Baseball Hall of Fame Voters Correctly Shut the Door on Bonds and Clemens, but Give a Pass to Ortiz

In Hall of Fame balloting conducted among members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, David Ortiz received 77.9 percent of the votes, surpassing the 75 percent threshold for induction. Although Ortiz is the only player selected by the media, he will not be the only inductee this summer. He will be joined by six players who were selected by various Hall of Fame committees: Gil Hodges, Tony Oliva, Minnie Minoso, Jim Kaat, Bud Fowler, and Buck O'Neil. Kaat, Oliva, and Ortiz are the only 2022 inductees who are alive.

Ortiz ranks 17th on MLB's regular season home run list, his teams won three World Series championships (2004, 2007, 2013), and he won the 2013 World Series MVP. He is a first ballot inductee, but barely. Why did he not receive more votes? One reason is that he spent most of his career as a designated hitter, and Hall of Fame voters have typically passed on players who spent most of their careers as a designated hitter (with a few notable exceptions, including--most recently--Edgar Martinez, inducted in 2019). 

The other reason is that it is likely, but not definitively proven, that Ortiz used performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) during his career.

In a recent article, Sports Illustrated's Tom Verducci noted that prior to 1996 there had never been an MLB season in which 12 players each hit at least 40 home runs. Then, at least 12 players each hit 40 home runs for six straight years. Verducci's 2002 SI story about rampant steroid use in MLB shamed Congress into action, and led to MLB taking the first tentative steps to test players and assess the problem. Ever since MLB began testing, there has never been another season in which at least 12 players each hit 40 or more home runs; the bloated home run numbers are tainted and, as I wrote in 2009, MLB's record book should be shelved in the fiction section.

Here are a couple player quotes from Verducci's 2002 article:

Pitcher Matt Herges declared, "I know what steroids did for me. It made me superhuman. It made me an android, basically. Your body shuts down and the stuff takes over."

Pitcher Dan Naulty said, "I was a full blown cheater and I knew it. You didn't need a written rule. I was violating clear principles that were laid down within the rules."

PEDs are called "performance-enhancing" because they enhance performance: they help pitchers throw faster and harder, and they help batters swing faster and harder. "Stat gurus" have trouble grasping this basic concept, but anyone with common sense understands why the players cheated, and anyone whose moral compass is functioning understands why the cheaters should not be inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame. In 2012 Mark McGwire--who spent a long time evading the topic but eventually admitted that he used steroids--said, "It's a mistake that I have to live with for the rest of my life. I have to deal with never, ever getting into the Hall of Fame. I totally understand and totally respect their opinion and I will never, ever push it."

Ortiz tested positive for PEDs in 2003, though those test results did not become public knowledge until 2009. Ortiz was not productive during the early portion of his career, but he turned things around after he was released by the Minnesota Twins in 2002. At that time, he was 26 years old, and he had never hit more than 20 home runs in a season, nor had he ever slugged more than 75 RBI in a season. In 2003, the year that Ortiz tested positive, he had 31 home runs and 101 RBI in his first season with the Boston Red Sox. In 2004, Ortiz had 41 home runs and 139 RBI, followed by 47/148 and 54/137 in 2005 and 2006. MLB's PED testing program began during the 2006 season (the 2003 tests were "survey" tests to assess the extent of the problem, with the results not publicized, and with no players being disciplined even though steroids were and are illegal without a prescription). A player who stopped taking PEDs that season would be able to pass drug tests but still likely benefit from the residual effects and the muscle mass already built. Ortiz was just 30 years old, and he played 10 more years until he was 40, but he never hit more than 40 home runs in a season, though he was very productive even at age 40 (38 home runs, 127 RBI). It must be emphasized that Ortiz' production after PED testing was implemented does not prove that he was clean: it may be possible to cycle usage in a way to avoid detection, and--even more to the point--research has shown that even brief PED use can confer long-term strength gains.

So, the facts that we know are that Ortiz was a mediocre player at best until he was 26, he suddenly became good around the same time that he tested positive for PEDs, PEDs can provide a long-term advantage even after usage is discontinued, and neither Ortiz nor anyone else has provided a public explanation for Ortiz' positive test. It is not surprising that MLB, not wanting to have yet another star tainted, has stood behind Ortiz, because the evidence against him is easier to sweep under the rug than the massive evidence against Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, Rafael Palmeiro, and many other players. It is worth mentioning that Ramirez and Ortiz were teammates on two World Series championship teams. Like Ortiz, Ramirez tested positive in 2003; Ramirez also tested positive a second time after MLB instituted penalties for positive tests, and he was suspended for 50 games during the 2009 season. MLB loves to publicize how the Red Sox overcame the "curse" to win three World Series, but the fact that the team's two best sluggers both tested positive for PEDs is brushed under the carpet (Ramirez played for the 2004 and 2007 championship teams, while Ortiz played for all three championship teams).

