Bonds Steroid Use In New Book

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

So when little Dickshot asks you "Dad, who's the greatest slugger of all time? Was it Bonds or Aaron? Or Ruth? Maybe McGwire?" you'll go "Let me tell you about questionable training methods, son. Sit down, we'll be here for a while..."

[Guest Bret Sabermetric]

Of course, by that time, maybe the answer will be "I think Milledge has them all lapped, son."

[Guest Rotblatt]

Breaking news from the Onion.

]Barry Bonds Took Steroids, Reports Everyone Who Has Ever Watched Baseball March 9, 2006 | Onion Sports SAN FRANCISCO—With the publication of a book detailing steroid use by San Francisco Giants superstar Barry Bonds, two San Francisco Chronicle reporters have corroborated the claims of Bonds' steroid abuse made by every single person who has watched or even loosely followed the game of baseball over the past five years. In Game Of Shadows, an excerpt of which appeared in Sports Illustrated Wednesday, authors Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams claim that more than a dozen people close to Bonds had either been directly informed that Bonds was using banned substances or had in fact seen him taking the drugs with their own eyes. In addition to those witnesses, nearly 250 million other individuals nationwide had instantly realized that Bonds was using banned substances after observing his transformation from lanky speedster to hulking behemoth with their own eyes. According to hundreds of thousands of reports coming out of every city in the U.S., Bonds' steroid use has been widely reported and well-documented for years, with sports columnists, bloggers, people attending baseball games, memorabilia collectors, major ballpark popcorn and peanut vendors, groundskeepers, roommates, significant others, fathers-in-law, next-door neighbors, fellow fitness club members, bartenders, mailmen, coworkers, teachers, doormen, parking-lot attendants, fellow elevator passengers, Home Depot clerks, servicemen and women serving in Iraq, former baseball players, Congressmen, second-tier stand-up comics, Sports Illustrated's Rick Reilly, and random passersby all having stated at some point in the last five years that Bonds was obviously taking some sort of performance-enhancing drugs. Many of those eyewitnesses came forward following Wednesday's revelation with their own accounts of Bonds' seven-year history of steroid use. "I originally heard that Barry Bonds was on steroids during a Giants game in 2001, when my buddy Phil, who was on the couch next to me, said, 'Dude, that Barry Bonds guy is definitely on steroids,'" said Chicago resident Mitch Oliveras. "After 10 seconds of careful observation, and performing a brief comparison of Bonds' present neck width with that on Phil's old 1986 Bonds rookie card, I was convinced." "I can see how some people might be shocked about Bonds' doping, but this has been an open secret for years among the people in my industry," said air-conditioner repairman Mike Damus. "I'm sure it's an even more widely known fact in baseball." "Everyone in our front office has known about Bonds since the 2001 season," said San Francisco-area accounts-receivable secretary Mindy Harris of McCullers and Associates, Ltd. "People in our ninth-floor office, too, and all seven branch offices. None of us were sure exactly which kind of steroids he was on, but we were pretty sure it was the kind that causes you to gain 30 pounds of muscle in one offseason, get injured more easily, become slow-footed, shave your head to conceal your thinning hair, lash out at the media and fans, engage in violent and abrupt mood swings, grow taut tree-trunk-like neck muscles, expand your hatband by six inches, and hit 73 home runs in a single season." "Come to think of it, we're all fairly certain he's on all of them," Harris added. "My 6-year-old son and I bonded over our mutual agreement that Bonds was obviously juicing up," San Francisco-area construction worker Tom Frankel said. "I hope that, one day, little Davey will have kids of his own, and that they will be able to easily glean the knowledge that Bonds was a cheater just by looking at the remarkable shift in his year-by-year statistics on his Hall of Fame plaque." In light of the most recent accusations, which echo what any idiot with a pair of eyes and even the most fundamental knowledge of how the human body works has made in recent years, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig issued a statement Wednesday to address the issue. "It is unfair to judge Mr. Bonds based solely on the fact that everyone says he has taken some sort of performance-enhancing drug for the past five years," Selig said. "I myself think Bonds has been taking steroids—I'm not blind, after all—but nothing, even an admission by Bonds himself, can conclusively prove that he took steroids, as he has not tested positively in an MLB-sanctioned drug test. Unless that is somehow made to happen, we must all accept his recent unfathomable accomplishments as one of the truly exciting and continuing storylines of this great sport." When reached for comment, Bonds insisted that he "[doesn't] have time to deal with all these charges." "I'm not going to respond to these 228 million allegations," Bonds said. "I don't care what every last person in the entire world thinks. As long as my fans believe me, that's the most important thing."

[Guest Johnny Dickshot]

Bret Sabermetric wrote: So when little Dickshot asks you "Dad, who's the greatest slugger of all time? Was it Bonds or Aaron? Or Ruth? Maybe McGwire?" you'll go "Let me tell you about questionable training methods, son. Sit down, we'll be here for a while..."

