Furman Bisher

By dogsbrekky

February 10, 2009 7:12 PM | Link to this

Baseball roid’ use makes me sick just like it did when the East German swimmers of the 70’s did them, or the Chinese in the 90s or the many athletes from our great country (Flo-JO, Montgomery, Marion Jones etc etc)..

AROD is a bloody liar and is still lying through his teeth

MOST players do not and have not taken PEDS and are now lunped in with these scuzz-bags who hide behind the veil of “Oh everyone did it, so it is okay”.

What bollocks

By john hoar

February 10, 2009 7:15 PM | Link to this

You have always been the top investigative sports reporter, and happy to see that you are still at it! I agree completely about Henry Aaron also. What does it take to get the record book changed back. Will guilty in court do it?

By Paul Hamilton

February 10, 2009 7:21 PM | Link to this

Dogsbrekky:

Well we know that 103/104 players took PED’s in 2003, and they were only the ones that were caught. That sounds like a pretty large percentage of players. We know that Bonds, Shefield, Petitie, Clemens, Palmeiro, Giambi, and Arod took roids. Add to those names the names of suspected dopers such as Sosa, McGuire, Tejada, etc. and say with a straight face that most players didn’t use PED’s!!!

If the best players are using them, than a good portion of the average guys are using them just to keep up.

By dogsbrekky

February 10, 2009 7:26 PM | Link to this

Paul - yes good points, I think it was 103 out of 1400 tests, what is that say 8% and add say some amount using really naughty undetectables may make 25% of players….

but watch mlb network and Sean Casey and Al Leiter are FURIOUS, of course they were clean !

By dbc

February 10, 2009 7:56 PM | Link to this

Selig is the one that needs to be run out of MLB on a rail. This guy knew about all of it and did NOTHING. His salary is akin to stealing, and I hope someone in Congress has the balls to nail his sorry a* once and for all. He is an absolute disgrace. As for the players who used — MLB needs to name names and finally clear the air. After that they need some well-defined penalties and testing procedures from here on out. Don’t worry owners, you can still make money. It’s not about the game anymore, but the experience. I spent 10 years watching baseball at Wrigley, and believe me most don’t go there for the baseball.

By Gene

February 10, 2009 10:25 PM | Link to this

Baseball is going to require “Tour de France” level testing and Kennesaw Mountain Landis to make this problem go away. Selig is part of the problem.

By Jeffer

February 10, 2009 10:36 PM | Link to this

Dale Murphy should be in the HOF.

By Ken Stallings

February 11, 2009 3:18 AM | Link to this

Posted this comment elsewhere, but baseball must immediately release all the 204 names from those initial tests. Nothing short can hope to regain the sport the credibility with the fans that it must regain.

Frankly, no one has confidence in the integrity of the sport any longer.

I’m amazed that columnists have not seized upon one particular statement from Alex Rodriguez — that he loves baseball. Really? Love the sport you seek to ruin its credibility!

Of all the man’s statements in the Gammon’s interview, it is that one singular statement above all others that proves his lack of integrity.

By Coach (Skip and Pete will be missed)

February 11, 2009 3:35 AM | Link to this

Sadly, we haven’t seen the worst of it as of yet.

Get the picture.

This young fire balling right handed pitcher breaks into the big leagues in his early twenties and takes the league by storm. He becomes a successful starting pitcher with his blazing mid nineties fastball and even racks up a twenty win season.

Sadly, he suffers both back and shoulder injuries in his late twenties and early thirties after an entire decade as a starting pitcher. His career is all but over. Traded twice and facing an early retirement he is banished to the bullpen.

Then, an incredible transformation takes place. His new manager turns the veteran into his closer. His fastball is suddenly zipping into the high nineties and the thirty something pitcher is amazingly, throwing harder than at any other time in his life.

For almost a dozen years he becomes the most dominant relief pitcher in the game of baseball and is elected into the Hall of Fame. Sound too good to be true?

Not if your name is Dennis Eckersley.

I just have one question. How does a pitcher at the age of thirty-two suddenly start throwing 96-97 MPH fastballs?

