A-Rod Admits Steroid Use

"I was young, I was stupid, I was naive, and I wanted to prove to everyone that I was worth . . . being one of the greatest players of all time. I did take a banned substance and for that I am very sorry and deeply regretful."
- New York Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez admitting to using steroids during an interview with ESPN's Peter Gammons

The Yankees superstar admitted during an interview that he used performance-enhancing substances from 2001-03 while playing for the Texas Rangers. Rodriguez hit 159 home runs during those three seasons with the Rangers -- including 57 in 2002 -- and he was named the American League Most Valuable Player in 2003. He was traded to the Yankees following that season. In 2003, even though steroids were illegal, there were no penalties in Major League Baseball for a positive result.

Those were the first three seasons of Rodriguez's then-record 10-year, $252 million contract with the Texas Rangers. Rodriguez won his first AL MVP award in '03, his last year with the Rangers, before being traded to the Yankees prior to the start of the 2004 season.

On Saturday, the news broke that Rodriguez had tested positive for testosterone and Primobolan, an injected or orally administered drug.

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Steroids have been banned in baseball since 1991, but there was no testing for it until 2003, when survey testing was done to determine if the game needed to adopt a permanent testing policy. Rodriguez's name was on a list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003. There were no penalties for players who tested positive and the names of those players were supposed to remain anonymous, but federal agents, using search warrants, seized those test results from one of the two labs MLB had used in connection with the '03 testing as part of the government's BALCO investigation.

plez sez: my, my, my. are there more asterisks in order? is everyone from the "steroids era" going to be banned from cooperstown (i.e. bonds, mcguire, clemens, rodriguez, etc.)?

i'm still trying to wrap my head around the HARD-ON the sports media has had for Barry Bonds, when it was obvious that this was such a widespread problem and so many "superstars" were juiced up during this time. major league baseball was wrong for not policing its own policies, i can't fault bonds for trying to compete on a level playing field.

~ ~ Citations ~ ~

Read the Boston Globe article about A-Rod's steroid use.

Read the ESPN.com article about Gammons interview with A-Rod.

Read the SI.com article about Rodriguez being on the juice while with Rangers.

Read the AJC.com article about thoughts on A-Rod after his admission of steroid use.

Read the December 2007 plezWorld article about steroids in Major League Baseball.

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Barry Bonds Indicted

BARRY! BARRY! BARRY!

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that Barry Bonds, seven-time National League MVP and baseball's home run king with 762 homers, was indicted for perjury and obstruction of justice Thursday and could go to prison for telling a federal grand jury he did not knowingly use performance-enhancing drugs. The indictment, culminating a four-year investigation into steroid use by elite athletes, charged Bonds with four counts of perjury and one of obstruction of justice. If convicted, he could be sentenced to a maximum of 30 years in prison.

Read the entire article here.


plez sez: the feds have obviously been sitting on this for at least a year or two... so why an indictment? why now? and what the heck have these federal investigators been doing for the past 4 years? is ruining Barry Bonds that high on the federal prosecutor's list?

i understand that Barry Bonds is probably the least liked athlete of our generation (OJ Simpson is from an earlier generation), but to come out with a federal indictment against just him when ALL of baseball was tainted by steroids is ridiculous. how was this ONE GUY pulled from the pack and held up to prosecutorial scrutiny after a 4 year investigation? is it because he is surly? is it because he is uppity? well, nobody likes an uppity negro! is it because he's not afraid to tell a sports writer to "f*ck off"?

raphael palmero flunked a drug test mere months after LYING before congress... where's his federal indictment? mark maguire wouldn't answer any questions about his steroid use before congress... where's his indictment? there were at least two baseball players who were caught purchasing a years worth of HGH this season (one was a pitcher in the American League playoffs)... where are their indictments?

and you know where i'm going with this... Barry Bonds in Black. everyone else i've named is white. i'll be honest, this is scary, because it is becoming more and more detrimental to your freedom and livelihood to be a Black man in this country. the disparity in news coverage, the heavy handed sentences, the lack of plea agreements, the blatant and obscene racial overtones that pervades every conversation on the topic... gives plezWorld a reason to pause!

i'd like to think that Bonds didn't take steroids, but he would've had to have been an idiot to turn down the opportunity to take something that would improve his game, yet was NOT BANNED by MLB! and does anyone reading this blog think that if Barry Bonds had admitted to steroid use, like jason giambi, that he would've gotten a pat on the back and no suspension?!? his ass would be rotting in jail RIGHT NOW (if you recall, jason giambi was given a pat on the back and continued to play the rest of the season)!

at this point, i can only wish the best for Bonds and his family. federal indictments aren't anything to play with and after 4 years, i'm sure they've scraped up enough evidence to prove perjury. i just hope he doesn't get too much time in prison, because this whole fiasco stinks to high heavens... and the need to go after one person for so long for something so benign just escapes me.