Verducci, who is a Hall of Fame voter, voted for Ortiz, as he does not believe that one failed test whose results were not supposed to be publicly released should disqualify Ortiz. I respect Verducci--one of the best baseball writers of all-time--but I respectfully disagree. You can be convicted in court based on circumstantial evidence, and I think that the circumstantial evidence cited above is sufficient to keep Ortiz out of the Hall of Fame, or to at least delay voting for him unless/until he is more forthcoming about his positive test.

Bonds and Clemens finished second and third in the 2022 voting. This was the final year on the ballot for both of them. Alex Rodriguez finished 10th in the 2022 voting. MLB suspended Rodriguez for the entire 2014 regular season and the entire 2014 postseason not only for using PEDs but for actively obstructing MLB's investigation of his illegal conduct. He should have been banned from the sport for life, not invited back to become a highly paid MLB analyst. Manny Ramirez finished 12th in the 2022 voting, while Sosa finished 14th.

Curt Schilling not only was not tainted by PED use, but while the PED usage was at its highest he was an outspoken critic of players who cheated by using illegal drugs. Schilling did more than enough to earn induction, but many media members do not like him because of various opinions that he has expressed, and thus Schilling only finished fifth in the balloting in his final year of eligibility. In case you forgot, never knew, or are too young to remember, Schilling posted an 11-2 postseason record, including 5-0 in elimination games. His .846 postseason winning percentage is the all-time record for pitchers with at least 10 postseason decisions. He played for three World Series champions (2001, 2004, 2007), and he won the 2001 World Series MVP. Four pitchers in MLB history have struck out 300 or more batters in a season at least three times: Sandy Koufax, Nolan Ryan, and Randy Johnson. Schilling is the only one of the four who has not been inducted in the Hall of Fame. Schilling won 216 regular season games, with a .597 winning percentage. He is one of 19 members of the 3000 strikeout club, and he has the best strikeout to walk ratio in that elite club. 

Let me be perfectly clear: I did not root for Schilling or his teams, and I disagree with some things that he has said and done. Whether you like a person or agree with a person has nothing to do with that person's qualifications to be a Hall of Famer; I understand that, but many biased media members who have been given the privilege of filling out a Hall of Fame ballot fail to understand that.

It must be noted that the PED cheaters not only caused damage during their own era, but the artificially inflated home run numbers of Bonds, McGwire, and others made it even more difficult for clean sluggers from previous eras to be inducted. Dale Murphy should have made the Hall of Fame a long time ago, but his career numbers--including 398 home runs--now look pedestrian alongside the counterfeit numbers posted by the cheaters. Murphy won back to back National League MVPs (1982-83) while leading the league in RBI during both of those seasons, and then he led the NL in home runs in 1984 and 1985 while earning two more top 10 MVP finishes. He smashed a career-high 44 home runs in 1987 during a run of nine straight seasons during which he hit at least 20 home runs (he had 36 or more home runs in five of those seasons). A 20 home run season may not seem impressive after the fake pyrotechnics of McGwire-Sosa-Bonds and the other cheaters, but Murphy finished in the NL's top four in home runs seven times, including six top three finishes. Murphy not only won four Silver Slugger awards but he also earned five Gold Gloves. He was a complete player who did things the right way, and he has been unjustly forgotten by history and by the Hall of Fame voters.

Players who fail to be elected after 10 years on the ballot can still become Hall of Famers if they are selected by a committee comprised of executives, players, and media members. As mentioned above regarding the 2022 inductees, often that recognition does not happen until after the player has died.

Bonds came within 10 percent of the vote of receiving Hall of Fame induction this year. Pete Rose, the all-time hit king who played for three World Series championship teams, never appeared on the ballot, and it does not seem likely that his candidacy will receive serious consideration during his lifetime. After Rose accepted a lifetime ban from MLB because of his gambling, the Baseball Hall of Fame created a rule making Rose ineligible to appear on the ballot, and later the Hall created a rule making him ineligible for consideration by the Veterans Committee.

All of the major sports leagues--including MLB--now reap major profits from partnerships with gambling entities, but Rose is still stuck in permanent pariah status. 

It is ridiculous that Bud Selig--perhaps the worst commissioner of a major sports league in my lifetime, if not longer--has been inducted in the Baseball Hall of Fame while Rose, Murphy, and Schilling have not been inducted. 

I hope that Rose, Murphy, and Schilling are elected as soon as possible, and I just as fervently hope that the Baseball Hall of Fame never opens its hallowed doors to the PED cheaters who permanently stained the sport.

