Tag: Barry Bonds

MLB: Craziest Scandals and Stories in History

While baseball is known as America’s pastime, the sport is no stranger to controversy.

Facing on-and-off-field scandals since before the dinosaurs walked the earth, Major League Baseball continues to battle its tarnished reputation.

In a sport that requires class and natural skill, rather technique, many players have tried to cheat the system.

From the most prolific home-run hitters in history using steroids during their primes to players purposely losing games to win bets, baseball has faced arguably the most controversy of any professional sport.

While baseball enters a new era with dominant pitching and egotistical millionaires, it is on the way to cleaning itself up.

But let’s look back at the craziest scandals and stories in MLB history.

Enjoy.

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MLB Steroid Scandal: The Case for Barry Bonds

The fate of Barry Bonds appears to be close at hand.

On Monday, Bonds’ former mistress, Kimberly Bell, recounted that the former Giants star told her in 1999 that he had taken steroids to recover from elbow surgery.

The next day, slugger Jason Giambi took the stand and stated that he had received a shipment of testosterone from Bonds trainer, Greg Anderson, in 2002. When asked by Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey Nedrow if he understood what he had received was a steroid Giambi simply replied, “Yes.”

Wednesday, the prosecution called scientists from Qwest diagnostics to testify about the 2003 MLB series of drug tests, in which the Feds claims Bonds’ sample tested positive. It was damning evidence and it proved absolutely…nothing. Zilch.

Look, we all know by now that Barry Bonds is not a real nice guy. We didn’t necessarily need to hear the threatening, psychotic voicemails he left on Kimberly Bell’s answering machine to confirm that notion. Most of Bonds’ insecurity and surliness was already recounted in Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams’ excellent Game of Shadows.

We all know that Bonds is a former steroid user, as well. He already admitted to using them, albeit unknowingly, in his testimony to the BALCO grand jury. But that’s not the underlying basis of the US Government’s case against one Barry Lamar Bonds.

Bonds stands on trial for false statements he made to the BALCO grand jury, chief among them being that when Anderson administered the designer steroids known as the “cream” and the “clear” to him, Bonds was under the mistaken belief that he was ingesting flaxseed oil and arthritic balm.

In other words, the government must prove that when Barry Bonds said he didn’t know he was taking steroids, he actually did know he was taking steroids. The only two who can testify to Bonds’ knowledge are Bonds himself and Anderson, neither of which appear ready to talk.

What we, the viewing public, have received instead has been a steady stream of individuals testifying that they heard Bonds say he was using steroids, saw him disappear into a bathroom with Anderson and even how much the slugger’s testicles shrank. All of which proves nothing other than the fact that Barry Bonds is prone to disappear into bathrooms with friends and apparently has a size problem between his legs.

It’s impossible to prove that Bonds is lying when he says he didn’t know what he was taking unless he himself comes right out and admits it. Bell’s eye measurements regarding Bonds’ nether regions prove nothing other than it was probably a really cold day and simply because Giambi understood what he was taking, doesn’t necessarily mean Bonds did.

I know, that’s a ludicrous statement as the preponderance of the evidence indicates that not only was Bonds aware he was ingesting PEDs, but was actively involved in how they were administered.

But this is a criminal case and a preponderance of the evidence is not the standard under which the government must make its case.

The government must prove that Bonds lied beyond the shadow of a doubt, and that’s just not going to happen, which means that this entire courtroom circus is a monumental waste of time.

This entire case has become nothing more than an exercise in ruing an already tarnished reputation and seems aimed at nothing more than embarrassing Bonds and declaring a set of truths the entire world is already well aware of. That’d be fine and dandy if it didn’t cost so much taxpayer money.

According to most estimates, the government has already spent a staggering $50 million investigating and trying Bonds. Think about that for a second. $50 million to prove that 762 is not as significant as 755, and that, outside of Fisherman’s Wharf, 61 is still better than 73.

$50 dollars to prove that Bonds is a really, really big jerk. It’s such a waste of time and money and it’s fair to question just why the government is going through with it.

