The recent accusations made by Jose Canseco have once again cast a cloud of suspicion around baseball. Yes, we've been here before with Canseco, and odds are if we buy enough books, he'll make other shocking claims in later editions. But should he be ignored?
Certainly, his credibility falls well below the lines of suspect. But then again, so does baseball's. For years, Jason Giambi was rumored to have done steroids, and not by any eye accounts. It was always the look at him — no one puts on that much muscle implications that dogged him in his later years at Oakland and his early ones at New York.
When it was proven in court, it wasn't a surprise. There was nothing shocking about Giambi taking steroids. The most shocking part of all was that he admitted to it. Then it was Barry Bonds turn to admit guilt, although he says he didn't know what he was taking, which is like believing Bill Clinton didn't know what the definition of sexual relations is. Fellas, even though you both took it orally, it doesn't get around culpability.
Gary Sheffield also admitted guilt, although he went with the Barry Bonds defense of ignorance. Granted, Sheffield doesn't put up Bonds-type numbers, but that doesn't mean he wasn't a steroid user. And that's what will eventually be unearthed in later books by former players.
It's probably not just the Bonds, Giambis, and Sheffields of the world that are taking steroids. Ken Caminiti claimed years before he died that one half of the players in the majors had taken steroids at some point. Sports Illustrated did a story on minor league players taking steroids, and it wasn't the guys who hit 40+ homers.
I'm not inclined to take Canseco's book at face value, but it wouldn't surprise me if there was some basis to his claims of Rafael Palmeiro, Ivan Rodriguez, Juan Gonzalez, and Mark McGwire taking steroids with him. They all denied it, but so have Giambi, Bonds, and Sheffield at every turn except to the grand jury.
The steroid testing last year came back greater than 5% positive, but that number is hardly indicative of how much steroid use there is in baseball. BALCO founder Victor Conte could spoon feed Olympic athletes performance enhancing drugs, and they would pass Olympic drug tests, which are much more in depth than MLB's. Until there is a test for human growth hormones as well as anabolic steroids, baseball players can continue to cheat without consequences.
The true piece of comic genius unleashed by Canseco was that the President knew about the rampant steroid use in the Rangers locker room when George W. Bush owned the Texas outfit. Bush, who has admitted to not reading the newspapers while serving in the most prestigious office, might be oblivious to the fact that his cabinet could be secretly hashing a plan to invade Iran, but he was in the know about Pudge shooting up in workout sessions?
I wouldn't be shocked by any baseball player's guilt in taking steroids. From Sammy Sosa to Juan Pierre, the game has an image problem, which has been fostered by 100+ years of avoiding steroid testing. They are essentially playing with aluminum bats, but unlike college, you can't tell with certainty which one are and which ones aren't.
February 14, 2005
Andrew Modray:
What is there that makes anyone not believe him? Oh yeah, he’s kind of financially strained, has no real career prospects after baseball, except human guinea pig for new drugs. Has no real close friends from a fairly successful baseball career, the reasons to doubt him are numerous. But there has to be a grain of truth because he was honest about himself actually taking them, so I am still on the proverbial fence. Though I kind of doubt this will be a worty successor to Jim Bouton’s book ‘Ball Four.’