"Love This Game and the Game will Love you Back": Andre Dawson's Powerful Hall of Fame Induction Speech

Last weekend, Andre Dawson--the great five tool player known as the "Hawk"--received his long overdue induction into Baseball's Hall of Fame and he delivered a heartfelt, passionate and eloquent speech that not only detailed his path to baseball immortality but also offered a succinct yet powerful indictment of the performance-enhancing drug (PED) users whose disgraceful conduct has made a mockery of baseball's record book: "Individuals have chosen the wrong road," Dawson declared. "They've chosen (cheating) as their legacy. For those who still have a chance to choose theirs, don't be lured to the dark side. It's a stain on the game, a stain that is gradually being removed."

I wish that Dawson were right that the "stain is gradually being removed" but I fear that the "stain" is in many ways permanent and that the "stain" may someday become even bigger if some of the PED cheaters are inducted in the Hall of Fame.

The recurring theme in Dawson's speech was "Love this game and it will love you back." Much like his former teammate Ryne Sandburg, who was inducted in the Hall of Fame five years ago, Dawson was not very talkative as a player but they both proved that they had a lot to say once they ascended to the Hall of Fame podium.

Dawson is a man of character who never took the easy way and it is criminal that his path to the Hall of Fame was blocked for many years because the numbers that he shed blood, sweat and tears to post were blasted to smithereens by the totals stacked up by PED cheaters. During his speech, Dawson thanked his mother--who passed away four years ago but never lost faith that Dawson would be recognized as a Hall of Famer--and other family members who molded his character and work ethic. Listening to Dawson speak should be more than enough to convince anyone beyond the shadow of any doubt that the Hall's doors simply cannot be opened up to any of the players who tainted themselves and the sport by using PEDs. Who would Barry Bonds or Mark McGwire or Alex Rodriguez or Roger Clemens--and the list goes on, as you can see for yourself--thank if the dark day ever comes that they are selected as Hall of Famers? Their drug dealers?

I don't want to hear any analysis about how good some of those guys were before they started cheating and I don't want to see any projections about how many home runs they might have hit or strikeouts they might have thrown without using PEDs. They cheated, point blank. They turned baseball's record book into something that belongs in the fiction section. They cost other players money, awards and championships. They forced good men like Andre Dawson and Jim Rice to wait years to be inducted in the Hall of Fame (and other good men, like Dale Murphy, are still waiting).

Real baseball lovers know that Henry Aaron is still the all-time career home run king and that Roger Maris--a two-time MVP, seven-time All-Star, three-time World Series champion and one-time Gold Glove winner--is the all-time single season home run king.

I sincerely hope that all of the PED cheaters never come close to being inducted in the Hall of Fame and that in the next few years the Hall of Fame reexamines the careers of some of the stars from the past few decades whose accomplishments were temporarily forgotten as cartoon-sized sluggers pounded baseballs for Herculean distances.

Roger Clemens Owes Greg Maddux an Apology

Considering everything that has happened in recent weeks, this is probably the last thing on Roger Clemens' mind but he owes Greg Maddux an apology. Why? Simple: Clemens stole from Maddux the title of greatest pitcher of the post-World War II era. Clemens ranks eighth all-time on the career wins list (354) but he is first among players whose careers started after 1942; Clemens also holds the record for most Cy Young Awards--seven--two more than Randy Johnson and three more than Maddux and Steve Carlton. Clemens' career began a couple years before Maddux' did and Clemens has always been more of a headliner than Maddux because of his hard throwing style that generated 4672 strikeouts, second on the all-time list and almost 1400 more than Maddux, whose 3298 strikeouts rank 11th all-time.

However, it is entirely possible--and seems likely--that the second half of Clemens' career was fraudulent. After the 1996 season, Boston Red Sox General Manager Dan Duquette said that Clemens was "in the twilight of his career." At the time that certainly seemed to be a reasonable statement: Clemens had gone 40-39 with an ERA of 3.78 in the previous four seasons after never having a losing season and only once having an ERA higher than 3.29 in the first nine seasons of his career. Clemens left the Red Sox and signed with the Toronto Blue Jays and he instantly became a great pitcher again, going 21-7 and winning his fourth Cy Young Award six years after he captured his third such honor.

Is is possible that good, old fashioned hard work resurrected Clemens' career? Well, there is no doubt that he worked hard but the very idea behind performance-enhancing drugs is that they enhance your performance: they enable you to work harder than you otherwise would be able to and thus build more muscle than you could naturally. That muscle in turn enables a power pitcher to continue to throw hard, though the resulting strain on connective tissues can lead to injury. Remember how Clemens spent his last few seasons as a very effective part time player? That fits into exactly what one would expect from an older power pitcher who is juicing. Clemens hired Brian McNamee as his trainer in 1997 and McNamee has since testified that he began giving Clemens PEDs in 1998. Did Clemens regain his lost youth naturally and then need artificial help to keep it or did he actually begin cheating even earlier than McNamee said? We may never know the answer to that but what Clemens did after leaving the Red Sox is quite remarkable. Clemens had a career record of 192-111 (.634) in 1996 and in the next 11 years--at ages 34-44--he went 162-73 (.689), winning four Cy Youngs. Randy Johnson finished second to Clemens in two of Clemens' late career Cy Youngs ('97, '04), so perhaps Clemens owes Johnson an apology as well; strip Clemens of those honors and Johnson holds the record with six Cy Youngs.

