While the EWC makes no claims to have any insider information on which players took steroids, clearly the testicle-shrinking beverage of choice for major leaguers has left its indelible mark on the game forever. In this forum, we invite readers to speculate as to which major leaguers they believe took steroids, when possible providing reasons (either statistical or empirical observations) to back up their claims. While certain names: Mark McGwire, Palmeiro, Brady Anderson, Um, that one guy in SF, Juan Rincon (?!) et. al are obvious, other names leave room for debate. LEGAL DISCLAIMER: The following post makes no formal accusations, it is merely an open forum for our readers to voice their opinions. Except for Brady, you know he was juicing like a m.f.
OK Readers, let’s hear it….
26 responses so far ↓
1 Ramfan // Nov 12, 2007 at 9:32 pm
Clemens Clemens Clemens
2 Jackson // Nov 12, 2007 at 9:44 pm
WHAT?!?! Clemens stays in great shape at age 84 by his amazing training regimen of running up stairways with giant blocks of timber. How dare you insinuate that Clemens has unnaturally prolonged his career by….
oh, nevermind.
Next on the list:
Both Giles brothers (power #’s significantly declined after “testing” started
Nomar
Abreu? (power dropoff is a bit suspect, but he’s not a definite candidate.)
…keep em’ comin’.
3 B. // Nov 12, 2007 at 11:00 pm
Do Asian players do roids? Just wondering, since this is an Asian baseball site…is this any kind of problem in Japan, Korea or Taiwan? If so, to what extent?
4 jackson // Nov 12, 2007 at 11:15 pm
I’ve got an upcoming post about it, but the building where I live in Taiwan is home to most of the players for one of the teams here. there’s a pharmacy in the building where they openly sell HGH–its not illegal here or apparently in the CPBL. I asked the pharmacist and he says only the foreign players take it. But that’s not anywhere near a definitive answer. Let’s just say they exist here, but i’m not sure as to the extent of the problem or how much testing they do.
5 A.S. // Nov 12, 2007 at 11:21 pm
Clemens is my big one. Seems like a lot of the guys…a la Jason Grimsley…are people you wouldn’t suspect. So on that theme I’ll say Todd Coffey and Ron Villone.
6 B. // Nov 13, 2007 at 6:38 am
Just read this…interesting
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/michael_mccann/11/12/mitchell.report/index.html?section=si_latest
How about Jeff Kent? No one ever says him, but he’s had surprising longevity. Plus he played with the Gaints during their apparent roid era
7 brent // Nov 13, 2007 at 8:38 am
I think that whatever comes out of Jose Canseco’s mouth is more probable than any other’s. He was laughed at and ridiculed at first when he came out with steroid accusations. He was right all along. Can you imagine the chagrin of players like Gooden and Strawberry busted for narcotics and being baseball’s black eye; while others are running around juicing and being made out to look like heroes?
8 CleaN // Nov 13, 2007 at 9:01 am
Clemens. Yes. I also think Byrd’s claim that he used HGH for health reasons is BS. He had some amazing games this year.
Trevor Hoffman? I guess you can’t just put every older player playing well under the microscope. But………I will.
9 yoshi // Nov 13, 2007 at 4:29 pm
brett boone. the biggest fall-off ever. from a mvp candidate to a minor leaguer. i can almost surely say he was on it.
maybe adrian beltre?
10 CleaN // Nov 13, 2007 at 4:39 pm
I always wondered if both Boone bros were. Aaron fell off somewhat too, but he had the basketball bump too. But Brett was clearly doing roids. He looked like the Goodyear guy.
11 Jackson // Nov 13, 2007 at 4:46 pm
Boone seems almost undeniable, especially because he was basically a light hitting middle infielder until magically in his 30’s he started hitting 40 plus home runs. Beltre also seems like he was, its hard to believe that dude hit 50 plus a few years back.
12 B. // Nov 13, 2007 at 9:28 pm
I always thought Boone was the worst, next to Bonds. In terms of growing and becoming a totally different looking person. McGwire too.
But don’t you think there are so many people doing it, or who have done it, and that the line between what were and weren’t steroids, became vauge enough that it’s almost pointless to gripe about it? So, sure, Bonds, McGwire, and Sosa were all using. Now what? They’re part of the game. MLB has never seemed to mind all that much. Isn’t it just part of the game to some extent?
