Apologists for the ballplayers, the uninformed types who are too lazy to intellectually deal with the issue of steroids, will just throw up their hands and say that it’s no big deal, everybody did it and that it was part of the game. The excuse that there isn’t a trail of failed drug tests - and without this trail, guys are innocent - doesn’t float for a number of reasons. The most obvious reasons are that the drug policy of the Major League was fatally flawed and that there was no testing that could uncover HGH use. Also, in the Mitchell Report there is a mention that players were tipped off to the drug tests, which renders this lack of positive drug tests meaningless.
If the ballplayers were so concerned with solving the problem of steroids, if there were so many clean players and if they wanted to call out the cheaters, the players should have cooperated with Mitchell in order to protect the clean guys. But that’s not what happened. Instead of cooperation, Mitchell got the “Pinstripe Wall of Silence.” No group associated with baseball deserves more blame for this debacle than do the players.
And the bigger they are the harder they fall.
So for all the Bonds haters out there, you have to make room for another resident in your personal doghouse. It's possible that Bonds may get into even deeper hot water as a result of the Mitchell Investigation and the Radomski saga. But whatever has happened to Barry Bonds, whatever ill will he has engendered, for the moment Roger Clemens deserves the same treatment and should suffer the same consequences.
Article comments
1 - ghgh
clemens and bonds still are hall of famers.
2 - Josh
Sal, excellent work as always. I knew you'd be right on top of it.
I'm still trying to decide what to make of it. This is one more indictment of a drug culture that was rampant in baseball; a culture that flourished from the highest levels to the lowest.
As to the individuals named, I'm a bit more skeptical. I believe any of those named could have used, but the investigation itself has some credibility issues. How many of these informants could withstand cross examination from even a competent lawyer? I don't know how much weight to give this report outside the sensational names that are being accused in it.
I'm having trouble putting this in a proper context because there just seem to be so many problems with the investigation and the sport.
3 - Frashequa
Sal,
You'd be right if they all werent' cheating. If 75% of the league is involved, then you can't really point any fingers. Football has to even be worse, but no one is giving this kind of grief to Lyle Alzado. I know he came clean, but all his records were helped by the use of steroids. So in the end, there will be those who won't be outed and never found out vs. those that are. Still not the intended result.
4 - sal m
you certainly can point fingers. just because everyone isn't caught doesn't mean that those who are caught shouldn't be the target of scorn, derision and punishment (in very rare cases, as far as steroid use goes).
that's like saying nobody drives the speed limit, and as a result anyone who gets caught should pay the consequences.
5 - alessandro
Exactly. The first email I got this morning was from a buddy simply stating: let's see if Clemens faces the wrath Bonds did. These are the two mammoth names on the list.
Did I hear right? McGwire and Sosa weren't named?
6 - Hairynipples
I knew it the day Clemens threw the bat at the Met's Catcher - some guy named Mike? Also, he was glorified for his "intense workout regime" which was highly suspect - Doritos and Schlitz? I do believe you have written about that in the past or it was a dream I had of you.
7 - sal m
it was donuts and schlitz...which by the way is a favorite menu item at pals cabin.
8 - Matthew T. Sussman
[tearfully throws away Nook Logan baseball cards]
9 - Bob
George Mitchell's report -- and the reactions to it -- caused me to wonder how professional baseball might be different if Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul withdrew from the race for the White House and replaced Bud Selig as commissioner of baseball. Yes, What if Ron Paul was Commissioner of Baseball? >
10 - Ronsportsc
No big surprise other than the list should have been longer. How to stop it? Wait till all these guys start dying and having serious health issues in their late 40's and early fifties
11 - Dave Nalle
Were they cheating? Didn't this steroid use take place prior to 2003 at a time when MLB had no official policy on steroids and basically turned a blind eye to their use?
Dave
12 - sal m
the use of the drugs for whatever purpose outside the specific, approved use was - and is - illegal. the use and possession of steroids for athletic performance was illegal regardless of whether or not the league had regulations preventing their use.
there's a gray area when it comes to hgh and yet no athlete chose to be upfront about their use, rather they skulked around and employed dirtbags like greg anderson, brian mcnamee and victor conte to covertly supply and dose them with hgh and other drugs.
13 - Aaron
Looks like Roger finally decided to come out with his denial. He's just so "shocked" that he has to do it though. What is shocking Roger is how your career suddenly turned around and you got better going into your late 30's and early 40's.
Barry and Roger will be joined at the hip when this is all done...