We will probably never know for sure exactly what Clemens did and exactly how many of his wins and Cy Youngs should be attributed to cheating--and that is one of the most despicable things about his actions. Clemens is only five wins ahead of Maddux now, so Maddux may surpass him this season but historians and students of the game should not even wait for that to happen before they grant Maddux the recognition that he deserves. In case you are wondering, Maddux' game has never depended on power and neither his body size nor his numbers have undergone any sudden, unusual changes. Maddux is the ultimate craftsman who gets hitters out based on his knowledge of their tendencies and his ability to work the strike zone. He probably could not care less about who holds the mythical title of greatest post-WWII pitcher but--based on the body of his work--he certainly is more deserving of that honor than Clemens (how the truncated but brilliant career of Sandy Koufax ranks among post-WWII pitchers is a different issue but what I am talking about here is who had the "largest" post-WWII pitching career in terms of wins, Cy Youngs and dominance over an extended period).

Roger Clemens Learns the Timeless Lesson: It's Not the Crime, it's the Coverup

You would think that everyone would have learned the lesson decades ago when the Watergate scandal brought down President Richard Nixon, who just a few years earlier had won reelection by a landslide margin: the American public has demonstrated on many occasions that it will forgive just about any transgression if the person who committed it apologizes and truly seems to be contrite--but if a public figure lies and steadfastly denies that he did anything wrong then those falsehoods almost inevitably bring him down. After Jason Giambi was exposed as a steroids user, a lot of criticism and hostility were directed toward him but he apologized and the matter seems to be largely forgotten; few people are saying that he should forfeit his 2000 AL MVP to second place finisher Frank Thomas (I actually think that he should be stripped of that honor in similar fashion to how track and field authorities stripped Marion Jones of her medals but I am less forgiving than the general public). The funny thing is that Giambi's apology was weak and vague and never even mentioned the word "steroids" but people still forgave him.

When the Mitchell Report first came out, Roger Clemens should have done a "Giambi." Like Giambi, Clemens is probably too arrogant to ever directly admit to using steroids but if Clemens had simply issued some kind of apology then his reputation would not be in its current Pete Rose death spiral. Think about the difference between Clemens and his friend/teammate Andy Pettitte: Brian McNamee testified under oath that he personally supplied illegal performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) to both Pettitte and Clemens. Pettitte immediately admitted his PED use and no one is investigating him; he probably won't even be punished, even though he has hardly come clean completely about all of the circumstances surrounding his PED use (he did not initially admit to getting HGH from his father in addition to getting HGH from McNamee and I highly doubt that Pettitte's HGH use was as limited as he wants us to believe). Pettitte is literally a criminal and a cheater and yet he has emerged from this situation as some kind of paragon of integrity. Clemens is a bigger star than Pettitte and would have probably been subjected to harsher scrutiny but if MLB is not going after Giambi's MVP then I doubt that there would have been much effort made to go after Clemens' honors if he had not arrogantly and foolishly decided to defiantly proclaim his complete innocence.

Instead, Clemens has apparently lied under oath about matters great (illegal drug use) and small (attending a party at Jose Canseco's house), not only gravely damaging his reputation but very possibly setting himself up to serve time in jail for perjury. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has formally requested that the Justice Department investigate whether Clemens lied during his testimony to that body. Committee chairman Henry Waxman bluntly said, "We didn't think Clemens was telling the truth."

Clemens could have avoided this mess by simply apologizing. In fact, even saying nothing at all would have been preferable to issuing vehement denials that are highly implausible. Committee member Tom Davis recently said, "If Clemens had not said anything when (the Mitchell Report was released) and he was one of 80 or 90 other guys, nobody would have cared, really. But he came forward with such strong statements to the contrary. This gives me no joy at all. I would have liked to (have) punted on this."

Truth or Consequences

The Roger Clemens case has serious implications but at the core it is simple to figure out. It comes down to how you answer one question: Who do you believe? Roger Clemens has testified under oath that he never took steroids or human growth hormone; his former trainer, Brian McNamee, has testified under oath that he personally injected Clemens with those substances. Point blank, someone is lying--and if it can ever be proven beyond a reasonable doubt who is lying then that person should absolutely go to jail. If Clemens is lying then he broke federal law, violated the spirit of fair competition and contributed to a climate of cheating that set a terrible example for literally millions of young fans who look up to him. If McNamee is lying then he is guilty of slandering the good name of a sports icon who established himself as perhaps the greatest pitcher of the modern era.

