Steroids and the Red Sox

While many Red Sox fans have met the news of Alex Rodriguez' past transgressions with unparalleled glee, casting enough stones to rebuild the Man in the Mountain, I caution you all to be careful.  It is far too easy to assume that one of our very own heroes isn't on one of those lists.

With the focus of baseball back on the use of performance enhancing drugs by its superstars, I thought it was the right time to dust off a piece I wrote nearly two years ago in January of 2007 as the BALCO scandal was raining down on Barry Bonds.

For some the words "performance enhancing drugs" are as ambiguous as "weapons of mass destruction", for others they are paramount to death sentences by the jury of a nation of sports fans. I consider myself a purist and an optimist. The concept that many people have "cheated" to succeed in baseball using performance enhancing drugs, places my optimism in a dangerous cross hair.

As news of Barry Bonds having tested positive for amphetamine use lastseason, even while under a world of scrutiny, is unearthed, I findmyself having to come to grips with something that I have looked toignore for a considerable amount of time. Red Sox players are not exempt from the steroid debacle that has engulfed our National Pastime. It would be foolish to be optimistic enough to think that our Red Sox were on such a moral high ground that none of the players that we let into our lives cheated to earn their place there.

It is with that thought, and attempting to come to grips with my reactions towards a player that was let into my home and my heart on a nightly basis, that I decided I must flesh out my stance on such a player before he was named publicly.

Now, I have no knowledge of any players, outside of Jeremey Giambi, on the 2003 roster (or God forbid, the 2004 Championship roster) that used performance enhancing drugs and I don't claim that anyone in particular used them. But with 5-7% of Major League ballplayers having tested positive during that season, that leaves 1-2 players on every 25 man roster and 2-3 players on the 40 man roster a user of performance enhancing drugs on every team.

As far as we know, the Red Sox as an organization are not at the center of baseball's dirty secret. But we have seen them on the periphery enough to cause concern should the confiscated, and since, decoded list of the 104 players who did test positive for performance enhancing drugs during the 2003 season continue to come to light.

In fact, we already know that one of the brief members of the 2003 Red Sox, Jeremy Giambi, admitted to the investigating Grand Jury that he had used performance enhancing drugs. How much influence he may have had within the clubhouse during his time with the team that year is unknown.

But he was not the first Red Sox player to have admittedly taken or been implicated in having taken performance enhancing drugs. In fact the earliest recorded admission of steroid use comes from a former Red Sox player, Tom House. House was only with the team for a little over one season pitching as a middle reliever for the Red Sox in 1976 and briefly in 1977.

""In a telephone interview with San Francisco Chronicle reporter, Ron Kroichick, House admitted to using steroids 'for a couple of seasons' during his career (1971-1978). House estimated that six or seven pitchers on every staff in baseball were experimenting with steroids in the 1970's. This was, and still is, the earliest account of steroid use in baseball. House's admission and comments are from a May 3, 2005 San Francisco Chronicle article entitled House a 'failed experiment' with steroids." - http://www.baseballssteroidera.com"

Some of the other Red Sox pitchers on the 1976 staff included, Bill "Spaceman" Lee, Luis Tiant, Rick Jones, Fergie Jenkins, and Rick Wise. The more well known players on the team were Carlton Fisk, Jim Rice, Carl Yastrzemski, Dwight Evans, and Fred Lynn. Does House's admission have any bearing or in any way implicate anyone else on that roster? No, but is it at all alarming? Yes.

The most notorious steroid abuser that stepped foot in the Boston dugout over the course of his career was Jose Canseco.

""In February 2005 Canseco released his autobiography and steroid tell-all, Juiced, Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big. In it he described himself as 'the chemist' having experimented on himself for years. He claimed to have educated and personally injected many players including Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Juan Gonzalez, Ivan Rodriguez, and Jason Giambi." - http://www.baseballssteroidera.com"

Canseco was with the team in 1995 and 1996 with Mo Vaughn, Mike Greenwell, Roger Clemens, and Tim Wakefield. The 1996 season saw the first appearances of Nomar Garciaparra and Trot Nixon in Boston. Not having read Canseco's book on steroids (remember, I am - or was - an optimist), I can't say what implications he may have made or inferred regarding players he shared time with in Boston. But that he called 4 Yawkey Way home for two seasons is concerning enough.

The oddest member of the Boston Red Sox Hall of Shame is Manny Alexander; a light hitting utility infielder Manny Alexander.