I mean really, let’s face it, was what Bonds did really that bad? It’s not as if he murdered anyone. He’s not a sex offender. Does he really deserve to be facing down a significant stretch of time in a federal penitentiary?

Some of you out there are screaming that he cheated the game, but let me ask you, does that really justify a stint in the slammer? In my opinion, what Bonds did pales in comparison to the actions of Shoeless Joe Jackson and the 1919 Black Sox who, you know, only threw a World Series and may have cavorted with members of organized crime.

There’s also the fact that the steroid scandal in baseball wasn’t merely isolated to Bonds and Anderson. It didn’t start and it certainly didn’t end with them. Sure, the games cleaner now that they’ve been exposed, but does any really doubt the ubiquity of PEDs in American Sports? More importantly, does anyone really care?

Admit it, you don’t really care about steroids in sports. The American public certainly doesn’t care, as baseball attendance has increased since the steroid scandal broke, and that bastion of steroid use, the NFL, is so wildly successful that those involved are threatening to kill an entire season because they can’t learn how to share the enormous revenue stream that game generates.

People don’t really care about steroids. What really raises their ire is the righteous indignation displayed by certain individuals who get caught.

It’s why A-Rod isn’t afraid to show his face off the diamond, it’s why Rodney Harrison can smile at us from the TV screen before Sunday Night Football and why Andy Pettite is still respected by the baseball establishment. They’re among those athletes who showed contrition when they were caught using.

It’s also why the public reacts with such vitriol when the name Barry Bonds is mentioned. He reacted with disbelief and maintained his innocence even as the evidence began to pile up. He lashed out at his accusers and taunted the media.

Remember how “tired” Bonds was of the accusations? It also doesn’t help that Bonds was and is renowned as being one of the biggest jerks in the history of sports. Who cares?

The government, apparently, because that seems to be the only reason why they’re pressing ahead with this case. He didn’t cower when confronted with the evidence and didn’t wet himself when confronted by super agent Jeff Novitzky and that seems to have really ticked off the Feds.

But being annoyed by Bonds’ defiance is not a sufficient basis for a fruitless criminal trial and it is fruitless because as already stated without Anderson’s testimony or a confession from Bonds the government has no case. They can’t prove he lied.

The government needs to cut its losses and declare defeat. We get it. He did it, we all know it, but they can’t prove he lied about it. So please, stop wasting our time and let this miserable cretin slink away to some gated mansion to live the rest of his life in ignominy. We’d all be better for it.

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Jose Canseco, Barry Bonds and XX Retired MLB Stars We Wish Would Just Go Away

The scars of MLB’s recent past are beginning to heal and fade. The Steroids Era is growing smaller and smaller in the rearview mirror.

It’s been over six years since Major League Baseball was first embarrassed on Capitol Hill in the “steroids hearings” of March 2005. Over three years have passed since the release of the Mitchell Report.

Despite the march of time, there are still a handful of retired MLB stars who, well, we simply wish would just go away—Jose Canseco and Roger Clemens among them.

These players, whether we liked them or not, earned headlines during their playing days for just that—playing the game of baseball and playing it very well.

Now, in retirement, they grab headlines from time to time for all of the wrong reasons—not only adding further public embarrassment to their already tarnished images but, often, also bringing further shame to a sport that is increasingly gaining momentum in distancing itself from a checkered recent past.

Can’t these guys just go away?

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MLB All-Stars at Each Position by the Letter ‘B’

This is the second article in a twenty-some volume series selecting players at each position by the beginning letter of their last name. Some letters such as I, O, Q, U, Y and Z will probably not field a time. I haven’t researched them yet so I can’t say for sure. It is a fun list, a conversation starter and I hope I can get it finished. I was actually inspired to do this list from author Sue Grafton’s Mystery Alphabet Series.

I decided to us a modified 1961 Topps look for this particular letter. I hope you enjoy it.

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Bonds Case: Will the Home Run King Smack One out of the Court Room?

