The news of some of the biggest baseball players on steroids and other performance enhancing drugs is now regularity and the faulty faucet of baseball is a true testimonial.

According to reports in The New York Times, Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz were two of the players on baseball’s list of nearly 100 players who tested positive for banned substances in the year 2003.

From NYTimes.com:

The great Cal Ripken retired before steroid testing. After the disclosure about A-Rod’s failed test, Ripken announced that he wanted to have a talk with Rodriguez. Good for Ripken to step forward. But where was he when a loud and respected voice was needed to push the players union into testing?

Where does baseball go from here?

Hank Aaron has proposed a formula of putting asterisks on certain records to reflect the time in which they were accomplished. With all due respect to Aaron, every era seems to have had its legion of wrongdoers and shortcutters who used whatever science was available to get an edge. Amphetamines, red juice, concoctions and whatever else preceded steroids.

Baseball fans hope that the disclosures from baseball’s secret list do not name their favorite players but the players need to stop admonishing news media and fans before that.

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David Ortiz recently remarked that he was a frustrated soul after a numbing loss, hitless game, and another day filled with questions about steroids.

Ortiz said that he has been greatly distracted by the steroid circumstances enveloping him.

From NYTimes.com:

In Ortiz’s brief exchange with reporters Thursday, he was not too comfortable. He typically stands by his locker and jokes with reporters. But when reporters descended upon him, he remained seated and kept his back to them. Then he used the Soulja Boy song as his version of a bouncer.

Other than that, he tried hard to be the normally bubbly Big Papi. He posed for pictures in the dugout, he signed autographs behind the plate and he teased teammates.

Still, as beloved as Ortiz has been in helping the Red Sox win World Series titles in 2004 and 2007, his legacy changed once it was reported that he was on the list of players who had tested positive. When Major League Baseball began testing for steroids in 2003, the list of those who failed the tests that year was supposed to remain anonymous. But the results were never destroyed.

The court-sealed results are now the subject of litigation between the government and the union. Whatever may be the result, the spirit of baseball has been once again torn by its “once considered greatest sons”.

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According to a report in THE TIMES, two sluggers who helped Boston Red Sox to two World Series championships are on the secret list of major league players testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003. The two players were Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz.

This revelation of sportsmen on performance enhancing drugs is indeed a blow to baseball. The last untainted home run record holder, Henry Aaron, said that the complete list should be released so that baseball goes on.

From NYTimes.com:

But The Times got little thanks in some quarters. I heard from fans angry at the drip-drip of names that keeps diverting attention from play on the field. “When I talk about, watch, or read about baseball, I do it for relaxation and fun,” said Douglas K. Scheier of Sacramento. “Please either get all the names out or just stop. It’s starting to feel like a witch hunt for drama and entertainment purposes.”

I sympathize with the wish to make the bad news go away, but one of a newspaper’s fundamental obligations is to examine the integrity of institutions, including baseball. If the steroids story seems drawn out, it is because it is hard to get. Tom Jolly, the sports editor, said nobody is slipping the list of those who used drugs under the door: it is taking old-fashioned digging to get each name.

The more challenging criticism comes from those who believe The Times acted illegally — or, at least, unethically — by aggressively seeking names that a judge sealed while courts decide whether government agents had a right to seize the test results in their own investigation.

Theodore Olson, who was the solicitor general in the Bush administration and presently works in the same firm as Boutrous, said that THE TIMES acted legally and ethically.

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The use of steroids by a Major League Baseball slugger can produce only modest improvements in muscle mass and bat-and-ball speed but has the ability to boost home run production by as much as 50 percent.

This finding was revealed by a study by Tufts University physicist Roger Tobin, a specialist in condensed matter physics with a long-time interest in the physics of baseball.

From News-Medical.Net:

Tobin reviewed previous studies of the effect of steroid use and concluded that muscle mass, the force exerted by those muscles and the kinetic energy of the bat could each be increased by about 10 percent through the use of steroids. According to his calculations, the speed of the bat as it strikes the pitched ball will be about 5 percent higher than without the use of steroids and the speed of the ball as it leaves the bat will be about 4 percent higher.

To determine the ultimate impact on home run production, Tobin then analyzed a variety of models for trajectory of the baseball, accounting for gravity, air resistance and lift force due to the ball’s spin. While there was considerable variation among the models, “the salient point,” he says, “is that a 4 percent increase in ball speed, which can reasonably be expected from steroid use, can increase home run production by anywhere from 50 percent to 100 percent.”

