A Fraud caught Juicing in 2003

[Waffles]

A couple of thoughts on the interview...

4. I didn't see the need to go after Selena Roberts. Just take responsibility for your own , Alex.

I partially I agree with you. No one seems to take responsibility for their actions nowadays but if A-Rod has to live to the standard he does as a player, shouldn't the media have to live up to a standard also? The media seems to get a pass a lot of the time. They can trash people by using methods that are illegal, start falsehood and get away with it. All need to be held to an equivalent standard.

I don't disagree that Selena Roberts should be held responsible for any malfeasance or lack of professionalism on her part, I just don't think Rodriguez comes off well being the one to bring it up, especially in the derisive, harsh the way he brought it up. He obviously has a right to vigorously defend against any charges she makes against him he feels are inaccurate or libelous, but I think he looked vindictive and bitter by going about it the way he did.

[lopernv]

So what? He's a good baseball player...steroids or not.

And Barry was better...

That's what I don't get. What is everyone bitching about? Steroids don't make you a better baseball player.

If steroids didn't help, then please tell us why all the elite players (Bonds, Clemens, A-Rod, etc.) bothered to use them...

Because a lot of players trust what their trainers say. They are trained to take care of professional athletes. I doubt that it was the player's decision alone.

But get this... Not once did A-Rod blame it on a trainer or on a mix-up of supplements. He straight-up said he used performance-enhancing drugs because he wanted to play better.

Blaming it on a trainer is different than having a trainer involved. He hasn't said there wasn't one yet.

[rams80]

And now he admitted it!

"I did take a banned substance."

How do you get away with listening to sound clips at work?

[rams80]

This just in from SportsCenter:

A-Rod has admited during an interview with Peter Gammons that he used performance-enhancing drugs during his three seasons in Texas, 2001-03.

an old saying from World War II......

LOOSE LIPS SINK BIG SHIPS!!!!

I guess A-Rod was coerced by SI and ESPN!

What is the color of the sky in your world? Shea Stadium?

[FiddySicks]

So what? He's a good baseball player...steroids or not.

And Barry was better...

That's what I don't get. What is everyone bitching about? Steroids don't make you a better baseball player.

If steroids didn't help, then please tell us why all the elite players (Bonds, Clemens, A-Rod, etc.) bothered to use them...

But you kinda have to factor in all the crappy players who juiced as well, I'm sure there was a ton. Players like Bonds, Clemens, A-Rod, ect just had more raw talent.

[rainmaker17]

I'm just glad the Texas Rangers are all over the news.....oh wait.

[DEAD!]

I'm glad A Rod admitted what he did, but I'm taking everything else he said in that interview with a grain of salt. He lied to Couric in that interview over a year ago, who's to say he telling the whole truth now?

[pcgd]

So what? He's a good baseball player...steroids or not.

And Barry was better...

That's what I don't get. What is everyone bitching about? Steroids don't make you a better baseball player.

They can be the difference between a ball hit 100 feet and 350 feets....

I don't think I've seen any evidence that steriods makes Aguie Ojeda into Barry Bonds.

The effect is most likely 350 to 370. Doubles turn into homers. Basically Wrigley on a windy day..

[WJMorris3]

I wonder, is it too late to ban him for life for violating the steroid policy?

[gingerbreadmann]

I wonder, is it too late to ban him for life for violating the steroid policy?

It wasn't punishable to test positive when he did, Will. And Pete Rose was banned in his what, 40's or 50's, so what do you think? And finally, the punishment for a first-time offense is 50 games. So there.

[WJMorris3]

I wonder, is it too late to ban him for life for violating the steroid policy?

It wasn't punishable to test positive when he did, Will. And Pete Rose was banned in his what, 40's or 50's, so what do you think? And finally, the punishment for a first-time offense is 50 games. So there.

But if you make an example of A-Rod, then you solve the problem.

[gingerbreadmann]

I wonder, is it too late to ban him for life for violating the steroid policy?

It wasn't punishable to test positive when he did, Will. And Pete Rose was banned in his what, 40's or 50's, so what do you think? And finally, the punishment for a first-time offense is 50 games. So there.

But if you make an example of A-Rod, then you solve the problem.

But it was 5 years ago. There's no evidence he has done anything since then, and the overall use has been declining over the last few years. Think of the horrible PR that would bring. It would be unfair from a rules standpoint to A-Rod, and MLB would be destroying one of its most recognizable, promising, marketable, and talent ed players in recent history. It would be self-destruction. He could probably press charges and win. That would be the WORST thing MLB could right now.

[HedleyLamarr]

The effect is most likely 350 to 370. Doubles turn into homers. Basically Wrigley on a windy day..

I think gaining 20 feet is a stretch. Maybe 5 feet, at the most.

Athletes (especially those who play in sports where games are daily or every 2 days) take supplements and took steroids (and whatever else) to maintain muscle mass, as their daily habits prevent them from having a normal eating cycle like we'd have.