13 jackson // Nov 14, 2007 at 12:10 am
Well, I think the worst thing is that once steroids became endemic and widespread throughout the league, it’s not just stars doing it, but then fringe players have to do it just to hold on to their careers. Let’s say you’re a Joel Pinero-type starter, a veteran with average stuff losing your heater. ( Not to call him out as someone that would do roids, but in the sense that he’s aging and on the bubble of having to retire and/or hanging on in the league.) Well, what do you think someone like that is gonna do? If you take steroids you can hang on in the league, sign a 400,000 - 500,000 contract for a year or two, and if you don’t you’re demoted or cut. hmmmm. Not a tough choice. Who among us wouldn’t take steroids for one year if it meant getting a million dollars or not? So not only did it make regular players (i.e. Boone) into superstars, it also became necessary for fringe types to do it just to keep up with them.
Look at middle infielders from the 70’s-80’s until now. Remember when Ryne Sandberg was an exception among 2B because he could hit 19-25 home runs a year, and that was amazing for a 2B? Now that’s pretty much par for the course.
14 IronChef // Nov 14, 2007 at 12:46 am
Roids in Taiwan:
Mario Encarnacion died here. Izzy Alcantera got booted off the team while having an OPS of over 1. Grab whatever conclusions you will.
I remember when we could speculate about Roiding players and “Neifi Perez” would be a joke post.
15 IronChef // Nov 14, 2007 at 12:47 am
Ooh forgot, Eric Gagne. Actually, I just want him to do roids because it might kill the stupid bastard. And not just the heart attack sudden death, that would be too kind.
He should get steroids-induced cancer, so the Jimmy Fund can deny him.
16 Gute // Nov 14, 2007 at 10:55 am
As a Mariners fan I have to check in with a chant of Beltre. One of the worst free agent signings of all time.
17 yoshi // Nov 14, 2007 at 12:20 pm
tejada?
18 IronChef // Nov 14, 2007 at 3:59 pm
Adrian Beltre is actually great value. He’s hitting reasonably well in an extreme pitcher park, and plays a very good 3B. There have been MUCH MUCH shittier FA signings the last 4 years or so.
19 jackson // Nov 14, 2007 at 4:52 pm
Agreed that Beltre is a great value, but his dropoff in power production certainly raises some eyebrows.
20 A.S. // Nov 14, 2007 at 6:12 pm
I’ve always thought Tejada too. He hit 18 HRs last year. In 2004 he hit 15 HRs during one round in the allstar HR contest. Plus he looks to be about half the man he was.
I can’t believe I just used an allstar HR contest as evidence. He also hit 34 in real games.
21 Franklin R. // Nov 15, 2007 at 12:15 am
I’ve always wondered about Eric Chavez. He never bulked up quite as much as some of the other suspects, but his dropoff is significant. He slugged over. 500 from 2001-2004, then .466, then .435 and .446. Plus he’s had this myriad of nagging injuries…back, elbow.
22 jackson // Nov 16, 2007 at 12:07 am
Chavez is a good call, he really dropped off significantly.
what about: Glaus, and (shudder) p-u-j-o……
i’ll stop there….
23 Juice // Nov 16, 2007 at 6:40 am
Kerry Wood/Mark Prior? They’re just one person now, right?
David Wells put the cream and clear on his stack of two dozen pancakes every morning.
Roger Clemens did not take steroids/HGH. He impregnates young virgin girls, locks them in a closet until they give birth, and eats the babies. He’s that evil.
24 jackson // Nov 16, 2007 at 7:20 pm
don’t forget chucks bats at Mike Piazza. I still think one of the biggest travesties in baseball history is that he didn’t get thrown out of that WS game when he threw the bat at him. that was absurd. If you did that on the street you’d get arrested.
and what about Helton? he suddenly turned into a singles hitter. Juice can attest to this as Helton sank my power #’s in our fantasy league this year.
25 IronChef // Nov 16, 2007 at 8:04 pm
and what about Helton? he suddenly turned into a singles hitter. Juice can attest to this as Helton sank my power #’s in our fantasy league this year.
He’s got Crohn’s disease
26 Juice // Nov 17, 2007 at 2:41 am
In all seriousness, it’s interesting that most players seem to say that HGH was used to help them heal as opposed to build muscle. Now, let’s take that as true on its face. It explains a lot about the number of pitchers who’ve been caught vs. hitters. I have to think that the wear and tear that pitchers face — particularly relievers — makes them much better candidates for HGH use.
So putting the pitchers who need HGH together with the hitters who develop surprising power, leads me to accuse the following list of pitchers of juicing:
- Mike Hampton (7 HRs in 2001)
- Carlos Zambrano (6 HRs in 2006)
- Bob Gibson (24 career HRs)
- Dontrelle Willis (8 career HRs in 5 seasons)
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