No, not a story about Kobe, unfortunately, but about Tim Laker, a former MLB player  with Montreal, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Tampa Bay and Cleveland, named in the Mitchell  Report. ESPN has a report  covering an interview session  Laker did with the media today in  which he expresses great regret for doing steroids.  His tale is one of the less  glamorous ones  we’ve been privy to.

Laker managed in the Indians’ minor league system last year, but decided not to this season partly because of health concerns. He’s currently a roving catching instructor for Cleveland.

The 38-year-old Laker was diagnosed in 1992 with colitis, a digestive disease, and he’d had other serious health issues, nearly dying in 2001 when his pancreas became infected. Laker doesn’t think his steroid use is tied to any of his health problems, including a hospital stay this winter because of another bout with colitis.

 I don’t know much about the side-effects and long term health consequences of doing steroids. It may not be related, but my guess is it  doesn’t help  the situation.

Laker has told Mitchell investigators he med Kirk Radomski when he was with the Expos. They were introduced by David Segui.

Laker opened his interview session by discussing the discomfort his link to the Mitchell report has caused his family. Clearing his throat, he nervously described having to look his 16-year-old stepson, Brando, in the eye after the report was issued.

He expressed similar distress that his wife and mother have endured questions from outsiders wondering about Laker’s sordid history. Laker, who spent the majority of his career in the minors, told Mitchell’s investigators that after purchasing steroids from Radomski that he injected himself in the buttocks once a week for a few months.

Laker was a career .226 hitter, so the extra boost didn’t do him a lot of good. In some way I wish more of these unglamorous steroid stories would see the light of day. I think fewer players would start using them.