Steroids are getting too much credit for the power boost over the past two decades. There are more factors that led to the homerun boom:

• Expansion: MLB expanded by 4 teams during the 90's, leading to pitchers that wouldn't be pitching in the majors showing why they aren't ready. The average starting pitcher struggles to pitch into the 6th inning these days. (It didn't help that two of the expanded locales, Denver and Phoenix, are higher-altitude places, which gives the ball a little more jump.)
  
• Smaller Ballparks: Many teams have opened up new ballparks since 1990. A majority of them have smaller playing dimensions and outfield fences that are closer to home plate than their previous homes. Places such as Cincinnati, Houston, and Philadelphia went from "pitcher's parks" to "hitter's parks" simply because of their cozy confines. Hell, Detroit's Comerica Park moved in the fences after one season because not enough homers were being hit.
  
• Batting Armor: As far as I know, MLB still has no restrictions on how much batting protection a hitter can wear while batting. Bonds hit so many homers not because of steroids, but because he wore so much armor at the plate that he and others no longer feared the inside pitches, and thus could hit just about any pitch thrown on either side of the plate. Craig Biggio holds the current record of being hit by pitches because he wore a garbage can on his arm. The batters have no reason to move off the plate, so they're able to go after more pitches without fear of getting hurt by the ball.
  
• Balls: Today's balls are tighter-wound than the baseballs from before, as tests have proven. A tight-wound ball travels farther than a loosely-wound ball.
  

While I think steroids may have aided athletes in returning to games quicker, I don't believe that steroids are the logical reason, nor the smartest answer, as to why power numbers were up over the past two decades. Baseball has always been a game of statistical anomolies(sp?).

[Frenchie]

Aren't these results supposed to be kept CONFIDENTIAL??????

What ever happend to the right to privacy???????

I believe that when you make million$ a year coming out of the fans pockets (and of the sponsors' who sell to your fans) you relinquish that right.

And while i'm at it, I'll add a few more comments about A-Rod.

-Forget about performance enhancing substance, how about skin tone enhancing drugs??? GEEZ!!!! I love the colour orange, on fabric, on hair, not on faces...

-Was anything he said NOT scripted??? You can even see him looking on the sides to who knows? lawyer? publicist???

-Is there any proofs that Roids damage the brian and memory? Cos' A-rod can't remember what his Iron-Man streak was: 200 or 300??? barely remembers how many MVPs he won...

Who gives for that clown???

I want to see the list...

[TFoA]

The effect is most likely 350 to 370. Doubles turn into homers. Basically Wrigley on a windy day..

I think gaining 20 feet is a stretch. Maybe 5 feet, at the most.

Athletes (especially those who play in sports where games are daily or every 2 days) take supplements and took steroids (and whatever else) to maintain muscle mass, as their daily habits prevent them from having a normal eating cycle like we'd have.

Steroids are getting too much credit for the power boost over the past two decades. There are more factors that led to the homerun boom:

• Expansion: MLB expanded by 4 teams during the 90's, leading to pitchers that wouldn't be pitching in the majors showing why they aren't ready. The average starting pitcher struggles to pitch into the 6th inning these days. (It didn't help that two of the expanded locales, Denver and Phoenix, are higher-altitude places, which gives the ball a little more jump.)
  
• Smaller Ballparks: Many teams have opened up new ballparks since 1990. A majority of them have smaller playing dimensions and outfield fences that are closer to home plate than their previous homes. Places such as Cincinnati, Houston, and Philadelphia went from "pitcher's parks" to "hitter's parks" simply because of their cozy confines. Hell, Detroit's Comerica Park moved in the fences after one season because not enough homers were being hit.
  
• Batting Armor: As far as I know, MLB still has no restrictions on how much batting protection a hitter can wear while batting. Bonds hit so many homers not because of steroids, but because he wore so much armor at the plate that he and others no longer feared the inside pitches, and thus could hit just about any pitch thrown on either side of the plate. Craig Biggio holds the current record of being hit by pitches because he wore a garbage can on his arm. The batters have no reason to move off the plate, so they're able to go after more pitches without fear of getting hurt by the ball.
  
• Balls: Today's balls are tighter-wound than the baseballs from before, as tests have proven. A tight-wound ball travels farther than a loosely-wound ball.
  

While I think steroids may have aided athletes in returning to games quicker, I don't believe that steroids are the logical reason, nor the smartest answer, as to why power numbers were up over the past two decades. Baseball has always been a game of statistical anomolies(sp?).

2 of those points could be applied to the days of the dead ball era. Hell, they only used one ball A GAME in those days, and the parks back then were so big that one of them, Braves Field, was so large that the universally-loved-on-CCSLC Ty Cobb once said that "Nobody will ever hit a ball out of Braves Field." I guess I've come to the realization if you're going to put an asterisk on whatever people who took steroids or whatever was done in this era, then you might as well go all the way back in time and put an asterisk on all those pitchers that put up astronomical numbers that still stand to this day, like Cy Young or Walter Anderson. The game was CLEARLY tilted in their favor, so it wasn't a level playing field, right?