""Police found vials of steroids and syringes in the glove compartment of Alexander's Mercedes on June 30, 2000. Alexander had loaned the vehicle to team bat boy, Carlos Cowart, who has no license and a three-page criminal record and was driving the car when the steroids were found. Police found no evidence linking the steroids to Cowart who was described as 'not a weightlifter or anything even remotely like that.. not even a beginning weightlifter.' The New York Times later reported that Alexander's name was on the envelope that contained the steroids." - http://www.baseballssteroidera.com"

Alexander spent only the 2000 season in Boston, but looking back further into his career his teammates in Baltimore in 1996 have a speckled history with regards to performance enhancing drugs, including Rafael Palmeiro and Brady Anderson.

Alexander was not the only member of the 2000 Red Sox to have steroid innuendos around him. Paxton Crawford, a young pitcher making his Major League debut in 2000 and on the roster briefly in 2001, admitted to an ESPN reporter that he used performance enhancing drugs between 2001 and 2003.

""In an article by ESPN's Amy K. Nelson, Crawford admitted to using steroids and hGH during the 2001-2003 season. Crawford said steroids 'had a hold of the game' and that players were 'walking around like zombies.' Crawford's admission was published in the June 21, 2006 issue of ESPN The Magazine, in article entitled Why Pitchers Juice." - http://www.baseballssteroidera.com"

Crawford's steroid and hGH use coincides with his time in Pawtucket after having been demoted from the majors as opposed to time spent in Boston, so I can't make any judgments regarding the clubhouse that he was a part of in Boston. The Red Sox farm system was pretty bare in AAA in his time with the team in Pawtucket, with not many future contributors to later Red Sox teams.

The 2003 season brings us back to the 104 names that are likely to be released after having been seized in the federal investigations of BALCO and the use of performance enhancing drugs in baseball. In Boston, that specifically brings us back to Jeremy Giambi.

""Testifying before the BALCO Grand Jury, Jeremy admitted to using BALCO drugs and the injectable testosterone obtained from Greg Anderson, as well as Deca-Durabolin previously. His testimony mirrored his brother Jason's when describing the attraction to Greg Anderson and the details of which drugs were used and how. His confidential testimony was leaked to the San Francisco Chronicle; excerpts were published in a Dec. 2, 2004 article entitled Giambi admitted taking steroids." - http://www.baseballssteroidera.com"

Giambi's exposure, along with his brother Jason's, to performance enhancing drugs stemmed from his experience in Oakland and BALCO labs and most likely his drug use occurred before his time in Boston. But given the pier to pier relationship of use of performance enhancing drugs, having admitted users on your roster makes it much more likely that other players on the roster were also exposed to and used steroids and/or hGH.

There is speculation of one other former Red Sox player and in fact a former Red Sox legend as it pertains to steroid and hGH use; Roger Clemens.

""Clemens was one of the redacted names from the Jason Grimsley Affidavit. In the affidavit, Grimsley told investigators he obtained amphetamines, anabolic steroids and hGH from a person recommended to him by, Brian McNamee strength and conditioning coach of Clemens and Andy Pettitte. Grimsley later named Clemens specifically as a user of 'performance-enhancing drugs.' Clemens' name was revealed in an Oct. 1, 2006 Los Angeles Times Article entitled Clemens Is Named in Drug Affidavit." - http://www.baseballssteroidera.com"

Clemens rumored use of performance enhancing drugs and his link to Jason Grimsley occurred with his time with the New York Yankees after his time spent in Boston. But to complete the known or rumored Red Sox players implicated over their careers, I included him here.

As I put this brief history together, I continued to harken back to my original task; formulating my reaction to a Red Sox player who may in the future be "outed" for performance enhancing drugs.

Should a name emerge from the 2003 Red Sox roster, that player, whether it be David Ortiz or someone as fleeting as Damian Jackson or Andy Abad, I will immediately sever my relationship with and support of that player. I will not however discount the performance of the team he was on. That player would have no redemption with me until they fulfill two qualifications.

1. A public admittance of their use of performance enhancing drugs with full disclosure of what was used and when throughout their career and a sincere apology.
2. Public testing results moving forward on a regular basis establishing that he is now clean.

At that point and only that point, I would be able to rethink my stance on this hypothetical player.

Where the Red Sox organization falls in the steroid era is clearly shrouded in mystery as with most teams. One thing is clear however, the cloud will start to lift and the mystery partially solved. I hope that our heroes remain unimplicated, and I hope thats not just the optimist in me speaking.