There’s not much to say about Barry Bonds and the legal situation he’s wrapped up in. The former “best player in baseball” and current home run champ has been under the microscope of Congress since he claimed to never knowingly use steroids during his 22-year career.

 

This was back in 2003 and Bonds is finally facing four counts of perjury along with other charges some seven and half years later.

 

Former trainers, former mistresses and former teammates have emerged over the years as major players in the “Bonds Perjury Case.” Whether those key figures pose any threat to Bonds and his future engagements with Congress has yet to be seen.

 

It’s utterly sad that the career of a man who seemed to be the greatest hitter of all-time has publicly spiraled to the depths of the media. However, at this point, Bonds’ main concern is proving that what Congress is calling “the clear” and “the cream” was not knowingly consumed by the former San Francisco Giant.

 

The case, which will take place over the next week or so, is more or less a battle of he said, she said. Bonds has been cementing his argument that the anabolic steroids in which Congress strongly believes he voluntarily received, was nothing more than what he thought to be arthritis balm and flax seed oil.

 

One of the most prominent figures in the case is Bonds’ former trainer, Greg Anderson, who has strongly decided to stay silent time after time. Anderson’s role in the case, or for that matter his lack there of, has culminated into a battle of will. Having already served 14 months in prison, Anderson is prepared to keep his mouth shout and back Congress into a corner.

 

Anderson’s refusal to testify has more or less diminished any chance the government has in using steroid test results from the BALCO screenings a few years ago. Only Bonds’ former trainer can testify that the results were in fact from Bonds himself.

 

Therefore, no Anderson, no BALCO evidence. With no BALCO evidence, Congress has been forced to rely on key witnesses throughout Bonds’ career that have heard or had conversations with the former all-star about his “alleged” steroid use.

 

For now, it seems as if the government has its work cut out for them. They have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Bonds lied about knowingly taking steroids and that those lies impeded on their Congressional case against Major League Baseball.

 

As the defense is concerned, almost everybody involved in testifying against Bonds, could be viewed as “money hungry,” “publicity hunting” and “out to make a name” key witnesses. It will be extremely difficult for the prosecution to prove that Bonds lied. Without the BALCO test results and without Anderson, Congress with be forced to rely on oral accusations, which usually becomes a battle of hearsay.

 

Regardless of the outcome to this case, the legacy and lifetime achievements of one, Barry Bonds, will forever be tarnished. Will he find a way to be acquitted from all the charges?

 

Possibly, but Bonds will never be forgiven in the baseball community and in the eyes of the public. The life of Bonds has been publicized over the past 10 years, in and out of hatred, pushing the home run king to the front-line of the MLB‘s steroid scandal.

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Barry Bonds and the Steroid Saga Leave Us Unfulfilled

Arguably the greatest player the game has ever seen should be praised, correct? 

Instead, he is the poster boy of everything that was wrong with the game. 

Barry Bonds has been a star everywhere he has gone, from Arizona State University, to the Pittsburgh Pirates, then in San Francisco where he elevated his game to superstardom. 

There was never any doubt of how good he was, except there was always suspicion as to why his abilities never diminished as he got older. 

I have read all the books: Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the Making of an Antihero, Game of Shadows, etc. The alleged evidence is very overwhelming.   

The trial is now in full swing, and with Bonds admitting to using steroids, that should be the end of story right?

Not quite.

Bonds’ lawyer claims he was misled into taking them. His trainer told him he was taking flax seed oil and arthritis cream.   

Ok, that was not the answer we were all looking for, but that is probably all we’re going to get at this or any point in the future. Bonds has continually denied his involvement since day one. In all reality, the dye was cast years ago, and the myth/legend of one of baseball’s greatest ended after the 1997 season. 

Mark McGwire admitted to using, so did Alex Rodriguez and Any Pettitte. Since their confessions, their involvement in the scandal has all but been forgiven for the most part. 

Bonds, on the other hand, has bucked the establishment since the beginning, more or less played the game by his own rules and always set the tone in the clubhouse (good or bad). 