So I do agree with hedley here: Baseball is a game of anomalies. We shouldn't hold most of these records or numbers as sacred as we already do, which is basically the only reason why there's such persecution of steroid-using players in baseball, compared to football where people couldn't give a damn about steroid use.

[NJTank]

Here's a few questions and now I think the apply.

If everyone was using steroids, does it mean it was cheating?

Who really did have the edge?

This is why its time to end it, declare an amnesty pre 2005 and end it. Use of steroids pre 05 can not be used against you or conisdered any more and should be taken out of the HOF equation.

[rams80]

I wonder, is it too late to ban him for life for violating the steroid policy?

It wasn't punishable to test positive when he did, Will. And Pete Rose was banned in his what, 40's or 50's, so what do you think? And finally, the punishment for a first-time offense is 50 games. So there.

But if you make an example of A-Rod, then you solve the problem.

How? The only problem that would solve would be people being outed, or outing themselves.

Four words will....no ex post facto.

[JQK]

I'm glad A Rod admitted what he did, but I'm taking everything else he said in that interview with a grain of salt. He lied to Couric in that interview over a year ago, who's to say he telling the whole truth now?

I think A-Rod has learned from Clemens.

Ya got caught. No matter how it happened, it happened.

Just fess up, say what happened, take the heat, and move on.

Pettitte and Giambi followed that path, and were no worse for wear.

Clemens and Bonds... well, the evidence speaks for itself.

[See Red]

The effect is most likely 350 to 370. Doubles turn into homers. Basically Wrigley on a windy day..

I think gaining 20 feet is a stretch. Maybe 5 feet, at the most.

Athletes (especially those who play in sports where games are daily or every 2 days) take supplements and took steroids (and whatever else) to maintain muscle mass, as their daily habits prevent them from having a normal eating cycle like we'd have.

Steroids are getting too much credit for the power boost over the past two decades. There are more factors that led to the homerun boom:

• Expansion: MLB expanded by 4 teams during the 90's, leading to pitchers that wouldn't be pitching in the majors showing why they aren't ready. The average starting pitcher struggles to pitch into the 6th inning these days. (It didn't help that two of the expanded locales, Denver and Phoenix, are higher-altitude places, which gives the ball a little more jump.)
  
• Smaller Ballparks: Many teams have opened up new ballparks since 1990. A majority of them have smaller playing dimensions and outfield fences that are closer to home plate than their previous homes. Places such as Cincinnati, Houston, and Philadelphia went from "pitcher's parks" to "hitter's parks" simply because of their cozy confines. Hell, Detroit's Comerica Park moved in the fences after one season because not enough homers were being hit.
  
• Batting Armor: As far as I know, MLB still has no restrictions on how much batting protection a hitter can wear while batting. Bonds hit so many homers not because of steroids, but because he wore so much armor at the plate that he and others no longer feared the inside pitches, and thus could hit just about any pitch thrown on either side of the plate. Craig Biggio holds the current record of being hit by pitches because he wore a garbage can on his arm. The batters have no reason to move off the plate, so they're able to go after more pitches without fear of getting hurt by the ball.
  
• Balls: Today's balls are tighter-wound than the baseballs from before, as tests have proven. A tight-wound ball travels farther than a loosely-wound ball.
  

While I think steroids may have aided athletes in returning to games quicker, I don't believe that steroids are the logical reason, nor the smartest answer, as to why power numbers were up over the past two decades. Baseball has always been a game of statistical anomolies(sp?).

Absolutely right.

Taking steroids and adding bulk actually proves to be counterproductive when it comes to hitting a baseball. While slow-twitch muscles provide power, they also make serve to make a player slower -- bulky muscles are heavy, and just serve as more weight a player has to accelerate when he goes towards putting the bat in motion, which, one would think, negatively affects bat speed, the most important part of hitting a baseball. Also important, is a batters mechanics. Have you ever seen a really muscular person? The mass affects their joint alignment and movement. They don't have the same range of motion that a less bulky person would have.

I'd add to your list, Hedley... 162 game seasons. If you look deep enough into the numbers (retrosheet.org... go for it), HR's per AB were the same in 2001 as they were in 1961. However, not only is there a difference in the number of games played, there's also a small difference in the number of AB's per game. The reason for more HR's per season is that there's more games, and as a result, more AB's per season.

Now, shouldn't Lasik surgery create a similar bioethical quandary for Major League Baseball? How about Tommy John surgery?

[jr79]

When this story first broke I instantly said "bye-bye Hall of Fame", but now A-Rod has come clean, and admitted what he did, I don't feel so harshly towards him. That's all assuming its an honest and complete story he's giving us.

He probably expected kind saps like me to forgive him in droves and avoid too much of a hit to his reputation.