Before Clemens and McNamee testified under oath last week to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, committee chairman Henry Waxman declared, "...We have found conflicts and inconsistencies in Mr. Clemens' account. During his deposition, he made statements that we know are untrue...In other areas, his statements are contradicted by other credible witnesses or are simply implausible." This case has already produced hours and hours of televised testimony and reams of affidavits and quotes but when you break everything down here is what we know for sure: Roger Clemens' wife and his teammates Andy Pettitte and Chuck Knoblauch received human growth hormone from McNamee. How likely is it that so many people who are so close to Clemens were taking HGH under the direction of Clemens' trainer and that Clemens not only did not take HGH but was not even aware that these people were using it? Most of the rest of the stuff that is being argued about is just a sideshow. Again, the important question is simple: Do you believe that Clemens did not know that his wife and best friend received HGH from his personal trainer and that despite their usage of this substance that he never tried it?

The American public has already seen great athletes look into the collective eyes of the nation and deliver bold faced lies. Pete Rose swore that he never bet on baseball. Marion Jones angrily denied ever taking performance-enhancing drugs. Clemens' defiant denials are quite predictable and prove nothing; it is much more significant that his story is riddled with inconsistencies. Wouldn't the patty cake session that Clemens had with Mike Wallace of 60 Minutes have been a good time to mention his wife's HGH use? It is obvious that Clemens thought that this would never come to light, so he did not bring it up. Clemens' defense has been riddled with arrogant missteps; it was only after he played the tape of his phone conversation with McNamee for a national television audience that McNamee countered by revealing that he had physical evidence of Clemens' use and that Clemens' wife also used HGH.

McNamee's credibility as a witness is certainly not impeccable--but he has been offered immunity from prosecution if and only if he tells the truth. What possible motivation would he have to lie about Roger Clemens and thereby incur the wrath of the Rocket and his army of attorneys? Pettitte and Knoblauch have already admitted that McNamee told the truth about their HGH use. Why would McNamee tell the truth about Pettitte and Knoblauch and then throw into the mix wild lies about Clemens? It would certainly have been easier for McNamee to not mention Clemens' name at all--but if he did that and then evidence of Clemens' PED use came to light then McNamee would go to jail.

20 Second Timeout is the Place to go for the Best NBA All-Star Weekend Coverage

Soon I will be heading down to New Orleans to cover the NBA All-Star Weekend, so there will not be any new posts here for the next few days. However, I encourage you to visit my other site to keep up with everything that is going on in the Big Easy:

20 Second Timeout

Obviously, there is a lot going on in the world of sports, including the Roger Clemens case and the so-called "Spygate" situation, but rather than even attempt to be the first to comment on such matters I prefer to provide the best analysis. I am not impressed by the current media fad of making instantaneous, bombastic reactions just to attract readers/viewers. So, if you can't make it to New Orleans to enjoy All-Star Weekend in person, let me be your eyes and ears for the next few days.

Lesson #1 From the Ongoing Steroids Saga: Don't Lie to the Feds

Elvis Presley once sang, "You can do anything but lay off of my blue suede shoes." The federal government's motto in many instances--ranging from the Martha Stewart case to the ongoing performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) saga--seems to be, "You can do anything but don't lie to federal agents." As far as I know, no elite athlete has yet gone to jail for using PEDs, which are illegal without a doctor's prescription--but Marion Jones is about to go to jail for lying about her PED use and Barry Bonds, Miguel Tejada and others--including Roger Clemens if he is not telling the truth--may eventually be incarcerated for lying as well. At least as far back as President Nixon's administration we have heard the cliche "It's not the crime that gets you in trouble; it's the cover up" and we are certainly seeing plenty of examples of that now. Tejada must have been the most surprised person in America when his name jumped to center stage during Tuesday's hearing before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee regarding the Mitchell Report. Representatives Henry Waxman and Tom Davis asked the Justice Department to investigate whether Tejada lied when he was questioned in 2005 during the Rafael Palmeiro perjury investigation. Of course, this little drama within the wider scandal began when Palmeiro wagged his finger toward committee members and swore that he had never used steroids. After Palmeiro flunked a drug test, he fingered Tejada as the source of what he took, which Palmeiro still maintains he did not know to be steroids. Tejada denies using steroids, but the Mitchell Report produced two checks that Tejada wrote to his then-teammate Adam Piatt, who told Mitchell's investigators that he obtained steroids and human growth hormone for Tejada.

