. Maybe Jason really means that the hgh did all the work and steroids just were along for the party.
Giambi could always hit home runs; the juice allowed him to hit more home runs. Take a doubles hitter with a good eye and some power, add some anabolic agents and voila, you have a 40-home run/120 RBI hitter. Saying that steroids don't help baseball players is like saying amphetamines don't help, like saying alcohol really doesn't make people drunk.
Jason needs to go back and check his home run numbers, because it’s been a while since he was a consistent and productive power hitter.
Actually, Giambi is a living example of what steroids giveth and taketh away. During the “give” years when Jason was in the process of “earning” his current $13.5 million a year average salary (1999-2002, his last 3 years with Oakland and first year with the Yanks) he averaged 39 home runs and 125 RBI. But since then Jason has been in the "take" years, and in the 4 full seasons since his first Yankee season he’s been good for 30 home runs and 86 RBI per. Not only did Giambi’s power numbers drop, his average has also plummeted. Only in his first year in the Bronx did he hit for average, but since that .314 average the best average Jason has posted was .271 in 2005. I don't think the Yanks committed upwards of $80 million for these kind of numbers.
Article comments
1 - RJ
Jason Giambi is a fat slob. And a cheater. And also a multi-millionaire.
Yes, kids, it's true: life isn't fair...
2 - Matthew T. Sussman
"This is just another myth the drug taking cheaters want to perpetuate."
I'll defer my medical expertise to Big Sal, but isn't it better to say, "It doesn't work anyway and shrinks your balls," rather than "Well, yeah, it helped, but it wasn't worth it?" With that second rationale, it at least gives young kids the option, the mere thought, of trying them, vs. the first one, whereas any kid with two brain cells knows to stay away from them.
Sort of a Santa Claus approach, indeed, but possibly worth it.
3 - sal m
kids and adults have known for generations that steroids "shrink your balls" and yet guys have continued to use them.
giambi and his $80+ million are laughing their way to the bank. what's a little small balls when you can make a fortune?
4 - Victor Lana
Sal, I was not surprised that Giambi once again made a fool of himself. My friends and I went to Shea last night and had lots of fun dissecting the Yanks and Giambi. Of course, he was the last hitter of the game. The less than Mighty Casey struck out, and there was certainly no joy in muddy Yankeeville.
5 - Murphy
I'm thinking the point has been missed here. As I read it, Giambi is implying that the sport had a serious problem. Maybe Maddux and company stayed off the stuff, but it's pretty clear (see recent ESPN The Magazine story on clubhouse gofers) that this was a widespread problem.
And it's fantasy to think Selig and company were doing anything but snoozing through the alarm bells until they were sweating in front of a House panel.
Maybe the feds should offer an amnesty so everyone can come clean about what was going on during the pre-testing days.
6 - chancelucky
To me, career arcs like Jason Giambi's make Barry Bonds even more curious. While virtually everyone else who was "doping" seems to have enjoyed a huge power surge then dropped back to slightly above average production numbers after testing began, Bonds's numbers remain remarkable. At age 42 he is hitting .300 and on pace for 40 + home runs. Unlike the other "users", Bonds also didn't seem to fade suddenly after age 36.
It doesn't make him any less guilty, but it's remarkable in its own weird way. I can't think of any other 42 year old player who's ever drawn this many intentional walks.
7 - sal m
three little words....human growth hormone...
the benefits of hgh are well documented; enhanced recovery, strengthen connective tissue and when used at clincal doses no side affects to speak of.
if bonds hadn't gotten hooked up with greg anderson he wouldn't have been abused with regular steroids and improper training which led to his 3 of 4 year injury problem and a ton of lost at-bats.
he'd be shooting for 800 hrs now if not for anderson.
8 - Kevin
Looks like this article was posted in multiple locations. Interesting. Well, for the benefit of other readers, I'll make the same point (sorry, Sal). Jason Giambi did earn an inflated contract, but he was part of a much bigger movement of "juicing" the game. The owners and knowledgable fans had to suspect something, but everyone looked the other way. Who are we to ask for a refund on the entertainment for which we so gladly paid for so long? If the Yankees so badly wanted a clean player, they should have looked a little closer before signing Giambi in the first place.
9 - sal m
i didn't realize this was posted elsewhere...
anyway, i don't disagree with the sentiment of what the yanks should have done if they wanted a clean player...however, i think the moral of the story is that if you're gonna cheat to be good, be good. if giambi had delivered since 2002 the yanks wouldn't be complaining and looking to void his contract and they may have had another world series to show for their $120 million commitment.
10 - RJ
This just in:
Sylvester Stallone fined by Australian authorities for bringing HGH and steroids into Oz...
Gee, I wonder if this has anything to do with a 60-year old doing whatever it takes to get back into shape in order to film and promote the latest Rocky sequel...
11 - Kevin
Sal, looked for the other instance of this post and couldn't find it. It was some health-related site and had your name attached; that's how I made the connection. But that's not important.
So... you're saying Giambi should continue juicing so as to fulfill his contract obligations to the Yankees? Sure, the Yankees thought they'd be getting a certain product, but they had to have at least an inkling that it was a PED-enabled monster. And if so, is Giambi to blame that MLB has tightened its testing on steroids? By signing Giambi, the Yankees were making the gamble that he would go on producing the numbers he had put up in previous years -- by WHATEVER method necessary.
12 - sal m
all i meant was that if giambi had produced at the pace he had in his last three years with the A's and the first in the bronx, the yanks probably wouldn't be so keen on getting rid of him and his salary...i wasn't endorsing his behavior in any way.
i agree with you - what i think you mean - that if teams in the league really wanted clean players they would have exercised a little more discretion.
where i disagree with you - on a minor point - is that fans shouldn't complain because they were entertained by the exploits of the cheaters. i disagree in that i rooted for hank aaron to break ruth's record, saw frank robinson, mike schmidt willie mays, reggie jackson and others play the game and hate that their names have been/are going to be eclipsed by the guys who created the steroid era.
13 - The Haze
I think MLB turned their respective heads to this "steroid thing" in order to win back fans after the strike season. Giambi's "we this and we that" comments points an accusatory finger at the Lords of Baseball and fires a direct hit! In no way does he make culpable the likes of Glavine and Biggio etc. Now if their was a way to put more violence into the game the public would eat it up! I know!....aluminum bats! Look what they've done to our (gulp!) game!!