That being said, when you are the best in the game, some are more guarded than others. Maybe he was in the right, maybe he wasn’t. That cold shoulder given to many over the years is the least of his worries. 

A legacy is tarnished forever, and despite what anyone says, Bonds is guilty no matter what happens at trial. 

No normal reputation can withstand what Bonds has gone through. For all the denials he has spit out or whatever reason he has given for “using in error”, the words “user”, “cheater” and “liar” will always be associated with the man on top of the greatest record in all of sports.

Devon is the founder of The GM’s Perspective.

You can follow The GM’s Perspective on Twitter and facebook.

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Barry Bonds Trial: Why I Want the Jury To Find Him Innocent

The Barry Bonds trial just concluded its first week of testimony after eight years of buildup, and honestly, nobody should care.

Bonds is not facing trial because of any crime that caused physical harm to another person; he did not perpetrate some great social injustice. No, Barry Bonds is on trial because he took steroids to elevate his game in his quest to rewrite the baseball record books and then lied about it.

Do I personally believe that Bonds took steroids? Yes, absolutely, without a single doubt. In fact, nobody should have any second thoughts as to whether or not Bonds accomplished his feats naturally or via chemical aide. The trial is not about whether or not Bonds took steroids; it is about whether or not he knowingly took steroids.

The question as to whether or not he took steroids went out the window during his original testimony when he admitted to putting a clear liquid under his tongue and a cream on his body. We already know those substances are the designer steroids “the cream and the clear.”

That admission, along with public speculation that Bonds was on steroids before he became a BALCO client, was enough to convict Bonds in the court of public opinion instantly. So what was the harm of his lying in his testimony?

I am not condoning perjury, not for a second, but that was his only crime. Bonds is also being charged with obstruction of justice, but did he really obstruct justice by refusing to admit he knew he cheated?

No, that’s simple. Victor Conte was still sentenced for distributing steroids; all the people that needed to go to jail, ended up in jail and have long since served their sentences. Bonds did not help justice be served, but thanks to the testimony of the other players at the hearings, he also did not obstruct justice.

No, this trial has nothing to do with the actual charges being placed on Barry. This trial is about setting an example, at any cost. This trial is to prove that federal prosecutors do not like being lied to and shown up in court. The example must be set that no one is above the law, and what better way to do it than to bring down an already polarizing public figure who also happens to be baseball’s all-time homerun leader? What bigger target exists?

Let’s assume that the court does find Barry Bonds guilty, which he is, who wins?

Not the tax payers who are paying for this trial—reportedly the government has already spent between $10 to $50 million on their case against Bonds.

Not Major League Baseball—this trial just prolongs the embarrassment caused by the steroid era and baseball’s attempts to sweep the problem under the rug until Congress stepped in and forced the issue.

Certainly not the fans. We’ve all moved on. We understand the record books are tainted, and we all have our opinion as to where Bonds’ accomplishments truly place him in the history of the game compared to those he surpassed to reach his career totals.

There is no winner, regardless of the outcome.

What punishment will be placed on Bonds with a guilty verdict? It can’t exceed the four-month sentence that was handed to Victor Conte, the kingpin of the whole BALCO steroid distribution operation. Bonds will likely walk away with a slap on the wrist and probation. A light punishment, though, only brings the question, what was this all for?

If Bonds somehow receives a sentence that exceeds that given to Conte, there will be outcry that the punishment does not fit the crime (at least in the minds of rational sports fans that don’t have an axe to grind with Bonds). In a way, Bonds may become a sympathetic figure—victim of government bullying.

There isn’t an outcome possible that justifies the time and money spent leading up to this trial or seeing it through to completion. So why bother?

The real punishment Barry will face comes in 2013 in his first year of eligibility for the Hall of Fame. The baseball writers have the privilege of determining his fate in that trial. If the eligibility of Rafael Palmeiro and Mark McGwire are any indication of how the voters feel about steroid users, then Bonds stands little chance of induction.

