103 reasons not to get too worked up
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Feb 16, 2009 
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As we all know by now, there are 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003. There are apparently several copies of this list and the names could be revealed at any time.
What exactly would this accomplish?
Sure, Alex Rodriguez would have some company in the court of public scorn. But is anything going to change?
Some of the players on the list were surely in the Mitchell Report. Others are probably retired by now. Some were likely scrubs. This much we know: None will be bigger than Rodriguez.
Those players on the list can’t be suspended. They’ll apologize, take a few lumps and that will be that. The only way it gets dicey is if names like Jeter, Rivera, Pujols, Johnson, Ortiz or Ramirez are on the list. Even then, they’ll apologize and keep playing.
At some point — and maybe we’re already there — it becomes boring. Not one opposing crowd jeered Andy Pettitte last season. I find it hard to believe that by May or June, A-Rod will still be a pariah. People boo him anyway. Even Hank Aaron, the guy who got cheated more than anybody else, can’t get worked up about it. He said a few days ago that it’s fine with him if you consider Barry Bonds the home run king.
So next time I get worked up about this topic, feel free to tell me to take my own advice and shut up. Yeah, sure, baseball screwed up for a long time. Now get me to Opening Day.
Pete:
what makes you believe Pujols, Ortiz, and Texeria are not on that list?
I don’t want to know anybody else who is on that list. That list was supposed to be protected by court order and therefore should remain that wway. That was part of the bargain. I actually believe that you follow whatever you agreed to do.
Let’s forget about it.
Amen. Seeing the fan reaction to A-Rod at home and on the road is like #81 on the list of things I cannot wait to see this season. Some others include: #1 The FA trio, #6 Joba striking out Papi on a 97 mph fastball, 2 on 2 out, scoreless game, #12 Cano making plays like an all-star second baseman yet looking like he is hungover, #40 Melky making a game-saving catch only to wonder why he can’t play hard everyday.
In reference to my last post about Melky’s lackluster defense at times- I just got to thinking and maybe the fact that he was sent down last season and no more awkward Abreu next to him will allow him to show us that great arm and above average defense he can provide. Got Melk?
Maybe Hank Aaron himself cheated. Who knows? Aaron had a pretty long career with big numbers well into his 30s. His astronomic number of at bats made him the homerun king – even Richie Sexson has a higher homerun/at-bat ratio than Hank Aaron.
And probably the whole thing with the “homerun king” is stupid: the number of games in a season, rules defining a “homerun”, field dimensions, mound height, interpretation of the strikezone and the general level of pitching have a huge effect on how many homeruns one hits.
I have no interest in knowing all 103 names on the list. It doesn’t change anything and I doubt it will help anything.
It would be funny though if it was 103 scrubs and A-Rod.
103 guys trying to squeeze out that last contract or possibly their first contract and Alex, the only idiot who would cheat AFTER getting the richest contract in baseball history.
It’s like getting dealt a natural 21 in blackjack but then pulling the ace of spades out of your sleeve because you think its more dramatic.
Pete, it looks like you had a glass of common sense with your breakfast this morning. I’ve been yawning my way through this whole 104-name list ever since a-rod’s name was unethically & (IMHO) illegally released. 6 years ago, there were no penalties for it then, and all the hypocrites out there are trying to apply 2009′s rules to 2003? C’mon!
And you can say whatever you want to, but for one person to release one name from a list of 104 that is supposed to be ‘sealed information’ by a court order! Selena Roberts is unethical. I only wish there was some way for a-rod to take legal action against her. She deserves some comeuppance. Talk about your movie references! Selena Roberts is the Glenn Close character from the movie ‘Fatal Attraction’. (I’m not talking about the one night stand part)— “If I can’t have you, I’m taking you down!”
You’ll notice I am not saying a-rod is right. But forget 2003. If he, or anyone else, is guilty of doing anything illegal NOW, they deserve the harshest penalty. But otherwise, leave a-rod, and whoever else is on that list, alone.
I’m so torn:
I really want this whole story to just go away so that we can truly move on and just get back to baseball.
However, I know that can’t really happen until the other 103 names come out and the media sharks can have their feeding frenzy.
So let’s get the names out there so we can get on with our lives.
PS: I really hope Ortiz is on the list. That is all.
I would bet my house, dog, 401K, and caulk that…..David Americo Arias Ortiz is one of the one hundred and three on that list…
I want to see who’s also on that list just for curiosity’s sake. But I agree with Trisha that the best interests of the game require everyone to move on.
The saddest consequence of ARod’s exposure as a PED user is that we cannot assume that any player who was active through 2003 was clean. We should have learned this lesson from Pettitte, but it took ARod to make sure we figured it out.
We can still think of guys like Jeter and Rivera as clean. There’s no evidence to the contrary. But we’re better off not trying to separate players into “clean” and “dirty” groups at all. We need to accept that we cannot possibly know the truth, and we probably don’t want to know it.
I have no interest in hearing any other name on that list.