Because I seem to remember another fire balling right handed pitcher who underwent the same transformation. His name is Roger Clemens.

By One Man's View

February 11, 2009 4:21 AM | Link to this

For us mere average folks who have or did have athletic pretensions, but somehow get injured, tired, etc, and compare ourselves unfairly to those who seem to be a step ahead, we now understand why be it baseball, football, cycling, etc. I think drug users in sports are no better than scam artists in the business world - they’re cheaters and despicable, regardless of technical legality or not.

By Mark

February 11, 2009 9:32 AM | Link to this

His name should now be A-roid.

By jason

February 11, 2009 10:02 AM | Link to this

they need to get everyone out in the open. If they dont every few months or before every spring training someones name will be leaked and will fester the team and MLB. It won`t stop until everyone is out.

By Eleanor

February 11, 2009 10:20 AM | Link to this

Selig has to go. Then names need to be made public and in the off season they must go to the schools in their area, talk about how stupid they are to the kids from elementary through high school for doing what they did, and donate a chunk of their endorsement money to the school. Then they don’t have all that money to spend on their drugs.

By PEPr

February 11, 2009 10:43 AM | Link to this

Mr Bisher

I agree with you about Mr. Henry Aaron being the valid all-time home run king. It also leaves Mr. Roger Maris where he should be, as the single season home run king. Thanks.

By Lew

February 11, 2009 10:56 AM | Link to this

A-Rod is “sorry” alright. He’s sorry he got caught and a sorry excuse for an individual. He belongs in the same hall as Bonds, McGwire, Palmiero, Clemens, and their ilk: the Hall of Shame. Their records should be permanently expunged. As for Bud Selig, he is the George Bush of baseball commissioners.

By fred dre

February 11, 2009 11:37 AM | Link to this

everyone is willing to forgive this guy because they believe he is telling the truth.how do we know when he has lied so many times? saying that he was under pressure to play for the rangers and he didn’thave to roid up when he began playing for the yankees is a joke. my advice to him is to get ready for another positive test,and get your lies ready.

By 1980bulldogs

February 11, 2009 11:52 AM | Link to this

with all the respect in the world to mr.bisher, the only real news worth your time is the local teams, and when all team owners, player unions say no to illegal drug use. if it’s against the law to possess and or use, then all guilt is system wide.

By Hillbilly Deluxe

February 11, 2009 12:03 PM | Link to this

Impeach Bud Selig.

By Joey

February 11, 2009 3:08 PM | Link to this

Lew, you are an idiot. President Bush kept this country (and your butt) safe from terrorism since 9/11. Let’s see how the next 8 years go…

By kygogi

February 11, 2009 4:24 PM | Link to this

Have to agree… all the ‘roid outings continue to place players like Aaron, Mays, Ruth, etc as the true Icons of the game… worthy even more now of our respect than ever before. There was a reason that it took 34 years (1927 -1961) for any player to hit 60 plus Home Runs. There was a reason it took another 38 years (1961 to 1999) for it to be done once again. We all know the reason that it happen then. There is a reason that since the word steroids has been added to our Baseball vocabulary that it has not been done again. If Arod really wants us to believe his sincerity, then he should stand up and say… “my numbers are tainted and at the least those HR’s for those 3 years should be removed from my totals.”

By Blogfather of Scroll

February 11, 2009 5:48 PM | Link to this

I will come clean. I took steroids…..I mean I have hemorrhoids. Will I still be in the hall of Fame? I have a doctor’s note for the pine tar……ew. No, I didn’t spit on the ball. Honest! I didn’t have to….ew.

Why gay people aren’t allowed to play baseball.

By bfred

February 11, 2009 6:15 PM | Link to this

I think the current environment in this country may finally put us in a place where people demand 100% disclosure and accountability in baseball. We are simple too sick of corruption, stupidity and incompetence to keep putting up with this kind of garbage. How on earth did it take five years for this to be reported? If MLB was aware and took no action (in fact, coronated Rodriguez AL MVP), then I agree it was complicit and Selig should be run off just like a bank CEO. I’m guessing there was some sort of agreement between the league and players association that prevented disciplinary action, but again I don’t see that the union or owners have a leg to stand on now.