Tobin remarked that the home run explosion coincides with the dawn of the “steroid era” in sports in the mid-1990s and dropped significantly when Major League Baseball instituted steroid testing.

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Mark McGwire is a broken man these days, living with a conflicted soul. The name and recognition he received while playing baseball have suddenly started eluding him after he confessed using steroids during his illustratious career as a baseball slugger admired for hundreds of home runs.

McGwire insisted that his on-field performance was based on God-given talent and hand-eye coordination and not due to use of steroids.

From Sports.ESPN.Go.Com:

“It’s unfortunate I played in this era,” he said repeatedly, somehow failing to understand that he defined that era. In many ways, we’re still being played for fools.

He said his embarrassing, reputation-shrinking performance in front of Congress in 2005 was a result of his fear of putting his family, friends and teammates through the misery of the subpoena process. In the next breath, he says none of them ever knew — or even asked — whether he’d taken steroids. (Could be because they, like us, already knew.) He wanted to shield them from his “mistake.” A mistake is throwing the wrong kind of garbage in the recycling bin, not a decade-long, systematic program to use illegal drugs — undoubtedly under a doctor’s supervision — to help a baseball career.

(By the way, Costas killed. It was as though he’d been waiting for that interview for years. He knew his stuff. He brilliantly straddled the line between head-shaking disbelief and respect for his subject. He asked the right questions, struck the right tone and refrained from falling prey to McGwire’s displays of emotion.)

McGwire has always come across as conflicted, a private man in a public world. I found it telling that he said he kept nothing — presumably no ball, bat or uniform piece — as a memento of the record-breaking 1998 season. He considers it a testament to his selflessness, and maybe it is. It could also be a sign of guilt, reinforced by his decision to place a phone call to Pat Maris – Roger’s widow — Monday before his admission became public. More than anything, it is just plain sad.

Whatever may the future holds for this eminent baseball slugger, one thing that cannot be denied is that he has lost the respect that was once unique to him.

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Mark McGwire, the idol of many baseball players and newly appointed hitting coach of the Cardinals, recently walked into the winter warm-up to be greeted with a standing ovation and the song “Welcome to the Jungle.”

During his first public appearance since coming clean, McGwire made it sure that he easily evades all questions related to steroid use thrown at him. He said that he came clean and spoke honestly on Monday night on TV with Bob Costas and people should move on.

From LATimes.com:

“I was being as honest as I (could), from the heart. I got it off my chest and it’s something we can all move on from.”

Asked several times about allegations from former Oakland teammate Jose Canseco that he wasn’t telling the truth and whether he was familiar with specific names of steroids, this was his answer:

“Those names, yeah, I’m familiar with them but, like I said, I’m not going to go down that road with Jose,” he said. “I’ll take the high road with Jose.”

He was also asked if he really had never told Tony La Russa of his steroid use. La Russa, his manager in Oakland and St. Louis, had said he believed McGwire was clean.

“Absolutely. Tony La Russa, I kept this to myself,” he said.

It is believed that the steroid confession would relieve McGwire by lifting a huge weight off his still-large shoulders.

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A convicted drug dealer, Curtis Wenzlaff, who used to supply steroids to Mark McGwire as per his claims said that he believes that the baseball slugger was not completely truthful about the reasons behind him using performance-enhancing drugs in his interview with Bob Costas on the MLB Network on Jan. 11, 2010.

Wenzlaff said while speaking with ESPN’s “Outside the Lines” on Thursday that the goal of McGwire was to use steroids for getting “”bigger, faster, stronger” for improving his on-field performance.

From MLB.MLB.Com:

McGwire said in his interview with Costas that “in the winter ‘89 into ‘90, I was given a couple weeks worth, tried it, never thought anything of it, just moved on from it.”

It was only later, following the injury-ravaged 1993-94 seasons that McGwire says he once again began using PEDs to recover from injury. McGwire contends that his use from ‘94 on was a low-dose regimen designed solely to return him to health, not to augment his performance.

“I chuckled,” Wenzlaff said when asked his reaction to McGwire’s claim that he took steroids to heal from injury. “If excelling and kicking [butt] on the field is the end result, I guess that’s a healthy, good feeling. But for health, there are other things you can take for health that are anabolic, but it wouldn’t be that type of combination.”

