04/23/24
June 16, 2009
Sammy Sosa Tested Positive for Performance-Enhancing Drugs in 2003: Sammy Sosa is among the 104 players who tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug in 2003, lawyers with knowledge of the drug-testing results from that year told the New York Times. Sosa testified under oath before Congress in 2005 that he had "never taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs." Sosa, who last played in 2007, will be on the 2013 Hall of Fame ballot alongside Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.
Say it ain't so, Sosa!
We may treat this like no big whoop today, but the entire media contingent covering baseball during the McGwire/Sosa home run contest that year acted like Sosa was as pure as Ivory soap.
posted by rcade at 09:38 PM on June 16, 2009
This is why I don't object to players like Matt Tolbert being in the bigs.
It's obvious that guys like that ain't shootin' the juice. Someone's got to be clean out there.
posted by beaverboard at 10:12 PM on June 16, 2009
He can lie to us all he wants, but this is going to cause him pain:
posted by dusted at 10:13 PM on June 16, 2009
Matt Tolbert could still be on the juice, BB. It's how he heals more quickly after all those swings where he misses the ball.
posted by rcade at 10:32 PM on June 16, 2009
Seriously, just give us a list of the players that are/were 100% clean. We can wrap this up a helluva lot quicker...
posted by MeatSaber at 11:05 PM on June 16, 2009
Sosa, who last played in 2007, will be on the 2013 Hall of Fame ballot alongside Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens.
That remains to be seen. Interesting though. There may be a Hall of Fame "Steroid Era".
Is this a surprise to anyone?
posted by BoKnows at 12:18 AM on June 17, 2009
Baseball may have a Hall of Fame "Steroid Wing" by 2013.
posted by Newbie Walker at 12:54 AM on June 17, 2009
Hey, those congressional hearings are a real dog-and-pony show and a waste of taxpayer's money and our elected officials' time, but now that they're done, lets start putting some people in jail for contempt of Congress. Otherwise our legislature is proved toothless before the might of what? Baseball? Money? Gimme a break. I can't believe people wring hands over this but still go to games. The people speak with their wallets, and they clearly don't care.
So there was an amphetamine era, now there's a steroid era. Big deal. As it turns out, baseball's always been about as legit as pro wrestling. But some beefy cheaters oughtta at least do community time washing Capitol Police cars for having committed perjury before the House Unsportsmanlike Affairs Committee.
posted by Hugh Janus at 01:22 AM on June 17, 2009
I get more pissed at the leaks than I do the people associated with them.
This was an ANONYMOUS test. The players took this test in good faith so that the results could be used to determine whether a testing program was needed. Yet here we are, 5 years later, and at least 2 big-names have been "leaked" from these ANONYMOUS tests, and a hundred more nervous that they may be next.
Same was true with Bonds...sure he may have been guilty, but how about the fact that all the info that we had on him was coming from LEAKED Grand Jury testimony, which itself is illegal?
This guy says that "the clean ones, of course, have absolutely nothing to worry about." I wouldn't be so sure. How can we be certain about any info we get in this manner, when there is no one you can question about these leaks and their validity since the leaks themselves are illegal?
posted by bdaddy at 09:12 AM on June 17, 2009
Baseball may have a Hall of Fame "Steroid Wing" by 2013.
Is there an exhibit for the dead ball era in the Hall of Fame? How about the juiced ball era? How many members of the HoF are people with questionable character (Ty Cobb anyone?)? How many pitchers in the HoF have had questions surrounding them when it comes to if they scuffed the ball or if they did something to the ball to make it move a little bit more than it normally would? There are so many questions about certain players that no one seems to really want to discuss.
Now, I am an avid baseball lover, baseball was my very first girlfriend. If people took advantage of the sport and got away with it that's on them, they'll have to live with whatever they did for the rest of their lives but it does break my heart to know that people did take advantage of my first love. I just don't believe that no one in baseball knew what was going on behind closed doors with these players, they just chose to ignore it since it wasn't their problem. It wasn't until Jose Canseco came out with his book that suddenly MLB wanted to know what was what and who was doing what....while I'll just sit back and watch the game.
posted by BornIcon at 09:22 AM on June 17, 2009
That remains to be seen.
No, he will definitely be on the ballot. What remains to be seen is whether he'll get any votes.
posted by rcade at 09:34 AM on June 17, 2009
Mark McGwire has been on the ballot 3 years now and only has 25% of the votes needed to be inducted into the HOF. Sammy gets less than 10% on the first ballot.
posted by dbt302 at 12:32 PM on June 17, 2009
I get more pissed at the leaks than I do the people associated with them.