By rhettt

February 11, 2009 6:44 PM | Link to this

I went through chemotherapy from Dec. 99 through May 2000. The day of each treatment ( every three weeks ), I was instructed to take 100 mg of prednizone (?), and for four more days after the day of treatment. To put this in perspective, people diagnosed with cripling arthritis take 10 mg per day. When the steroids kicked in, I was like a superman. I tripled my time of walking on the treadmill, and sometimes, did 500 pushups a day. Where I usually did well to do 75 ( 40, 20, 10, 5 ). And I slept sometimes 2 hours a night. And would bounce out of bed. When the roids wore off, I deflated faster than a balloon. And would develop a negative attitude for a few days. I experienced first hand the effects of steroids. I could have easily gotten addicted. Thank goodness I didn’t, but it would have been easy to play games in my mind and justify the easy route of chemical enhancement. I am just a plain every day pencil pusher, so you know my limited physical exertion. But, boy, I say, steroids are an easy addiction.

By Enough about the steroids

February 12, 2009 5:15 AM | Link to this

new Braves stuff

By MARK

February 12, 2009 8:00 AM | Link to this

AFraud…as Joe Torre wrote……we all kind of knew his hitting had gotten some help we just didnt know forsure ..I mean look at those 3 years in Texas I think 2 time 50 or more homers..2MVPS I think..they need to strip him of those MVPs and give them to the runnerup…That would help

By Dave

February 12, 2009 12:11 PM | Link to this

Hey Rhett, you brain child - Superman exerciser you… prednizone is an anti-inflamitory type steroid, not an anabolic steroid. It has no performance enhancing qualities like anabolic steroids, unless you would classify the shrinking of the cold sore on your lip to be performance enhancing.

The 90’s were the hey day for 3 month cycles of HgH (Serostim) and Test (testosterone),followed by a month of Winstrol. Beef up and train for 3 months, followed by carving up. And start over again after the liver cools off for a month.

Athletics were saturated with this commmon “cycle” in the 90’s. Any gym, especially in Florida would be a great place to shop. The HgH/Test cycle is still very prevalent in professional athletes. The non beefy sports like baseball and golf and tennis have entered the fold in the last decade due to the reduced haling tim quality these agents have.

HgH cannot be detected in a test. Especially if it is mamillian cell derived as compared to bacterial cell derrived. Testosterone is available is forms that are relatively undetectable. The chaper derivitives of swine, bovine and equestrian test are the ones taht show on a test. Charlie should not have any horse in his blood.

The HgH has anti-aging properties as well. Thus many physicians, the wealthy (HgH on the black market was about 500 for a months supply) and many high profile Hollywood types took it and still do. Stallone, Arnold, Wayne Newton, the list goes on. Mike J Fox takes it also. It has a claming effect on the tremors associated with Parkinsons.

Steroids are taboo and in sports for good reason, Fact is that they are safe when taken under the supervision of a physician who monitors liver function. HgH is very safe, just no long term studies. The problem is amateur trainers and the more is better mentality. That’s when steroids and HgH are dangerous.

Most americans and even thos at the helm of major league sports are ignorant to how common use is. I would guesstimate that the majority of NFL players in a strength position ahve at minimum done a few cycles while the majority that the cycle described above on a routine basis.

Those in the “know” can easily tell the difference between natural muscle and roid muscle…on any frame…small and large. You see, resistance exercise can only grow so much muscle. Not to mention muscle repair time. Combine with the “cycl;e” and that’s when you are able to keep a job in the NFL.

Truth hurts. Owners and perhaps even the league boys do not want to open the whole can of worms. They know what they will find. Same reason the Yankees “are satisfied that A Rod has been forthright and will support him as he prepares for next season”

Bottom line-it’s about the money people!! Sad but true.

