Category: MLB (Page 381 of 448)

According to the Houston Chronicle and ESPN.com, in the wake of MLB releasing its “Mitchell Report”, the Texas High School Baseball Coaches Association is deciding whether or not to allow former Yankees’ pitcher Roger Clemens to be its keynote speaker at its state convention next month.

The association’s officers spent the weekend reviewing the matter before concluding that Clemens, a 354-game winner over a major league career that began in 1984, “was an inappropriate influencer to baseball coaches and students alike.”

Clemens, who pitched for the University of Texas and came out of retirement after the 2003 season to pitch the next three seasons for the Houston Astros, was slated to be the convention’s keynote speaker on Jan. 12, with the topic being “my vigorous workout, how I played so long [in professional baseball],” according to the Chronicle.

I don’t think they need to remove Clemens as their keynote speaker. Instead, just change his topic from “my vigorous workout, how I played so long in professional baseball” to “my vigorous workout and butt loads of HGH, how I played so long in professional baseball.”

Here’s just one small example of why we can’t only hold the players accountable for baseball’s steroid era, but also general managers, owners and team personal.

The Mitchell report, released Thursday, included a 2002 incident in which Stan Conte, then the Giants’ trainer, told Sabean that he suspected Barry Bonds’ personal trainer, Greg Anderson, was dealing steroids in the clubhouse. Sabean took no action.

Shortly after federal agents raided Balco Laboratories and Anderson’s home in September 2003, Magowan told investigators that he asked Sabean whether the Giants “had a problem” with Anderson dispensing steroids to players.

“According to Magowan, Sabean responded that he was not aware of any problem the Giants might have,” the Mitchell report stated. “However, Sabean strongly denied that such a conversation occurred.”

Sabean took no action. That says it all right there, doesn’t it? You’ve got the team trainer for the Giants telling the GM to investigate whether or not some crook was handing out steroids like Wohlers Candy and the GM does nothing. The players should be held most accountable here, however, we cannot overlook that the owners and in some cases, even the general managers knew what was going on and yet because butts were in the seats and money was pouring in, they did nothing. So lets not only ridicule the players, because the whole league reeks to high Heaven.

Rob Parker of the Detroit Free Press made an interesting point on ESPN in the wake of Senator George Mitchell’s report on performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball.

Parker stated that it was unfair that Mitchell based most of his report on “hearsay” and that not all of the players that have used performance-enhancing drugs were named, just those who left a paper trail throgh receipts and credit card reports . Paker went on: “What about the players who used cash to buy drugs – do they get off scot-free?” He also stated the report was rather, “flimsy” other than what was revealed about Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte.

What’s interesting watching ESPN, is that some of their reporters (not all) are attacking Mitchell’s report and basically discrediting it. Much like Parker, several reporters are noting that Mitchell gathered his information through witnesses that might, or might not be creditable. Interesting.

Here are some of the names that were cited in Mitchell’s steroid report:

– Barry Bonds (who knew?)
– Miguel Tejada (good thing the Astros just traded five prospects for this guy)
– Jose Canseco (didn’t anyone else think that he was enjoying himself at Mitchell’s press conference?)
– Rick Ankiel
– Kevin Brown
– Paul Byrd
– Roger Clemens
– Jack Cust
– Lenny Dykstra
– Eric Gagne
– Jay Gibbons
– Troy Glaus
– Jason Grimsley
– Jose Guillen
– Glenallen Hill
– Todd Hundley
– David Justice
– Chuck Knoblauch (apparently roids don’t help with throwing accuracy)
– Paul Lo Duca
– Gary Matthews Jr
– Hal Morris
– Danny Neagle
– Andy Pettitte
– Todd Pratt
– Brian Roberts
– John Rocker (no wonder he was so angry)
– David Segui
– Mike Stanton
– Ismael Valdez
– Mo Vaughn
– Fernando Vina
– Matt Williams
– Benito Santiago

Former Senator George Mitchell released the results of his committee’s 20-month investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball. In his press conference, Mitchell reported that, “Each of the 30 clubs had a player or players involved in taking illegal substances.”

Barry Bonds, Miguel Tejada,Brian Roberts and former/present Yankees’ Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Mike Stanton, Jason Grimsley and Chuck Knoblauch were cited in the report by an ESPN reporter, but the rest of the names have not been released yet. Here were some of the highlights from Mitchell’s press conference:

– He spoke at length about how the current system for testing players is broke and how it’s necessary to look at past mistakes in order to fix the problem heading forward.

– He also talked about how kids growing up these days are looking at major league players and thinking that it’s okay to take steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs in order to be better athletes. These players have a responsibility to not only look after their own health, but also the health of those who look up to them.

– He spoke about how the media should not only focus on the names in the report, but also his conclusion, where he highlights ways that baseball can improve its testing policy moving forward. To sum up his point, he knows that people are going to focus on the names, but what’s more important is to move forward and fix the problem by taking to heart what he revealed in the report.

– He recommended to Bud Selig that there should be no discipline for what is in the report.

– In the questioning portion of the press conference, Mitchell noted that the “players union was highly incorporative” while gathering his report.

More to follow, including the names in his report…