The likelihood though is that the Fed won’t be able to find Bonds guilty. Don’t believe me? Ask the most notorious steroid user of them all:

“It’s ridiculous. They’re not going to find him guilty,” Jose Canseco said Thursday. “There’s so many other major issues in this world that need more attention. Meanwhile, they’re creating this million-dollar trial on perjury charges? Not the fact that he used steroids, that’s more important. But the fact that he perjured himself under oath? I mean, hundreds of thousands of people do that daily and get away with that.”

It pains me that I find myself agreeing with Canseco, but he’s right, this is ridiculous.

And that is exactly why I want Bonds to be acquitted of the charges. It is not that I believe Bonds is innocent, I know he is not, I want two messages sent here:

1) I want a message sent to the Fed that there is no benefit to society to chase down steroid users or those who lie about steroid use (no need for a Clemens trial as a sequel). This was a monstrous waste of time and money that could have been better used solving any number of the issues facing our country at this very moment.

2) I want the true punishment inflicted on Bonds to be at the hands of the Hall of Fame voters and the fans that have been forced to endure this pointless witch hunt. His crimes were against the sport of baseball, and the sport of baseball should be free to police him how they see fit. Exclusion from Cooperstown, or at least a prolonged eligibility process seem fitting, if that is their choice. If the voters decide the playing field was level and give him entrance on the first ballot, then that is baseball’s right also.

Barry Bonds had one of the greatest careers in baseball history. He was a great player before he made the decision to take steroids to elevate his game. Arguably, he was already a Hall of Fame-caliber player. His later years were other-worldly, as we know because of the use of chemical enhancement.

There is nothing this trial will tell us about Bonds’ playing career that we don’t already know. There is no benefit that will come from the past eight years of prosecution. And there is certainly no benefit to society to place Bonds behind bars for any length of time.

For the first time since it became obvious that Bonds was no longer playing the game clean, I find myself rooting for him. I don’t root for him because I like him. No, I root for him because the only thing more ridiculous to me than the notion that he did not know what he was taking, is the notion that this trial serves any purpose at all.

 

Brandon McClintock covers Major League Baseball for BleacherReport.com. You can follow Brandon on twitter @BMcClintock_BR.

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Ken Griffey Jr vs. Barry Bonds: How Their Decisions Will Decide Place in History

During their primes Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey, Jr. were the two greatest hitters of their era.

Both second-generation ballplayers, having famous fathers who had enjoyed their own successful careers, Bonds and Griffey were lifelong acquaintances that had similar career paths and comparable numbers through their primes.

While their paths to Major League Baseball were similar, their legacies would wind up very different.

Barry Bonds debuted with the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1986 and went on to finish sixth in Rookie of the Year voting at the age of 21. He would play seven seasons for the Pirates, totaling 176 career home runs, batting .275 and winning two MVP awards, before signing as a free agent with the San Francisco Giants in 1993.

From 1993-2007, Bonds would rewrite the history books while wearing a San Francisco Giants uniform, playing for the team his father had. Bonds would go on to win six more MVP awards during that span and amass an unbelievable 586 additional home runs, including a single-season record 73 home runs in 2001. By the time Barry would finish playing his final major-league game in 2007, he would own the career record for home runs with 762.

Ken Griffey, Jr. had his own share of early success. Griffey debuted with the Seattle Mariners in 1989 at the age of 19 and finished third in Rookie of the Year voting. In 11 seasons with the Mariners, Griffey would receive MVP votes in nine seasons, winning the 1997 MVP award.

Griffey would hit 398 career home runs in his first stint with the Mariners while batting .299 over the 11-year span. The Seattle Mariners truly had the most iconic player of his generation during his prime.

In 2000, at the age of 30, Griffey requested and was granted a trade to Cincinnati in order to play closer to his home in Florida. Griffey’s tenure with the Reds was marred with injuries and was nowhere close to the elite level of play he enjoyed while a member of the Mariners. While playing for Cincinnati, Griffey would enjoy several key milestones: Home runs number 400, 500 and 600 would all come while wearing the same Reds uniform his father wore.