By Alex V

February 12, 2009 1:22 PM | Link to this

Yep, erase them all! Make sure you get EVERY game where player’s cheated - like all the games in which Babe Ruth, Graig Nettles and Albert Belle (among many) used corked bats, or Whitey Ford used a scuffed baseball, or Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron and Willie Mays used amphetamines, or Gaylord Perry and Don Sutton used a spitball, or John McGraw grabbed baserunner’s belts, or George Brett used a bat with too much pine tar. Make sure you get all those games after WWII when amphetamines started showing up in MLB clubhouses - all through 2004. Oh, and don’t forget that ballplayers have already found a new way to cheat - using ADHD drugs in order to focus better. Make sure you get all those games, and all the ones coming up. Good luck with THAT!

By Bobbymahlon

February 12, 2009 5:53 PM | Link to this

The owners and the players union all were fat and happy when all these souped up players were hitting record amount of home runs and attendance was also at and all time high. So everybody looked the other way and now all of a sudden they decided to clean up baseball . So don’t blame just the players for this mess the above all equally deserve the blame. Lets start now and forget about past misstakes and get on with it.

By Bobbymahlon

February 12, 2009 5:56 PM | Link to this

Hey By Mark : Did you ever think that it is very possible that the runnerup was also on steriods.

By Burman Fisher

February 13, 2009 4:09 AM | Link to this

Some potential call-ups for the Braves in ‘09. I say let them all in. If the owners, the union, the fake commissioner all let it go on, then let these cheaters in the hall of fame.

By slick

February 13, 2009 10:51 AM | Link to this

I don’t think we took the presidency away from Bill Clinton when he admitted that he smoked weed. I don’t think there are any intentions to investigate those who are in the hall and had to take Greenies, and Reds just to be able to walk on the field much less perform. Come on people. MLB had no policy in place and now they want to be the great crusader that looks down upon a player who has done no worst than many of those who have gone before him. Selig’s comment that ARod tainted the game is a joke. The game has been tainted for a long time it’s just that no one wants to bring that stuff up. Let’s not forget that there are 103 other names on that list that tested positive. Did any of those guys hit the way ARod does? Most likely not. The point being here that no one has proven that steroids make you a better hitter. I think if you look around the league, there are many guys who got bigger and stronger very quickly, but did not put up the numbers, so no one cared. Stop judging these guys by how far they hit it, and judge them on how well they hit it and just like we did with Bill (who did not inhale) “yea right”, and it will all be forgotten.

By foxdog

February 13, 2009 11:59 AM | Link to this

This whole damn sorry bunch needs to go read about J.P Hayes at the PGA Q School. I am sick of their “yeah but” answers and attitude! They CHEATED, end of story.

By Spud Webb

February 13, 2009 12:57 PM | Link to this

Hey Furman how about someone calling out MLB & BUD SELIG?? Bud’s pretty funny as he collects his 17 million a year. Bud didn’t know this was going on? He turned a blind eye. Face it, mcguire and sosa all JUICED up with the HR’s SAVED baseball after the strike. This has all occured on Buds watch and your a fool if you dont think he KNEW exactly what was going on. I find the whole thing laughable, especially MLB and the owners. Now they ridicule Arod, Bonds, McGuire? Really Bud? Then maybe you should’ve done something about this a LONG, LONG time ago?

By Burman Fisher

February 14, 2009 7:46 AM | Link to this

New Braves blog

By Alex V

February 14, 2009 8:31 AM | Link to this

@ foxdog: Yes, they cheated, and you know what? The owners and the commissioner knew about it and didn’t raise a finger to stop it. The did not do a thing because they were too busy lining their pockets with money to care.

Bud Selig has presided over the worst scandal since the Black Sox. And he has presided over it very poorly. That Bud Selig had known about this problem for almost 50 years and DID NOTHING ABOUT IT until 2004. Why? Because he was lining his pockets, just like every other owner. He said NOTHING about steroids until his a* was in a sling and MLB was hauled before congress. If the focus had not been brought onto steroids in 2002, none of this would be coming out right now. It would have been business as usual in the MLB.