756 - Guest Blog

It is rare that I read a blog post that is so poignant and heartfelt, that I feel compelled to share it with the readers of plezWorld. My buddy Dave, over at SullsBlog, has written such an entry. Without further ado and without additional commentary, I present my guest blogger.


April 8, 1974. I was a skinny, energetic nine year old who was counting the days until his first game playing organized baseball in the Hyde Park little league. Baseball had recently replaced hockey as my favorite sport. We were having dinner at my Aunt Carol's triple decker apartment just off of Washington Street in Roslindale. As usual in those days (and these days as well) I was engrossed with anything concerning baseball and someone breaking the all time home run record was a huge deal. After scarfing down dinner I made my way into the parlor and sat on the couch to hopefully witness history. I didn't know until I was older that this event was bigger than one great ballplayer eclipsing another. I wasn't aware that Mr. Aaron endured death threats, feared for his families safety and was a physical and mental wreck due to his pursuit of the "Babe". This was about baseball, pure and simple.

I am now 42 and baseball is not just about baseball. The innocence that the game once held is gone. Baseball, since its beginning has been played by men. Men drink, gamble, carouse and swear. Until the past thirty years it was a game played by average men, of average size, coming from middle or lower class households. Most players had to have a job in the off season just to make ends meet. Being a ballplayer was a hard life. Every boy thought he could be a ballplayer someday because there was no class distinction and when the color barrier was broken as long as you were the best of the best you would have a place in the game regardless of where you came from.

Reporters understood that it was career suicide to tear down the "working class hero" facade that enveloped the game. You couldn't read in the paper about the Babe's drinking binges or any players private indiscretions. Men were men and it was accepted that when you get 25 men traveling the country for eight months "stuff" was going to happen. No one cared about the integrity of the men off the field it was the integrity on the field that counted.

Enter 2007.

Who would have thought thirty years ago that you go to a ballpark and pay $85 to see 18 millionaires run around and play a game that may not be legitimate. Use of HGH, steroids, greenies have grown with the outrageous salaries. Why do the players get outrageous salaries? Because the owners make outrageous profits. Why do the owners make outrageous profits? Because the fans dole out the money. Why do fans dole out the money? Because they love to see home runs. How do they see more home runs? By the players taking more HGH, Steroids and amphetamines.

[insert: picture of young Barry Bonds] [insert: recent picture of Barry Bonds]

It no longer matters if what players do on the field is legitimate. We hear about players stints in rehab, domestic problems, Vegas trips and stops at stripper bars, but no one cared until Barry Bonds got close to the home run record that many baseball players no longer look like humans, but cartoon characters. No one cared that McGwire, Sosa and Bonds went from svelte, athletic rookies to pumped up, acne covered side show freaks.

Hypocrites.

[insert: picture of young Sammy Sosa] [insert: recent picture of Sammy Sosa]

[insert: picture of young Mark McGwire] [insert: picture of St. Louis Cardinals Mark McGwire]

Mr. Bonds has accomplished an incredible feat for the ages. The perseverance, longevity and skill that it takes to hit 756 home runs is beyond comprehension. The only one in my mind between the 755 that Mr. Aaron hit and the 756 that Mr. Bonds hit is the adversity each man endured on his journey. Mr Aaron feared for his life in the year preceding his pursuit of the Babe due to something he couldn't control, the color of his skin. Mr. Bonds has endured tremendous adversity, but all of it self imposed. If he never was implicated in the BALCO affair and he was able to accomplish this feat without the use of performance enhancing drugs, then today there would be nothing but accolades coming his way.