In 2008 the Reds traded Griffey to the Chicago White Sox for the remainder of the season. In 2009, Junior would re-sign with the Seattle Mariners to bring his career full circle and eventually retire with the team that gave him his start. Griffey retired in the middle of last season with 630 career home runs, 132 behind his longtime friend, Barry Bonds.

It was long before their careers wound down, though, that Bonds and Griffey found themselves heading in different directions.

Following the conclusion of the home run chase between Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa in 1998 that captured the attention of the country, Bonds and Griffey reportedly met in Florida at Griffey’s house. The two had a discussion that would see them make very different decisions that will ultimately affect how both are remembered.

In his book Love Me, Hate Me, Jeff Pearlman tells a story in which Bonds met with Griffey and confided in his longtime friend over dinner that he was about to start taking some “hard-core stuff.” Bonds was jealous of the attention that McGwire and Sosa received, feeling that he was the superior athlete and ballplayer and was not receiving his due recognition. While Bonds chose to elevate his game by cheating, Griffey chose to stay clean.

For the record, Griffey defended Bonds and stated to MLB.com back in 2006 that he did not recall such a conversation ever taking place.

Regardless of whether or not the conversation happened, the decision by Bonds to use steroids, and Griffey to remain clean, alters the outcomes of two great careers.

Both players are now out of the game; only memories of their accomplishments remain. Bonds was shunned by all 30 teams following the 2007 season, and Griffey retired in the middle of the 2010 season quietly and without any fanfare—a sad ending to the careers of two of baseball’s greatest players.

In neither case was it the end to their baseball stories though.

Barry Bonds will be eligible for induction into the Hall of Fame following the 2012 season. Griffey will be eligible after 2015. Would you care to wager a guess as to which player is enshrined first?

As spring training 2011 winds down and today’s major leaguers prepare for the regular season, the current role that each player holds tells the tale.

Griffey is a special instructor in Mariners spring training and a special assistant to the front office. Griffey is still embraced within the game of baseball.

Bonds, shunned by San Francisco Giants ownership, is sitting in a federal courtroom listening to testimony as a federal grand jury decides if he perjured himself in stating that he never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs.

Details of Bonds’ steroid use will undoubtedly emerge and stick in the minds of the fans and baseball writers who will eventually decide Bonds’ fate in baseball immortality. In reality, though, no additional details are really necessary. Bonds was convicted in the court of public opinion long ago.

As a result, 762 is not the same as 755; 73 is not as important as 61. Hank Aaron is still the king, and Roger Maris is still the man to beat for the single-season mark.

The memory of Barry Bonds is not the all-around athlete that won MVP awards in the early 1990s for the Pirates or the player the Giants signed that helped them to the playoffs in 1997. That slender athlete that could hit for average and power, play Gold Glove defense and was a constant threat on the basepaths is long forgotten, replaced by the mutation that emerged as a result of his dealings with BALCO.

The memory of Ken Griffey, Jr., on the other hand, is still that fun-loving, backwards-hat-wearing ballplayer that made the game look easy. Yes, we will remember that Griffey was injured more often than not as his career wound down, but there is not a hint of any wrongdoing. Had Griffey had better luck and remained healthy, he could have stood ahead of Bonds in the record books. It will be Griffey that enjoys induction into Cooperstown in his first year of eligibility, while Bonds waits.

While 630 stands just below Willie Mays in fifth on the all-time home run list, at least to me, it stands above 762.

 

Brandon McClintock covers Major League Baseball for BleacherReport.com. You can follow Brandon on twitter @BMcClintock_BR.

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Adderall’s on First, Ritalin’s on Second: The Ongoing Saga of PEDs in Baseball

It seems like an eternity since Major League Baseball finally got around to admitting it had a problem of the performance enhancing variety, but in reality it has barely been a half a decade.

Players once thought to be first-ballot Hall of Famers are struggling to garner more than a pittance of support from sports writers and fans alike as the sport carries on the best it can.