After the Mitchell Report was issued, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig almost broke his arm patting himself on the back for how well he has handled the PED issue. John Fahey, the President of the World-Anti Doping Agency (WADA), is not nearly as impressed with the measures--or lack thereof--that Selig is taking: "Professional baseball's response to Senator Mitchell's report is baffling. To suggest that it might continue to keep its anti-doping testing program in house...is demeaning to Senator Mitchell and the congressional committees who view doping as a serious threat to public health." That is really the crux of the matter. I realize that some fans say "Who cares?" and question why Congress is getting involved in this situation but this is absolutely a serious public health issue. Considering that MLB has obviously handled this matter completely ineptly for the better part of two decades, it is actually overdue that Congress steps in and tries to assert some control here. This is not simply a matter of letting Barry Bonds do whatever he wants to do with his body because he will face the consequences: all of society will pay a steep price if PED usage spreads from a few thousand pro athletes to millions of young, amateur athletes, a process that has already begun because the cheaters have made it difficult to perform at an elite level without joining their ranks.

In addition to the public health concerns, there is also the issue that sports should be conducted on a fair, level playing field (pardon the pun) without certain athletes gaining an advantage through criminal actions. Representative Betty McCollum eloquently addressed this aspect of the scandal: "Fixed games played by drug users illegitimately altered the outcome of the games. It's my opinion we're here in the middle of a criminal conspiracy that defrauded millions of baseball fans of billions of dollars." Selig and his partner in crime Donald Fehr, the head of the MLB Players Association, are very proud of how much MLB's revenues have soared under their watch--but, as Rep. McCollum stated, those funds were raised under false pretenses. Fraud and drug trafficking are two of the crimes covered under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. I'm no lawyer but if it can be proven that Selig and/or Fehr either actively knew about rampant PED use in MLB or were grossly negligent in trying to prevent such criminal activities because those activities were generating revenue for MLB then why can't the government prosecute Selig, Fehr and anyone else involved in what McCollum rightly called a "criminal conspiracy"? I realize that such a prosecution is unlikely to ever happen but think about the powerful message it would send.

Clemens Saga Will Not End Well

Roger Clemens is a liar. No other conclusion can be drawn, unless you believe that the greatest pitcher of this generation does not give a "rat's (behind)" about being immortalized in the Hall of Fame. Clemens, like many great athletes, is a control freak and he realizes that in the wake of the Mitchell Report he no longer controls how many Hall of Fame votes he will receive; until recently, it seemed certain that number would be very high, based on Clemens' impressive on field numbers--but now the number of votes that Clemens eventually gets will likely be based on whether or not the baseball writers believe that the miraculous second act of Clemens' career was in fact a fraud created by performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs).

The Mitchell Report will probably be remembered as the Clemens Indictment, because just about everything else that was mentioned in it has been largely brushed aside--at least for now--as everyone from the casual fan to Congress evaluates the accusations against Clemens and his response to them. For anyone who somehow missed the story, Brian McNamee--Clemens' trainer for several years--provided the federal government with very specific descriptions of a number of occasions when he personally injected Clemens with PEDs. The timing of those injections coincides with Clemens' rejuvenation as a pitcher after several mediocre seasons. McNamee also testified that he injected Andy Pettitte with human growth hormone (HGH); Pettitte has subsequently admitted to receiving a few HGH injections, which he said were for rehabilitation purposes, not performance enhancement. Of course, Pettitte's excuse is garbage, because being able to come back quicker from an injury is in fact performance enhancement: you cannot perform at all when you are on the disabled list. Also, HGH use is legal when prescribed by a doctor and illegal when used as a performance enhancer, so why did Pettitte take HGH secretly if he was not using it improperly? Pettitte's admission casts Clemens in a bad light because it is very logical to wonder why McNamee would lie about Clemens if he told the truth about Pettitte. Remember that McNamee testified under oath and will go to jail if he committed perjury.

Clemens had an opportunity to talk with Mitchell's investigators before the report came out but declined to do so. That is why no one should feel sorry for Clemens or anyone else whose name popped up in the Mitchell Report. Most MLB players, at the instigation of the Players Association, refused to cooperate, in effect creating a Mafia-style omerta (code of silence) that could only possibly serve to shield the guilty; if most players are innocent then shouldn't the Players Association be protecting their interests--not to mention the greater interests of the sport--as opposed to helping the guilty to cover up their foul deeds? Clemens told Mike Wallace that he was blindsided by McNamee's testimony but we now know that this is a lie because McNamee called Clemens' agents a week before the report came out and representatives of Clemens met with McNamee a day before the report was released. Clemens initially responded to the Mitchell Report by issuing statements through his lawyers and his foundation but he quickly realized that the public was not at all impressed. Then he agreed to trot out Wallace, who has lost more speed off of his fastball then Clemens had lost by 1997, to toss some softball questions. Some of the things that Clemens said to Wallace are simply bizarre. Pettitte is his best friend and long time workout partner but Clemens claimed to have no idea that Pettitte took HGH. That hardly seems credible. Even more strange are Clemens' comments about the alleged side effects of PED use: taking PEDs will not make a third ear grow out of your forehead and it will not enable you to pull vehicles with your teeth--but it will speed up your recovery time between workouts and the androgenic properties of some of those substances will help you to build and retain muscle mass. That is why Clemens' statements about his work ethic are not only meaningless but actually are a backhanded confirmation of the extra help he received. How exactly can a person of his age continue to do such intense workouts without having his body break down? Clemens was an aging, mediocre pitcher for the four years prior to when McNamee claims to have started giving him PED injections. Then Clemens quickly returned to being an elite pitcher. Clemens also told Wallace that if he had taken PEDs then he would have suffered injuries to connective tissues, something that often happens to athletes whose muscles grow to the point that their ligaments and tendons are overworked. Could that be the reason why Clemens has drastically limited his pitching appearances in recent seasons, essentially becoming a part time player?