I still remember the black and white images of Aaron running briskly around the bases after belting 715. The only thing different visually from that home run than any other of that time was the two fans that ran the bases next to him and the flashing "715" they showed on the scoreboard. He did his job and humbly went to his dugout.

The irony is when Bonds hit his historic bomb he stood at home plate for a few seconds to savor his accomplishment then raised his arms triumphantly. A little humility would have helped to endear him to his critics.

I hope that by the time A-Rod breaks the record circa 2015 that we worry more about the integrity of the game on the field than the players lives off the field.

756 - Barry Bonds - Home Run King

Complete At-Bat for 756

plez sez: love him! or hate him! BARRY BONDS (San Francisco Giants) is now the Home Run King (the most hallowed record in all of sports) after taking a 3-2 pitch from MIKE BACSIK (Washington Nationals) to the right-center field stands (435 feet) for his 756th home run in over 23 years in the Major Leagues.

there is no taint on this record. there are no asterisks. there is no doubt. we have lived to witness the greatest baseball player of our lives.

Hank Aaron Congratulates Barry Bonds

one more time:
BARRY! BARRY! BARRY!

a brief aside: to those who like to blabber on about alleged steroid use: bonds was a certified hall of famer prior to the supposed "steroids era" and he has continued greatness to this day. and if you must bring that ugly issue up, remember, it was the "steroid era"... bonds was undoubtedly facing untold numbers of pitchers who were taking steroids... and he was still going YARD on them! give this steroids nonsense a break and stop drinking the Steroids Haterade!

all pictures courtesy of ESPN.com

Barry Bonds - Hank Aaron's Record Minus 10

...and counting!

This is a home video of Barry Bonds hitting #715:

Barry Bonds jacked home run number 745 last night. He is approaching his destiny of solidifying himself as the preeminent baseball player of ALL TIME.

Pitcher (and whiner) Curt Schilling has gone on the record for saying that Bonds doesn't "deserve" to break the home run record of Hank Aaron. Schilling says, "I mean, there's no gray area. He admitted to cheating on his wife, cheating on his taxes, and cheating on the game, so I think the reaction around the league, the game, being what it is, in the case of what people think. Hank Aaron not being there. The commissioner [Bud Selig] trying to figure out where to be. It's sad."

plez sez: around this time last year, plezWorld opined that Barry Bonds didn't have enough juice in his legs to carry him to Aaron's record... boy, was i wrong! not only does it look like he's going to break the record, now i don't see him stopping until he reaches 775 or more! i'll definitely revisit this after he rounds the bases for number 756.

Curt Schilling has been drinking that Haterade! Barry Bonds never admitted to cheating on his wife, never admitted to cheating on his taxes, and never admitted to using steroids... this whole "holier-than-thou" reaction from MLB and the media is sickening! it makes me ill. by his mere presence and athletic excellence, Barry Bonds has done more for the game of baseball than ANYONE who's ever strapped on a set of cleats (save Hank Aaron, who had to weather death threats on his way to breaking Babe Ruth's record, and Jackie Robinson, who had to weather death threats while just going to play everyday).

if he took any performance enhancing drugs during his years in San Francisco, he is no different than any other ballplayer over the past 30 years who did the same to get out there and play 160 games per season. some took steroids, some took cortisone shots,some took HGH, some took aspirin, some took greenies, some took amphetamines... but everyone takes something! if you are going to pick and choose which "drugs" are good performance enhancers and which ones are bad performance enhancers, then you are doing a grave injustice to the game. i don't see anyone advocating the ban of all performance enhancing drugs. and to top it all off, there is NO CREDIBLE EVIDENCE that Barry Bonds took any performance enhancing drugs, because you (and i) know that his ass would've been publicly drummed outta major league baseball if they had even a shred of evidence. he is a pariah to the media, but NO ONE can dispute his baseball abilities.

i'm not even going to go into the racial ramifications of this Barry Bonds witch hunt! i am a bit surprised that Hank Aaron is letting himself become part of the conspiracy by the lily-white media to lambast and ostracize Bonds. after all the shit he had to go through while breaking Ruth's record, Aaron, of all people, should see this assault on Bonds for what it is!

lastly, Bonds sure as HELL ain't on anything now (i bet they take a sample every time he takes a piss)... and he's still on pace to own the home run record this season. STOP THE HATE... relax and enjoy being able to witness the greatest baseball player in the history of the game!