Wenzlaff also said he thinks the combination of drugs he provided McGwire would’ve helped his hand-eye coordination.

“When you implement into what you are doing — for instance, hitting — an individualized, specialized program with muscle growth and explosiveness … while you’re on your drugs, it will improve your hand-eye coordination,” he said.

McGwire, the Cardinals’ newly appointed hitting coach, then reintroduced himself to St. Louis fans during the club’s Winter Warm-Up on Sunday and received a standing ovation.

This revelation is bound to dent image of the baseball slugger once more for sure.

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During the last week, Mark McGwire admitted using steroids during his career that included 583 home runs and now wants every one to forget the steroid tales and move forward.

The relationship between steroids and sports has often been the subject matter of discussions but it is hard for fans to forget the tales of steroids getting related to their favorite stars.

From Freep.com:

“I hope you all can accept this,” McGwire said. “Let’s all move on from this. Baseball is great right now, baseball is better.”

McGwire, the new Cardinals hitting coach, is getting support from his boss, manager Tony La Russa, and St. Louis’ best player, Albert Pujols.

“Go talk to Mark, I think he cleared up everything, he closed the doors,” Pujols told reporters at the team’s Winter Warm-Up. “If you want to reopen those doors I know the right guy. Go talk to Mark about it. … There’s 300,000 people that just died in Haiti and you guys just want to concentrate on Mark McGwire. Come on, give me a break.”

The claims of anti-doping and government officials may be tall but there surely hold nothing as the cloud of steroids has been invading sports time and again.

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Former Major League Baseball Most Valuable Player Jose Canseco was at the 350 Grill in Springfield to promote the fight between him and Pittsfield resident Todd Poulton at the Springfield Sheraton. Celebrity Boxing organized the fight.

After the preliminary introductions of seven fighters, one trainer and one promoter, Celebrity Boxing promoter Damon Feldman opened the floor for questions.

Canseco was not at all thrilled with the first question asked, which had something to do with his former steroids use. He was asked how he advises his son, Christian against using steroids.

According to Canseco, he simply tells his son not to do it. After leaving baseball, Canseco turned to boxing and mixed martial arts.

His recent MMA fights include a fight with a Japanese professional but he lost in less than two minutes, a lost fight with former Philadelphia Eagle Vai Sikahema and a draw with former child actor Danny Bonaduce.

He was quite disappointed that the questions focused more on his steroids use rather than his career as a boxer or his preparations for the fight.

Canseco wrote two books about steroids and did a documentary about his life on his steroids abuse.

From The Berkshire Eagle:

SPRINGFIELD — Jose Canseco swaggered in wearing designer jeans, a leather jacket, a tight, white shirt and sunglasses that didn’t leave his eyes for an entire press conference — or as he sipped a drink in a dimly lit bar afterwards.

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According to retired FBI agent Greg Stejskal, McGwire’s hiring as hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals sent off a bad message.

Stejskal used to be the investigating agent during the major steroids investigation in the early 90s. The investigation showed strong evidence that McGwire used steroids.

However, according to Commissioner Bud Selig, he is delighted that Mark McGwire is returning to Major League Baseball. Selig referred to McGwire as a very fine, fine man. The Cardinals should be applauded, added Selig.

Stejskal worked with fellow retired FBI agent Bill Randall in the early 90s in a steroid investigation called “Operation Equine”. The operation uncovered further steroids use in gyms and among weightlifters, as well as bodybuilders and fitness trainers. Two names from the baseball league surfaced during the investigations, one was Mark McGwire and the other was his fellow Oakland A player Jose Canseco. More than arresting individual steroids users, Operation Equine was created to catch steroids suppliers and distributors. Operation Equine actually snared a net 70 convictions.

After Equine, both Stejskal and Randall received solid evidence that McGwire was on steroids. Stejskal’s reliable source was no other than McGwire’s steroid supplier, Curtis Wenzlaff, a previous California resident.

From NY Daily News:

Bud Selig said Tuesday that he is “delighted” Mark McGwire is returning to Major League Baseball, in contrast to remarks by a retired FBI agent who said McGwire’s hiring as hitting coach for the St. Louis Cardinals sent a bad message.

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