Clemens did not immediately file suit against McNamee, saying that this would be too expensive. Clemens has made more than $100 million during his career in base salaries alone, according to Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune. It defies logic that an innocent man would not be willing to spend a small fraction of that fortune to save his good name. Clemens--or his advisors--quickly realized this and eventually did file suit against McNamee. I strongly suspect that filing this lawsuit was strictly a public relations move and that it will eventually be dropped, like a similar action that Barry Bonds took against Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams, the authors of Game of Shadows, the book that made an overwhelming case that Bonds cheated his way to the single-season and career home runs records.

Most of you have probably heard or read about the 17 minute phone conversation with McNamee that Clemens recorded. Different interpretations have been offered for what both parties said. The bottom line is that Clemens never explicitly asked McNamee "Why did you lie?" and McNamee never said that he did in fact lie. McNamee sounded like someone who was pained that he had to blow the whistle on someone who had been very good to him and Clemens sounded like a desperate person who was trying to manipulate a broke, scared and desperate man whose son is dying. If I were Clemens and I were innocent, the first thing that I would say to McNamee is "Why did you lie about me using steroids?" The second thing that I would say to McNamee is, "You know that this is not true. I never used steroids." I understand that Clemens cannot put himself in a position where it can be said that he is trying to coerce a federal witness but it makes no sense for Clemens to spend the whole conversation essentially speaking in code. "Why did you lie about me using steroids?" is something that he simply had to ask--but maybe Clemens did not want the world to hear McNamee's answer to that question. Clemens has known McNamee a long time and realized that as long as he danced around the issue that McNamee would do so as well. McNamee comes across not as someone who lied to betray a friend but rather someone who is pained that he had to testify under oath about things that could damage Clemens. When McNamee keeps repeating, "What do you want me to do?", the subtext that I hear is this: "Roger, the feds were going to put me in jail if I didn't tell the truth. You and I both know that I injected you with steroids. I had to fess up. You're my friend and I'll do anything that I can to help you now. My son is dying and I am a wreck. What do you want me to do?"

Clemens played that 17 minute tape at a press conference he arranged. He pledged to answer any and all questions but only lasted a few minutes before he got very testy, made his obviously false statement about not caring about the Hall of Fame and stormed off the stage. The good news is that the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will not only hold a hearing about the Mitchell Report on February 13 but Clemens, McNamee, Pettite and others will be deposed under oath prior to that day by attorneys of the committee members--and if you get caught lying to them, you go to jail. Clemens cannot bully them and he cannot storm off if he does not like a question that they ask him. It will be very interesting to see what everyone says in those circumstances. Track star Marion Jones was just as vociferous as Clemens in her initial denials before she eventually admitted that her whole career was a sham.

Most of the accused PED users seem to be reading off of the same script, one that includes some combination of these elements: I was only taking a B-12 shot (Jose Canseco, who seems to be the only person who is completely honest about what happened in the so-called Steroids Era, wrote in his book Juiced that PED users routinely used the phrase "B-12 shots" as a euphemism for steroid injections); I did not know that I was injected with a steroid; I only used steroids a few times to help me recover from an injury. The latter excuse has become really popular lately, a convenient way for Pettitte and others to try to avoid perjury but also try to maintain the facade of not being cheaters.

MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, Executive Director of the MLB Players Association Donald Fehr and the MLB players themselves all must share the blame for the permanent black mark that PEDs cast over an entire era of baseball history. Anyone who says that this is a victimless crime is wrong. The victims are the modern players who did not cheat and who lost individual honors, games and money to the cheaters. The victims are players from previous eras whose records were shattered--and some of these players are probably not in the Hall of Fame because their numbers were dwarfed by the statistics put up by PED users. Other than Frank Thomas and a select few players who put up Hall of Fame caliber numbers in the past 15 years without a hint of cheating, I would not mind if the Hall of Fame put up a moratorium on voting in players from this era in order to give long overdue recognition to Jim Rice, Andre Dawson and other neglected stars. The victims are the fans who loyally invested their money to root for cheaters--if McNamee's allegations are true, Clemens received tens of millions of dollars since 1997 as a result of cheating to prolong a career that otherwise was on its last legs; think of how many other players have also essentially stolen money not only from the fans but also from the honest ball players. Most of all, the victims are the young athletes who felt pressured to take PEDs to be like their "heroes" and to keep up with other young athletes who were getting ahead by cheating. That is the real legacy of Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Rafael Palmerio, Jason Giambi, Ken Caminiti and all of the other players who were involved in this scandal.