I have a lot of problems with the sanctimony being displayed by the commissioner. He wants to punish players who were working in the system that he himself was complicit in creating and supported. In Marvin Miller’s book, “A Whole Different Ballgame,” Marvin never once mentions the owners bringing up PED/Amphetamines during the Collective Bargaining sessions with the Players Union until we get to the 1990’s, and then only in passing as something that was mentioned but with no real attempt at negotiations by the owners. If Bud was as hot under the collar about PEDs back then, maybe this mess wouldn’t have happened. Bud has been an owner since 1970. He has been in a position to do something for a long, long time. He could have started the ball rolling almost 40 years ago. All of the owners were very much involved in the Collective Bargaining sessions. But, no, not a peep.

You do not get to punish someone who is playing YOUR game by YOUR rules.

By Spud Webb

February 14, 2009 11:35 AM | Link to this

Alex V, I couldn’t agree with you more. Well put. Hypocrytes??????

By country boy

February 14, 2009 12:28 PM | Link to this

Simply put… don’t support baseball. Without money only then will be forced to make changes. Gripes, pouts and whines on blogs mean nothing.

By Sautee Dawg

February 14, 2009 5:02 PM | Link to this

Nice read Furman,

Hank still the man in my opinion. Haven’t been interested in baseball since the strike years????? Don’t even remember which years it was, but, still haven’t forgiven baseball for that. Why don’t baseball take the same stance on this situation as they have with Pete Rose? BANNED. Whats fair for one mistake should be fair for the other.

Once baseball gets out of the little leauge stage it becomes a boring game to me anyway. Pitcher gets ready to pitch batter’s not ready. Batter gets ready to hit and the pitcher’s steps off the mound. Kinda like two mules fighting over a turnip, not that either one wants it they just don’t want the other one to have it.

Furman., looks like these MLB owners could include some clauses in players contracts to get a return on their investment whenever these players make mistakes of this caliber. Thats all this game is about anymore is money. Try taking some of it back and see how loyal a person can be.

By Greg

February 15, 2009 10:08 AM | Link to this

Don’t go to the games or buy any products liscenced by MLB. Watch the games on TV and make sure you don’t buy any of the sponsor’s products.

By Alex V

February 15, 2009 11:40 AM | Link to this

@Greg: Considering baseball teams make more money from their local and national TV contracts than from fans going to the stadium, I do not think your “solution” would make a difference. Especially in the Braves situation, as they have had a spate of losing seasons recently. You would have to boycott a whole lot of things, and get a gigantic portion of the population to go along with you. Major League Baseball makes money hand over fist from sources that most people don’t even know about. Last year, for example, each team got $25,000,000 just from the proceeds of MLB.com.

@ Sautee Dawg: The MLB owners would not be able to put clauses like you are suggesting in players contracts without it being agreed upon in the next Collective Bargaining session with the Players’ Union. As a matter of fact, the NY Yankees had PED clauses in Jason Giambi’s contract and Giambi’s agent struck them out. The Yankees never said a word about it for the rest of the negotiations and the final contract they agreed upon did not have those clauses.

By Alex V

February 15, 2009 11:40 AM | Link to this

@Greg: Considering baseball teams make more money from their local and national TV contracts than from fans going to the stadium, I do not think your “solution” would make a difference. Especially in the Braves situation, as they have had a spate of losing seasons recently. You would have to boycott a whole lot of things, and get a gigantic portion of the population to go along with you. Major League Baseball makes money hand over fist from sources that most people don’t even know about. Last year, for example, each team got $25,000,000 just from the proceeds of MLB.com.

@ Sautee Dawg: The MLB owners would not be able to put clauses like you are suggesting in players contracts without it being agreed upon in the next Collective Bargaining session with the Players’ Union. As a matter of fact, the NY Yankees had PED clauses in Jason Giambi’s contract and Giambi’s agent struck them out. The Yankees never said a word about it for the rest of the negotiations and the final contract they agreed upon did not have those clauses.

By oldfan

February 22, 2009 1:28 PM | Link to this

It’s no wonder players demand those obscene salaries, dope is expensive. It’s no wonder teams pay those salaries, they just pass the expense on to the customers (fans). The leagues have the media hype these players and the truth is hidden. It’s all a conspiracy between players, agents, media, teams, leagues, and Selig to prove they can do anything they want at the expense of the fans, both in attendance and on line. Sounds a lot like the government, doesn’t it.