I'm saying we'd look at it like the dead-ball era or the pre-intregration years, or whatever era with a wideranging effect and a fairly defined beginning and ending.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Not highly publicized, but this book also impilicates Gary Sheffield as taking injections of testosterone and human growth hormone as a Brave in 2002.

[Guest silverdsl]

I think what the book says about Sheffield is getting some attention - it's on the back pages of both Newsday and the Daily News today (don't know about the Post). But it seems as if fans don't care as much about what Sheffield did as opposed to Bonds.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Yeah, well, I got the publicity ball rolling with my post at 2:00. Sure, now it's everywhere. At 1:55 it was a guarded secret.

[Guest KC]

The Bonds' camp is going to sue the book dudes ... this should be fun for like years.

Hey, ooops, never mind ... I thought I saw a white Bronco.

[Guest cleonjones11]

Is the white Bronco John Elway?

[Guest Edgy DC]

Are other columnists calling ESPN out like this guy?

[MFS62]

Edgy DC wrote: Are other columnists calling ESPN out like this guy?

I thought I saw something similar on either Yahoo or AOL sports. If I can find the link I'll post it.

Later

[Frayed Knot]

ESPN in general - and not just a few commentators specifically - are def carrying the water for Bonds. It's not just the show and their almost knee-jerk reaction of cross-promoting everything connected with the ESPN/ABC/Disney world, but they think all of us are still hanging on every HR he hits as they break into SportsCenter, other games, and certainly BB2N in order to bring us **Live Coverage** of Barry's current AB.

I do believe it was someone however at ESPN that suggested that the series be re-named [u:d74aa88ef4]Bonds on Bond[/u:d74aa88ef4] if these perjury charges go through.

[Guest mlbaseballtalk]

silverdsl wrote: I think what the book says about Sheffield is getting some attention - it's on the back pages of both Newsday and the Daily News today (don't know about the Post). But it seems as if fans don't care as much about what Sheffield did as opposed to Bonds.

Everyone uses the conveinent excuse that Sheffield (and by extention Giambi and to a lesser degree all the other highly publicized rumored juicers like Piazza, Bagwell, Gonzalez, Dysktra, Anderson or those already admitted like Caminiti) isn't chasing down hallowed records like McGwire and Sosa did, and what Bonds is doing, or chasing down distinctive marks like Palmerio

[Elster88]

When did Piazza become "highly publicized rumored". I must have missed those publications.

[Guest mlbaseballtalk]

Elster88 wrote: When did Piazza become "highly publicized rumored". I must have missed those publications.

Okay, maybe thats from him always being lumped in when sports talk hosts, callers, and irresponsible columnists start running down names of people they suspect of doing something due to change in apperances. In other words, he's on virtually every list

And he did do a press confrence saying he wasn't on steriods, which was so close to his "I'm NOT GAY" press confrence that people thought it was funny that Piazza would call two press confrences to say absoultly nothing.

[Elster88]

]And he did do a press confrence saying he wasn't on steriods

I must have been under a rock when this happened.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Although I've certainly had my suspicions about Piazza, I haven't seen him lumped in on supsect lists.

[Benjamin Grimm]

I don't recall any such press conference either.

[Guest mlbaseballtalk]

Yancy Street Gang wrote: I don't recall any such press conference either.

Hmmm, I thought it was considered a press conference. It was a press gathering though and Piazza flat out said he didn't do steriods and people were joking after words that Piazza was doing alot of talking about doing nothing in recent weeks

[Elster88]

Are you making this up?

[Guest mlbaseballtalk]

Elster88 wrote: Are you making this up?

Making what up? In the summer of 02 he first had to answer the "Are you gay" nonsense thanks to the Post, then a few weeks later some poll came out about the amount of players on juice and he had to answer the "Are you on roids questions" it truely was a situation where Piazza had to answer questions by saying he wasn't doing anything. The first one was definatly a press conference, I remember a talk radio joke aimed at Piazza that people generally call press conferences when they "announce" something, not when they say they aren't something (see Farve, Brett)

[Frayed Knot]

Well, Piazza talked to "press gatherings" virtually every day; otherwise known as groups of reporters gathered around his locker, as they did on a regular basis for all of the "name" players and a number of the lesser ones as well. If we want to label that "a press conference" than Mike held one almost daily on almost any subject you want to name. Even the 'I'm Not Gay' "announcement" was more an answer to a hanging question while a group of scribes and mikes were around than it was a formal press set-up.

[Willets Point]

Roid Race: McGwire v. Bonds.

[Willets Point]

I love it when The Nation covers sports. Good for some laughs at least.

[Guest Edgy DC]

Wow, Babe Ruth was of questionable character and played in a segregated era! Who knew?

[Willets Point]

He even repeated the pinstripes were made to look Ruth look slimmer myth.