It’s time to stop villifying people rather than the action and try to build from there because I like baseball and I liked it more when my head was buried in the sand.
Let’s see the names. Thus far, the Yankees have been unfairly targeted. George Mitchell’s reward for ignoring drugs in Boston? He gets to be the US peace envoy the Middle East. Think about that.
atlas,
The Mitchell Report and the List of 104 have nothing to do with each other. ARod did not show up on the Mitchell Report.
Again, I still don’t see difference between steroids in the 90′s/00′s and greenies in the 50′s/60′s/70′s other than the media frenzy. Both illegal, but not banned by baseball. Both provide some degree of performance enhancement, but how much is open to debate. Both widespread in usage. No one cared/cares about greenies. In my mind, the only real difference is the media freakout about the “sanctity of the game” which never existed.
Lots of people in the HOF are known cheats. Why should modern players be any different. I just don’t care, and haven’t for a long time. If they’re caught now, they should take their suspension–rules are rules. But thinking that there was some golden time when cheating (in various forms–not thinking just drugs here) wasn’t widespread is delusional.
Chris
February 16th, 2009 at 9:19 am
In reference to my last post about Melky’s lackluster defense at times- I just got to thinking and maybe the fact that he was sent down last season and no more awkward Abreu next to him will allow him to show us that great arm and above average defense he can provide. Got Melk?
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An outfielder’s arm is not an ornament or accessory that they “show.” If he isn’t “showing” it any more, that means the arm has done its job – no one runs on it any more. Chalk that up in the victory column.
I have no idea what you mean by lack lustre outfield play. I have seen some bonehead base running and poor plate focus, but never a lack of hustle from Cabrera in the outfield, unless you’re referring to that one lapse of attention during roll call.
I dont care if 25 of the names belong to the Boston Red Sox. I do not want to see 103 people’s right to privacy compromised. The tests were taken in confidence. Revealing the names serves no pupose other than to sensationalize an already sad story.Shame to those who want to delay the healing or profit by it.
Baseball had a problem.The problem has been addressed. It’s time to begin the post steroids era. Let it start now.
Next to the blog entries about Brackman (b/c I think he has one of the greatest upsides) and C.C. – greatest entry for me so far this ST season. Let’s get to some baseball!!
atlas
February 16th, 2009 at 9:37 am
Let’s see the names. Thus far, the Yankees have been unfairly targeted. George Mitchell’s reward for ignoring drugs in Boston? He gets to be the US peace envoy the Middle East. Think about that
Infinitely agree. Whoever or whatever group decided to disproportionally attack one organization, The New York Yankees, did it with latent disregard of fundamental fairness. The people who say stop now are wrong. Let all of the truth come out and then we all can move on together. My team, The twenty seven time world champion, New York Yankees have been thrown under the bus. It is now time to exposed all who used performance enhancing drugs. Enough is enough. The commissioners office dropped the ball long ago. Bud needs to resign, effective immediately.
Dr. Dennis Leary is my inspiration. Yes, we all s*ck!
BTW, thank you Pete for working to get past this mess. You’re doing a great job with your ST updates with only the pitchers and catchers being there. It’s hard work and it’s appreciated.
The next question is whether MLB’s current drug testing policy is adequately deterring PED use and identifying all the users. Everyone “knows” Bonds is a juicer but he never tested positive. It’s a scary thought that players are still using in secret.
“Dr. Dennis Leary is my inspiration. Yes, we all s*ck!”
Dr Timothy Leary was an inspiration in my misguided youth. The last 2 years have been like a bad flashback! lol
PA,
Let me see if I have this right: you’re not interested in any other names. There is no curiosity in the journalist in you who the other “cheaters” in the sport are? I find that extremely interesting.
Jeremy– Of course I realize Mitchell Report and 103 positives are ostensibly two different issues.
Interesting, though, that Mitchell could not get beyond the two NY clubhouse boys, ignored guys like Ortiz (who betrays every indication of the classic PED user career trajectory and also once half-acknowledged hie might hhave taken such drugs since no one really knows what’s in the drinks down in the Dominican) and could offer zero insight on the positive 2003 tests. So why was Mitchell even “empowered” to look into steroid use? The whole thing was a sham. Baseball already had a treasure trove of evidence in the 104 positives — evidence it could not reveal. So the whole Mitchell thing was really a front enabling Selig to get Congress off his back– it never had a chance. Mitchell was just a “repsectable” name to front the operation — and let’s just conveniently overlook the fact that he works for John Henry.
I agree with previous posters who demand the resignation of Selig.
