Thursday, December 13, 2007

B-12 Your Ass Out Of Here


Well, the George Mitchell Report has been release and so has some pretty big names in major league baseball, including one sure fire hall of famer. Some of the names may shock you, some may not, but rest assured ESPN will be talking about it from now until the World Series next year. Here are some highlights from George Mitchell's report.
Mitchell said: "For more than a decade there has been widespread anabolic steroid use" in baseball.

Response to the problem from both baseball and its players slow to develop. There is evidence the problem wasn't isolated to one club. Many players were involved. Each club has had a player involved.

Recommendations focused on three areas. The first was investigations without a failed drug test. Mitchell recommended a department of investigations, appointed by the commissioner. Secondly, he recommended improved educational programs. And third, Mitchell recommended that drug testing remains an important element to combat illegal drug use, but asks that it be an independent testing authority.

So it looks like the Orioles did the right thing player wise for a change and got rid of Miguel Tejada right before this came out, sadly it may be the last good thing their personnel department will do in the next ten years. Some of the names mention, and my responses to those names.

Miguel Tejada-He's had a dark cloud over him ever since Rafael "Period" Palmero suggested that Tejada poisoned him with steroids. No one really believed that and until I read this document and read how they came to their conclusion I won't know what to think. So I have read it, and they mention the B-12 incident (and Larry Bigbie) but the steroids portion comes in on page 250 and involving former teammate Adam Piatt.

Roger Clemens-I don't know if anyone is really shocked, seeing that Clemens looks like baseball's Hulk Hogan at his age. There is a big difference between what Nolan Ryan looked like at 40 and Roger Clemens. His story comes in at page 215 of the pdf. It appears that Clemens began using steroids once he got to Toronto, so apparently the Red Sox GM may have been right when he thought Clemens' best days were behind him.

Andy Pettitte-Apparently he began using HGH (pdf 175) after his elbow injury in 2001. Much like Roger Clemens he used the same gentleman, Brian McNamee, to help inject himself with the items. I wonder, if the reason the players have McNamee inject them with it is so they have plausible deniablity so when they say I've never injected they literally mean it.

Chuck Knoblauch-The third person in the McNamee clann, he began (as far as we know) when he joined the Yankees and started working out with McNamee, Clemens and Pettitte.

David Justice-Another Yankee linked to McNamee, he bought the stuff after the World Series in 200. My question is, why were these guys stupid and continually writing checks? He was interviewed before they found the checks, said he didn't know BUT did give them names of folks he thought, operation human shield in effect.

Mo Vaughn-The most shocking name on this list in my opinion. Hell, this morning my co-worker and I were joking about all the fat men in baseball being on this list because they mixed up steroids and a syrup IV. No worries Red Sox Nation, the evidence they have are from when he was a Met, though reading the name GlenAllen Hill was a blast from the past.

Denny Neagle-Yes, THE Denny Neagle was named in this report as well. Sadly this wasn't when he was with the Yankees, but when he was a Colorado Rockies player.

Chris Donnels-Yeah, I don't remember him either, but they have pages of dirt on this kid. Clemens was long, this kid almost went as long as Clemens.

Mike Stanton-I bring him up so the Nationals have some kind of representation on this list. Can you guess where he began using? If you said the Yankees you're at least paying attention. From the Evil Empire to the Juice Empire, well they do offices in Florida perhaps Citrus can become a sponsor.

Paul LoDuca-From a former National to the Nationals latest acquisition. He apparently was using when he was a Los Angeles Dodgers, and stopped after his comments after Ken Caminitti came out about his use. Dodgers officials believed he would go back on after they traded him.

Kevin Brown-Apparently LoDuca referred him to the supplier, but I wonder if this completely busts the notion that HGH and Steroids help you heal faster, this guys is still broken.

Eric Gagne-Perhaps it is something with New York, or teams that came from there. LoDuca, once again, facilitated Gagne getting the steroids from the Mets guy. Theo Epstein asked his scout about it, and knew what they would be getting if he was clean, and by appearances by his performance in Boston, he was.

Nook Logan-At least Logan was smart and paid by money order. His number was still in the cell of the main distributer when he was picked up, so he could still be using.

There you have it, just a small sample of what George Mitchell found. There seems to be rampant steroid and HGH usage in major league baseball, but then again are we surprised? The question has always been, does the American public really care?

15 comments:

Dewey, Cheatem, & Howe said...

Mo Vaughn: I think you mean Met, not Yankee.

Jack Gonzo, MD said...

Ah yes, of course, it's been fixed. I got so used to writing Yankee that when I saw another New York team listed it became second nature.

Dews said...

I've been saying since day one that Clemens was dirty...

