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March 2, 2004
News Flash: Barry Bonds Took Steroids!! (Yawn)

Sometimes a post is difficult to categorize; this one could go under Sports or Science, I suppose. The San Francisco Chronicle reported on its website late last night that San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds took steroids and human-growth hormone from a lab in the center of a federal investigation, according to information provided to the feds:

Investigators also were told that New York Yankees stars Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield, as well as three other major leaguers and one NFL player, were given steroids, the newspaper reported. Bonds' personal trainer, Greg Anderson, gave the players the drugs from the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, according to information given to the government and shared with the newspaper. ...

The Chronicle reported that two of Bonds' former teammates — Marvin Benard of the Chicago White Sox (news) and Kansas City catcher Benito Santiago — and former Oakland infielder Randy Velarde also received performance-enhancing drugs, as did Oakland Raiders (news) linebacker Bill Romanowski.

An anonymous source told the Chronicle that Anderson provided Bonds with steroids and human growth hormone as far back as 2001, when the slugger hit 73 homers to break the single-season record. Bonds has 658 career homers — 97 shy of Hank Aaron's career mark.

Anyone who watched baseball over the past ten years could see that Bonds was juiced, and he wasn't the only one, either. [Full disclosure: I'm a lifelong Dodger fan who's predisposed to hate anyone wearing a Giants uniform.] Once Bonds' trainer became implicated in this lab -- which created designer steroids capable of avoiding detection -- it didn't take a calculus professor to add things up. Given his perpetual moodiness, no one probably noticed any personality changes, although I think Bonds is probably a nicer guy than sportswriters like to admit. Sheffield and Romanowski, on the other hand, are perpetual discipline problems, unlike Bonds, and again provide no surprise being included. Again, anyone shocked by this simply isn't paying attention.

Baseball needs to get serious about steroid testing if it wants to retain any credibility, especially in terms of its individual records. John Smoltz made the same argument just a couple of days ago. It's not just in the best interest of the game, it's in the best interest of the players as well.

Sphere It Digg! View blog reactions
Posted by Ed Morrissey at March 2, 2004 6:12 AM

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