Attendance remains high—despite an ongoing quasi-recession—television revenue is streaming in and it appears that many of the measures taken by commissioner Bud Selig and his merry band of nitwits salvaged what little dignity this great sport had left in the wake of all that ugliness.

But alas, as always, looks can be deceiving.

I, for one, was more than a little bit surprised when MLB decided to include a ban on stimulants in its new drug program a few years back.

Now the use of uppers is neither new nor surprising in the baseball world, going back as far as the days of Willie Mays players have been using some form or another to endure the grueling demands of the 162-game season.

While steroids, and their artificial augmentation of baseball’s favorite play, the longball, have received most of the mainstream media coverage, anyone who really knows two shits about baseball recognizes that “greenies” have always been a much more pervasive part of the game.

Countless stories of large Ronald Reagan-esque like jars filled with amphetamines (as opposed to Ronnie’s trademark jellybeans) and pots of coffee labeled “extra-caffeinated” could be found without much effort at all.

A baseball season is a long & grueling one, after all. 162 games, packed into about 180 days, taking players, coaches and fans through a hot and humid summer can wear down even the best of men.  So for decades players have turned to “artificial means” to carry them through the dog days of summer.

I told more than one friend that it would be interesting to see who “faded down the stretch” and chuckled at the sudden emergence of energy drinks as sponsors for the big league clubs.

But I never could have imagined the thing that would catch my eye exactly one year later…and every year since.

When the league banned these drugs, an amazing thing happened. The number of players claiming and obtaining “therapeutic use” exemptions for stimulants nearly quadrupled from 28 to 103.

“Therapeutic use” means you can justifiably use the drug because you need it for a medical condition. If you didn’t have the condition, you’d just be a normal pro baseball player, and the attention-focusing benefits of Ritalin would be a form of “enhancement,” i.e., cheating.

Before the ban only 28 players had “therapeutic use exemptions” allowing them to take drugs such as Ritalin or Adderall.  Twenty-eight.  Then somehow magically that number jumps to over 100 as soon as the ban kicks in?

Color me suspicious but do they really think we are that dumb?

I mean how the hell can ADHD multiply fourfold in a sport in a single year? How can it become three times as prevalent in that sport as in the adult population? Is it contagious? Can Derek Jeter give it to Dustin Pedroia if he coughs on him as he slides into second base?  Of course not.

ADHD is a psychological diagnosis. Like post-traumatic stress disorder or bipolar disorder it’s open to interpretation in any given patient. Three doctors may say you don’t have it. A fourth may say you do.

It’s that subjectivity that should have led to the league having a more discerning eye. After all they had literally just caught the foxes trying to rob the hen house when they found over 100 major leagues had tested positive in their last round of anonymous testing.

MLB should have also taken notice of what pretty much EVERYONE else had when these numbers were first published, namely that among adults, the rate of diagnosis is between 1 percent and 3.5 percent. But among pro baseball players, the disease seems epidemic.  That means 8 percent of major-league players have ADHD—twice the rate among children and three to eight times the rate among adults.

But, of course, they didn’t.

They argue that once the number spiked up to 103 it “plateaued” and has remained at or about that same level since.  This is true, the numbers show there were 105 therapeutic use exemptions in 2010, up from 106 TUEs in 2008/2009 and 103 in 2007, but it still doesn’t address why there was such a sharp rise in the first place.

But then again, do we really expect more from Bud the Dud?

The World Anti-Doping Agency sure as hell doesn’t:

“My reaction is the same as last year and the year before that,” said Dr. Gary Wadler, chairman of the committee that determines the banned substances list for the World Anti-Doping Agency. “It seems to me almost incomprehensible that ADHD is so pervasive in baseball to a degree that it requires medicine.”

A frequent critic of baseball’s drug-testing program, Wadler said “these numbers really cry out for transparency in the TUE process in baseball — a good look-see at the process, not just the numbers.”

This ostrich-like ability of Selig’s, where he is able to shove his head in the sand for unnaturally long periods of time has long infuriated me frankly.