Roids that he was taking are designed to help heal, not to help bulk. Doesn't make any sense for baseball players to lose flexibility or else they end up like Juan Gone, having to lose muscle to swing the damn bat.

I do feel a little bit of vindication here in supporting Bonds through this when everyone and their mother seemed convinced it was a special case...

If anything I think this demonstrates that its a bigger boon to pitchers then hitters.

John F Jamele said...

You feel "vindicated" because Bonds wasn't the only guy doing Steroids? Jeeesh...what would your reaction have been if the report EXONERATED Bonds?

Nobody thought that Bonds was the only person doing Steroids. Defending him now is like saying that if we can't catch every drunk driver, we should stop administering breathalyzer tests.

Bonds cheated. McGwire cheated. Vaughn cheated. The 2000 Yankees cheated. What makes Bonds a "special case" is that he lied under oath about his own use. That's why he's the only guy on this list who is going to jail. Not because he's the only cheat. Nobody ever thought he was. But he's the only one who has lied about his cheating to a grand jury.

Jack Gonzo, MD said...

I gotta agree with LAM, your comment doesn't make the best of sense, but I'm giving you a pass since you have been living on the Hill.

Dews said...

Not saying this vindicates Bonds, nor me, it just vindicates my position.

I stated before that the people that stood to gain the most from Steroid usage were pitchers, thus I assumed Clemens and company were benefitting more then the likes of Bonds for their usage. Bonds usage of steroids did not singlehandedly make him the best player in baseball, his talent did. Roids extended his career possibly (though, that could be argued), but not nearly to the extent that it did for Clemens and somewhat Pettite.

Dews said...

Hell, maybe this makes Duquette look like a genius in saying Clemends career was over when it was...

Peninsula Virginia Law said...

Consider Nolan Ryan? Averaged 201 k's per year from age 35-39; averaged 249 k's per year from age 40-44. Had over 300 k's when he was 30, then never again until he was 42. A miracle of fitness (like Clemens)? Played MLB until he was 47, had double bypass at 53. It is suspected that steroids use leads to increase risk of cardiac problems. Is he above suspicion?

Jack Gonzo, MD said...

Yes, I think he is above suspicion as he had no signs of ever taking steroids. People like Clemens and Bonds definitely had their bodies change at an age where they weren't supposed to, Ryan did not.

As for cardiac arrest, those happen when they're younger not 53. 53 would be a normal age a Texan would get his first heart attack, so now I don't suspect Ryan at all.

Dews said...

I'd hate to think of Ryan as a possible user, but he does certainly fit the mold for what steroids can do to extend ones career most effectively...

I don't know that you can put anyone above suspicion though, regardless of how much it would pain me to see Ryan as a user as well.

Jack Gonzo, MD said...

I think you can with Ryan though. He started in the 60s, body stayed the same for the most part until the old man pudge began. He was consistently dominant his career, he had no need to begin using.

Dews said...

Half the roids named in the reports though (Winstrol sticks out especially), were very much available in that time though...

Hell, Ahnuld and even McEnroe were using roids back then... Its just not impossible for me to think it was possible.

Peninsula Virginia Law said...

I'm no doctor, but
Nolan in 1990
http://images.skymall.com/images/products/SSM/69656681d.jpg
Nolan as a rookie
http://images.encarta.msn.com/xrefmedia/sharemed/targets/images/pho/t040/T040427A.jpg
Nolan with 'roid rage in 1993
http://tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:GHAzTt6JTy27mM:http://www.hogwild.net/images/Misc/nolan.ryan-fights-robin.ventura.jpg

Jack Gonzo, MD said...

Looks the same to me, maybe more defined, but so was workout regimens by the 90s. As for the "roid rage" he charged Nolan, and Nolan did what any good Texan would do when an invader entered his home.

John F Jamele said...

I posted this before, but for some reason I don't see it here, so I'll try again....

Dews, how can you say that steroids "didn't singlehandedly make Bonds the best player in baseball, his talent did?" No one questions Bonds's natural talent. However, we have no way of knowing how much steroids contributed. We can however assume that they DID contribute to his success, because it strains logic to argue that Bonds used a supplement which did not benefit his career. We have no way of figuring the balance between success due to natural talent and success due to steriods, and that is entirely the fault of Barry Bonds. There's always going to be an asterisk next to Bonds's name, because he put it there by not relying solely on his talent.

Imagine if I'm considered the best poker player in the world. I win all the time. Then you find out that for years, I've been cheating at cards. Do I still get to call myself the best poker player in the world, and are you still going to praise me as the best there is, and that my cheating is incidental to my talent as a poker player? Of course not.

We'll never know how much of Bonds's success is connected to steroids. What we DO know is that Bonds himself didn't have enough confidence in his talent not to cheat. I think it's more than a little absurd to say his talent "single handedly" made him the best player in baseball.