This story will not have a clean or happy ending. Lives have been lost due to PED abuse, the MLB record book has been turned into tawdry fiction and many of the most guilty parties will likely never be punished.

Steroid Cheaters Have Trampled Baseball's Record Book With Huge, Ugly Footprints

What would the past decade of baseball history have looked like if Commissioner Bud Selig, the MLB Players Association and MLB owners had not perpetrated a fraud by allowing performance-enhancing drug users to run amok? It is simply pathetic that arguably the greatest hitter and the greatest pitcher of this era--Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens--likely enhanced significant portions of their careers illegally. Just like Marion Jones has had to return her ill gotten gains, baseball's cheaters should likewise be stricken from the record books. Phil Rogers of the Chicago Tribune listed some possible changes that could be made in the record book to more fairly document recent baseball history.

Boston Red Sox General Manager Dan Duquette famously said that Clemens was in the "twilight of his career" by 1996; in the four previous seasons, Clemens posted a 40-39 record with Boston. In 1997, Clemens signed with the Toronto Blue Jays. He went 41-13 in his two seasons with Toronto and won two Cy Young Awards. Clemens won two more Cy Youngs--one with the Yankees and one with the Astros--to become the only pitcher to have received that honor seven times. That late career surge enabled Clemens to assume the mantle as the greatest pitcher of the modern era, but the Mitchell Report casts serious doubt over the legitimacy of anything that Clemens accomplished after 1996. Rogers notes that Randy Johnson finished second to Clemens in the 1997 and 2004 Cy Young voting; disqualify Clemens and then Johnson becomes the only seven-time Cy Young winner. Pedro Martinez finished second to Clemens in the 1998 Cy Young voting, so he should have had four Cy Youngs instead of three. Also, Martinez placed second in the 2000 AL MVP voting to Ivan Rodriguez, who is one of the players that Jose Canseco claims to have personally injected with steroids. Take away the Cy Youngs that Clemens cheated to win and he ranks behind Johnson and Greg Maddux in terms of modern era pitchers.

Albert Pujols finished second to Barry Bonds in NL MVP voting in 2002 and 2003, awards that would have already put Pujols on the elite list of three-time MVPs. Frank Thomas finished second behind Jason Giambi in 2000 AL MVP voting. Thomas, who has long been a lonely voice speaking out against performance-enhancing drug use, is the only star player who cooperated with Mitchell's investigation (Thomas is not suspected of any wrongdoing but volunteered to talk about what he has observed during his career). There is no earthly reason for Selig to not step in--like the track and field authorities did with Marion Jones--and take the award away from Giambi and give it to Thomas. Giambi admitted his steroid use to the BALCO grand jury and publicly apologized for his actions, albeit in a non-committal, roundabout way.

Near the end of his article, Rogers relays the story of Dan Naulty, a journeyman pitcher whose name was listed in the Mitchell Report. Naulty has since admitted that he did in fact use steroids: "I stole people's jobs. That's the part for me that was so wrong. I have to explain to my boys that I took people's jobs by cheating, and that penetrated my soul a number of years ago and still haunts me today--the poor choice I made for the chance of being a Major League Baseball player."

Naulty, who cooperated with Mitchell's investigation, says that he gained at least 20 pounds of muscle and added about 8 mph to his fastball, enabling him to make it to the majors. Naulty took steroids for six years before switching to human growth hormone. All that added bulk and strength resulted in numerous injuries that ended his career: "I had 40-45 pounds of extra muscle my body wasn't used to. I was tearing tendons off bones."

Isn't it interesting that in the wake of the Mitchell Report we have heard a lot of the implicated players admit to their offenses, even if the vast majority of them seem to be reading from a standard script that says that they only did it once, regretted it and never did it again? Do you really believe that the only steroid users were journeymen like Naulty or players who tried it once and then quit because they had pangs of conscience? If Clemens, Bonds or anyone else really feels that the Mitchell Report or any book or article has unfairly linked them to this scandal then they should sue. That would entail going to court and testifying under oath about exactly what they did or did not do. To the best of my knowledge, no baseball player who has been publicly linked to performance-enhancing drug use has ever won a lawsuit over this nor has any accused party stepped forward and proven his innocence.