In his last four seasons with the Boston Red Sox, Roger Clemens won a total of 40 games and lost 39. After that fourth season, Boston believed that the Rocket Man, at age 34, was past his prime, and the team did not attempt to resign him for the ’97 campaign.
Clemens then joined the Toronto Blue Jays, and before anyone could say “Cy Young,” the pitcher regained his dominance, going 21-7. The next year, he hooked up with his new teammate Jose Canseco and learned all about the wondrous powers of steroids. After that conversation, he connected with the team’s strength coach, Brian McNamee, who years later told George Mitchell’s investigative team that in the summer of 1998, he started injecting steroids into Clemens’ buttocks in his room at the SkyDome. Clemens had another 20-win season and his second consecutive Cy Young Award.
Clemens then joined the Toronto Blue Jays, and before anyone could say “Cy Young,” the pitcher regained his dominance, going 21-7. The next year, he hooked up with his new teammate Jose Canseco and learned all about the wondrous powers of steroids. After that conversation, he connected with the team’s strength coach, Brian McNamee, who years later told George Mitchell’s investigative team that in the summer of 1998, he started injecting steroids into Clemens’ buttocks in his room at the SkyDome. Clemens had another 20-win season and his second consecutive Cy Young Award.
From there, McNamee followed Clemens to the Yankees. The trainer told Mitchell he kept the steroids and then Human Growth Hormone flowing into his prized client in New York, allowing the hurler to maintain his age-defying, power-pitching career through the 2007 season.
What steroids and HGH did for Clemens’ pitching, they also did for Barry Bonds’ power hitting. Bonds went into his body-enhancing mode after Mark McGwire’s own steroid-fueled power surge led him into the national spotlight in 1998 when he shattered Roger Maris’ single-season home run record. Till then, Bonds had had good but not spectacular power, hitting 40 or more homers in only three of his 13 seasons, and never more than 46.
All of a sudden, balls started flying out of the park, aided by drugs supplied by personal trainer Greg Anderson. Bonds knocked McGwire out of the books in 2001 by hitting 73 home runs. Along with his power numbers, the formerly lithe ballplayer’s body also expanded. His head grew by a cap size, his feet by three sizes, and his uniform shirt by 10. By the summer of 2007, Bonds had blown past Hank Aaron’s career home run record.
Charged by Commissioner of Baseball Bud Selig with the responsibility of investigating the steroid scandal, George Mitchell invited Clemens and Bonds to be interviewed and give their side of the story. Both refused. Since the Mitchell Report’s release last Thursday, their lawyers have blasted the “hearsay” and “unsubstantiated” statements from the trainers/drug suppliers. Why didn’t Bonds and Clemens speak up themselves?
True, the former Senate majority leader relied on the trainers’ testimony, but what else could he do? The League’s guidelines were clear, but the Players Union did not agree to them until 2002 (steroids) and 2005 (HGH), so they weren’t caught by drug tests. Mitchell had no subpoena power in his investigation to compel Bonds or Clemens to testify, and the star ballplayers absolutely ran away from the opportunity to make full disclosure of their past conduct.
The Mitchell Report, released on December 13 following a thorough 20-month effort, was led by a top-notch, high-integrity, experienced investigator. It not only tells the history of body-enhancing drug use over the past few decades, providing the names of users and suppliers, but it also makes recommendations as to what Commissioner of Baseball Bud Selig should do going forward. Selig says the Report is “a call to action” and that he “will act.”
Here’s one idea for Mr. Selig to act on: The players who were named as drug users in the Mitchell Report and who refused to cooperate in the investigation should have their records immediately erased and their awards taken away. When Olympic athletes and Tour de France cyclists get caught competing while juiced, they must return their awards. That’s what should happen in baseball, at least until the named offenders come forward, make full disclosure, and respond to a full interrogation regarding their activities.
What this would accomplish is to restore Roger Maris and Hank Aaron back to the top of the home run record book, where they both belong. And stripping Clemens of his Cy Young Awards until he makes full disclosure should remove the possibility of any knowledgeable baseball fan’s daring to mention him in the same breath with the one and only Nolan Ryan. There’s a guy who set his records the old fashioned way — by earning them — without having anything shot into his buttocks.
What steroids and HGH did for Clemens’ pitching, they also did for Barry Bonds’ power hitting. Bonds went into his body-enhancing mode after Mark McGwire’s own steroid-fueled power surge led him into the national spotlight in 1998 when he shattered Roger Maris’ single-season home run record. Till then, Bonds had had good but not spectacular power, hitting 40 or more homers in only three of his 13 seasons, and never more than 46.
All of a sudden, balls started flying out of the park, aided by drugs supplied by personal trainer Greg Anderson. Bonds knocked McGwire out of the books in 2001 by hitting 73 home runs. Along with his power numbers, the formerly lithe ballplayer’s body also expanded. His head grew by a cap size, his feet by three sizes, and his uniform shirt by 10. By the summer of 2007, Bonds had blown past Hank Aaron’s career home run record.
Charged by Commissioner of Baseball Bud Selig with the responsibility of investigating the steroid scandal, George Mitchell invited Clemens and Bonds to be interviewed and give their side of the story. Both refused. Since the Mitchell Report’s release last Thursday, their lawyers have blasted the “hearsay” and “unsubstantiated” statements from the trainers/drug suppliers. Why didn’t Bonds and Clemens speak up themselves?
True, the former Senate majority leader relied on the trainers’ testimony, but what else could he do? The League’s guidelines were clear, but the Players Union did not agree to them until 2002 (steroids) and 2005 (HGH), so they weren’t caught by drug tests. Mitchell had no subpoena power in his investigation to compel Bonds or Clemens to testify, and the star ballplayers absolutely ran away from the opportunity to make full disclosure of their past conduct.
The Mitchell Report, released on December 13 following a thorough 20-month effort, was led by a top-notch, high-integrity, experienced investigator. It not only tells the history of body-enhancing drug use over the past few decades, providing the names of users and suppliers, but it also makes recommendations as to what Commissioner of Baseball Bud Selig should do going forward. Selig says the Report is “a call to action” and that he “will act.”
Here’s one idea for Mr. Selig to act on: The players who were named as drug users in the Mitchell Report and who refused to cooperate in the investigation should have their records immediately erased and their awards taken away. When Olympic athletes and Tour de France cyclists get caught competing while juiced, they must return their awards. That’s what should happen in baseball, at least until the named offenders come forward, make full disclosure, and respond to a full interrogation regarding their activities.
What this would accomplish is to restore Roger Maris and Hank Aaron back to the top of the home run record book, where they both belong. And stripping Clemens of his Cy Young Awards until he makes full disclosure should remove the possibility of any knowledgeable baseball fan’s daring to mention him in the same breath with the one and only Nolan Ryan. There’s a guy who set his records the old fashioned way — by earning them — without having anything shot into his buttocks.
Interesting piece.