I only wish I could have been a fly-on-the-wall in the offices of Major League Baseball when the recent divorce proceedings of Kansas City Royals catcher Jason Kendall and his estranged wife Chantel have remained frequent fodder for internet gossip sites like TMZ and RadarOnline and even recently made the jump to websites not concerned with the latest atrocious parenting of Jon and Kate Gosselin.

While professional athletes ditching gold digging trophy wives is no novel concept, this one had steamy particulars involving the love triangle of a pro athlete, a smokin’ hot babe and the son of a rock-n-roll legend (Chantel is currently dating Sean Stewart, son of Rod Stewart).

The focus of the tittle-tattle involved Chantel accusing her husband of abusing the drug Adderall, which subsequently led to him both physically and emotionally abusing her.

Aside from accusations that he urinated & defecated on a pile of Chantel’s clothes after finding out she had been cheating on him, she claimed that he received a spurious prescription to take what is now labeled a performance enhancing drug otherwise banned by Major League Baseball.

While Kendall refused to answer the judge’s question about his use of greenies under the argument that (I. shit. you. not) Mark McGwire didn’t have to answer the questions he was asked in court about PEDs, he was very forthcoming about his prescription drug habits and more than willing to toss former teammates Brian Giles and Bobby Crosby under the bus, implicating them as fellow Adderall appreciators in court depositions.

One has to think that Bud was running around Manhattan looking for a schoolyard sandbox the shove his head in the moment he caught wind of these proceedings.

I am sure Selig is a good man. It appears he has a passion for baseball, and genuinely wants to do the right thing to help the sport.  But there is a problem—he is gutless.

For years he ignored steroids in baseball while the problem grew out of control.  Despite many fans knowing certain players were on steroids, even going back to the 1980s (for an example, a 1988 Fenway Park crowd chanted “Ster-oids” at Jose Canseco), Selig in February of 2005 said, with a straight face:

“I never heard about it.  I ran a team and nobody was closer to their players and I never heard any comment from them.  It wasn’t until 1998 or ’99 that I heard the discussion…I don’t know if there were allegations in the early 90s.  I never heard them.”

I remember reading those comments and thinking either this man is absolutely lying, or he is completely incompetent and oblivious.  Maybe it is a little of both, but either way, this man should not be allowed to run major league baseball.

Further, even if taken at face value, if Selig knew about steroids in 1998 or ’99, why did it take him until 2005 to take any action, and only after Congress forced him into it.

Sadly, I fully expect this same sort of blissful ignorance to plague Selig’s handling of this next round of PEDs in baseball.

Just as stories about players juicing were swept under the rug because of increasing television ratings and attendance due to historical records falling every year, this dirty little secret will go on flying under the radar.

Instead of looking out for the interest and integrity of the game, Selig will gladly keep trading it  away, piece by piece, for an increased revenue stream.

Oh, somewhere in this favored land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light,
And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout;
But there is no joy in baseball — the sport’s integrity is quickly running out.

This article is also featured on The Rantings & Ravings Of A (Formerly) Mad Mailman.

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com


Barry Bonds Trial: Latest News, and Experts’ Opinions on Former Slugger’s Future

Welcome to the moment baseball fans have been waiting for. The trial of Barry Bonds is underway and there is plenty going on.

Bonds, one of the most polarizing figures in baseball over the last century is also now the face of the Steriod Era.

Like it or not, it’s the hat he wears and the government is trying to determine if Bonds is guilty of perjury when it comes to testimony he gave involving performance enhancing drugs.

As expected, there are thousands of media outlets covering this trial and Bleacher Report is keeping tabs on all of them.

Instead of scouring the Internet looking for information, we are going to bring you up to speed on everything that has gone on in the last couple of days.

We’ll let you know what the experts are saying and what the trial looks like for Bonds.

We are witnesses is something historic in baseball, even if it’s given the sport a black eye. You stay right here and we are going to get you all caught up on everything Bonds. 

Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com


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