[metsmarathon]

of course, while the talent pool was thinned by the exclusion of blacks and the lack of inclusion of latin americans, it was also greatly condensed by the paucity of teams in the leagues at the time.

does it even itself out? i dunno, but it does restore some of the comparative balance. if modern hitters are getting fat off the soft middle relief underbelly, then the opposite was true pre-expansion.

[Guest Edgy DC]

]does it even itself out?

Not really.

[Elster88]

Jason Grimsley admitted to steriod use

I'm not sure why this is a big deal today. Apparently, Grimsley failed a drug test in 2003, so this isn't new (unless that was before they were publicizing the results of the testing?). On the radio this morning (pinch of salt) they made it seem like Grimsley was going to name names.

He apparently has ties to BALCO.

Here's the article:
________________________________

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Jason Grimsley told federal investigators he used illegal performance-enhancing drugs, according to court documents unsealed late Tuesday.

Thirteen agents searched Grimsley's house in Scottsdale, Ariz., for six hours Tuesday, according to Internal Revenue Service agent Mark Lessler, who would not say what they found.

In seeking a judge's permission for the search, investigators who cracked the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative steroid scandal said Grimsley initially cooperated in the probe. He withdrew his assistance in April, but not before he allegedly made "extensive statements" about illegal drug use, "for the purpose of performance enhancement," according to the court documents.

IRS agent Jeff Novitsky told the federal judge that investigators wanted to search the right-hander's house for "any and all records showing contact or relationship with any and all amateur or professional athletes, athletic coaches or athletic trainers" regarding illicit drug use and purchases.

According to Novitsky, Grimsley told him the names of other players he believed were using, but the names of those players were blacked out of the court records.

"I have no comment about that and no idea about that," Grimsley told The Arizona Republic on Tuesday, hours before the Diamondbacks played the Philadelphia Phillies.

After Arizona's 10-1 loss, manager Bob Melvin said news of the investigation might have affected the team. Grimsley spent the game in the bullpen and warmed up at one point.

"Certainly, it locks you up for a little bit, but down the road we'll be fine," Melvin said.

"We haven't convicted this guy. This is an ongoing investigation. I just think that the effect on us today, as we heard about one of our teammates, it certainly had an effect on us. Nothing's been proven. He hasn't been proven guilty of anything. It's just, there's allegations."

Diamondbacks managing general partner Ken Kendrick issued a statement saying, "We were first informed of this situation late this afternoon. This is a federal investigation, and as long as it is active and ongoing, we are prohibited from making any further comments."

Grimsley began his big league career with Philadelphia in 1989 and has pitched for Cleveland, California, the New York Yankees, Kansas City, Baltimore and Arizona. He has a career record of 42-58 with a 4.77 ERA.

According to court documents, Grimsley failed a league drug test in 2003. Authorities said when he was cooperating, he admitted to using human growth hormone, amphetamines and steroids.

He added that amphetamine use was prevalent in pro baseball, and that it was placed in coffee in clubhouses -- marked "leaded" or "unleaded" to indicate which pots contained the drugs -- Novitsky wrote.

The Republic reported that Latino players were cited by Grimsley in the court documents as a major source of amphetamines, as were major leaguers on California teams who could easily travel to Mexico to buy the drugs.

The newspaper reported that the affidavit, which was filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix, said that Grimsley took delivery of two kits containing human growth hormone at his home on April 19.

Word of the Grimsley investigation comes nearly two months after an Illinois-based scientist prominent in the field of sports nutritional supplements pleaded guilty to supplying the BALCO lab with the performance-enhancing drug known as "the clear."

Patrick Arnold pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to distribute steroids to BALCO, a steroid ring that San Francisco investigators broke up two years ago. Those same authorities are targeting Grimsley.

Arnold is scheduled to be sentenced in August and most likely will face three months in jail and three months of home detention.

A federal grand jury in San Francisco is also investigating whether San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds lied under oath about using "the clear." A separate federal grand jury is probing who leaked Bonds' testimony from the BALCO investigation to the San Francisco Chronicle.

So far, the BALCO probe has netted guilty pleas from Arnold, BALCO president Victor Conte, Bonds' trainer Greg Anderson, BALCO vice president James Valente and track coach Remi Korchemny.

[Guest silverdsl]

Not a big deal? Based on what I've heard I think the Grimsley investigation could potentially have huge consequences depending on where it goes. First, I was under the impression, and I could be wrong, that this is completely separate from Balco, that Grimsley was getting performance enhancers from an entirely different source. Also, it was said on the radio that there is the possiblity that Grimsley wasn't just a client, buying HGH and steroids, he was also actively distributing performance enhancers to other players. In addition, Grimsley has played with a lot of teams, including the Yankees, so there could be a lot of interesting names that come up if he actually does fully name names. And it brings the whole issue of HGH into the forefront - Grimsley said that once MLB started testing for steroids he simply switched to HGH, which they don't test for. Countless other players likely did the same and MLB shouldn't have their heads in the sand about that.