And we can only hope somebody leaks those other names so we can finally get a bit closer to the truth and figure out who reall belongs in the Hall. Could it be that Jim Thome was actually the only clean slugger of his time? Perhaps not, but I’d sure like to know who among the 40 HR a year club was clean.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/.....id=3881897
the problem is the feds also confiscated the major league urine sample from every player. there was something like 1100-1200 samples.
bonds was not one of the original 104. he passed that test. the feds recently retested with newer testing procedures and bonds now tests positive.
so now there are 105 positive tests. the new york times has outed bonds just like roberts outed arod.
the feds are in the process of retesting every sample. if 200-300 players test positive , there is no way this story goes away.
the fact that bonds test was leaked to the new york times when only the feds knew about it, kind of narrow down where the leak came from.
doesn’t this also give a clue where the arod leak came from?
i think pete suffers from PTARODSD (Posttraumatic arod stress disorder)
common early symptoms are the feeling that ones brain has turned to mush.
after early symptoms boredom may set in.
later symptoms are a the compulsive desire to see real baseball games and hear the sound of wood bats meeting real baseballs.
Yawn, yet another A-rod/PEDs post…
I disagree. I want to know. I want all 104 shamed publicly. They all deserve to take the hit. Whether they are retired, scrub or all star.
I don’t know if it’s just my group of friends and coworkers, but everyone I talk to lately could care less about steroids anymore. Unfortunately, the media are continually forcing this crap down our throats.
We, as fans, are ready to move on — when will the media be ready?
“…when will the media be ready?”
When there is no more money to be made from the “story”.
I would rather these names be revealed.
Those who enjoyed the flagellation of ARod a little too much, and who are suddenly cavalier about transgressors and don’t care who else is on that list, are complete phonies.
What they cared about was beating up on ARod – not the sanctity of baseball.
Pete-
I disagree that “none will be bigger than A-Rod.” While none will be better players than A-Rod, there could certainly be players on the list that would be bigger stories. Between Canseco’s accusations and his gaudy numbers, A-Rod had always had some degree of connection to the steroid scandal. Imagine seeing Jeter’s name, or Griffey, Manny, Ortiz, etc. Not better players, but bigger stories, I believe.
It’s possible Jeter is on the list.
http://armchairgm.wikia.com/Ar.....roids,_HGH
Jose is probably right. I wouldn’t be surprised if the majority of players used some type of PED during the peak of “don’t ask, don’t tell.”
P.S. I’m a little early for April fools.
Rather than revealing the names, which should not be done, IMO, I would like to see players step up and announce whether or not they used PEDs. I’d like managers to acknowledge they saw PED use (LaRussa). I’d like owners & gms acknowledge that they knew about PED use but decided to not do anything, because “chicks dig the long ball” and they wanted to bring the fans back. I’d like the media to acknowledge they knew of PED use, but decided not to investigate (McGwire’s andro use). I’d like Bud Selig acknowledge he knew/should have known but only did something belatedly. Then I’d like him to resign and perhaps have Frank Robinson be the new commish.
And then I’d like to see investigations into PEDs in other sports.
Is it OK if we tell you, you should have taken your own advice the LAST time you (not to mention the rest of the media) got “worked up” about this?
It was SIX YEARS AGO… Breaking news: LOTS and LOTS of ballplayers were doing that stuff back then (perhaps they still are).
If we’re going to get this worked up about it every time a new name from six to 26 years ago is revealed, then the answer to whether or not we “ever get past this” is no.
Hey…Something just occurred to me. How come A-Rod’s head didn’t get big like a lunch pail?
He should have consulted with Bond’s folks. It’s good look.
I’ve already gotten the sense that few people care about this. It’s drifting off from the front page to the back page to the squibs to never never land. Nobody really cares. It just gets….boring.
I’m interested in who’s on that list but in all fairness it should not be revealed. Besides, anyone who’s not on the list is not necessarily clean anyway. They may not have used at that time but did before or after 2003.
My question is if the testing in 2003 was supposed to be anonymous, why were names even associated with the samples?
When I vote, they know that I voted, my vote is counted, but nobody knows who I voted for. They should have handled the steroid testing in a similar way!
Agreed, Jeremy.
If there is one thing the doughy-bodied Rafeal Palmeiro taught us, it’s that you can’t tell by looking.
NOBODY should be shocked by ANY name that comes out.
I won’t mention names because it wouldn’t be fair… But think of the one name that would most shock you, whoever that is, and I’m telling you, you should not be shocked.
Every player in the majors KNEW when the test was coming, and 14% of the entire population STILL tested positive.
People are acting like the 103 names are the only people of the era that used PEDs. That’s a joke. That number are only the players that got caught knowing a test was coming.
I wrote a piece on this exact story.
check it out: http://foamfingers.blogspot.co.....demic.html
I wish Jeter would take steroids.
I only care to know if one other name is on that list… Big Papi.
i wouldn’t doubt it is Aaron took AAS… back in the late 60s and early 70s it was ridiculously easy to get steroids.
The right thing would be for Ms. Roberts to be called against an angry judge to identify the source of the leak which violated a court order. Failing that, the “leakers” need to lead the other 103 to give a better perspective of this issue.
Pete — great post, perspective. Please share it with “Commissioner for Life” Baby Doc Selig. If Aaron can forgive and move on everyone else should, too.
I would trade a kidney just to have Schilling’s name on that list
ToI m
February 16th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
I would trade a kidney just to have Schilling’s name on that list
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Your quote made me bust a gut!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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