AMEN.
From article: "They spoke on condition of anonymity because they did not want to be identified as discussing material that is sealed by a court order."
They don't want to be identified because they broke the law themselves. More than likely government lawyers.
This just in: Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey, Jr., Cal Ripken, Derek Jeter, Randy Johnson and many other baseball superstars took the exact same test for performance-enhancing drugs that Sammy Sosa and Alex Rodriguez and 102 other baseball players allegedly failed.
In other words, who gives a flying fXck. Probably most of them were doing it. Some got caught. Some did not. It's old news, and boring news. And unfortunately, an excuse for baseball writers to keep deserving players out of the Hall. Maybe they should just close the Hall of Fame or not vote anyone else in for the next 50 years.
posted by graymatters at 01:18 PM on June 17, 2009
Once the test results were seized by federal agents, who knows how many people within the government had access to them? If I were in baseball, I'd want to see the entire list leaked so it ends the drip-drip-drip that makes each name a news story upon its discovery.
posted by rcade at 01:44 PM on June 17, 2009
if Sosa, Bonds, and McGwire had put up a little better than average numbers each season this would have been a non-issue. instead they went after and broke some of baseball's most highly regarded and cherished records.
i think if not for the high profile records the tests would have remained anonymous. i don't blame the leaks, i think fans had a right to know how their game was being abused. i blame the guys who cheated, who shamed themselves, tainted the records, and disrespected the game and fans.
posted by irunfromclones at 02:00 PM on June 17, 2009
I believe that the grass also announced today that it's green, except during winter or when it's distressed, in which case it's brown and/or withered.
posted by CountSpatula at 02:06 PM on June 17, 2009
I am an avid baseball lover, baseball was my very first girlfriend.
But the bitch slept with everyone. Maybe even Nowitzki. I heard that she used to go by the names "rounders", "townball", and "base". And she owes me money.
I get more pissed at the leaks than I do the people associated with them.
Me too. But what's even more outrageous is the fact that Sammy used to cork his batting practice bats and then "accidently" use them in games. The cheat.
posted by THX-1138 at 02:16 PM on June 17, 2009
I agree. Steroids are one thing, but add to it the corked bats and it seems to point to the fact much of Sosa's career was a sham. Stop the ridiculous Hall of Fame talk on the guy for good.
posted by dyams at 05:21 PM on June 17, 2009
And plus too in front a congress and all he faked like he couldn't speak no English.
Big Liar.
posted by THX-1138 at 05:31 PM on June 17, 2009
I believe that the grass also announced today that it's green
Legalize it
posted by smithnyiu at 06:09 PM on June 17, 2009
If you're shocked by this, you must have been hiding under a rock for the last 10 years (at least).
posted by docshredder at 08:34 PM on June 17, 2009
if Sosa, Bonds, and McGwire had put up a little better than average numbers each season this would have been a non-issue. instead they went after and broke some of baseball's most highly regarded and cherished records.
All the while bring baseball back from the abyss it was in, much to the glee of MLB, its owners, and its commissioner
btw - nothing these players were doing at that time were even against the rules, so hard to fault them so much.
posted by bdaddy at 09:58 PM on June 17, 2009
Get everyone on the juice. At least then it will be a level playing field.
posted by docshredder at 12:23 AM on June 18, 2009
Get everyone on the juice. At least then it will be a level playing field.
Except in Minute Maid Park, ironically. They got that flagpole deal with the hill. You can take steroids all day long and that'll never get level.
posted by THX-1138 at 02:28 PM on June 18, 2009
btw - nothing these players were doing at that time were even against the rules, so hard to fault them so much.
and somehow that makes cheating OK? you do know that steroids have been a controlled substance since 1991? it may not have been a banned substance in baseball, but it was still illegal in the US.
posted by irunfromclones at 12:02 PM on June 19, 2009
you do know that steroids have been a controlled substance since 1991
"Steroids" are soooo 1991 :-) Most of what these guys are using now days they get from a doctor. For example, the police aren't knocking down Manny's door to arrest him for using an illegal substance. His "family" doctor gave it to him and he probably picked up the prescription at CVS or Target.
The issue is that it was not illegal in baseball when the Bonds/McGuire/A-rod took it (it was for Manny obviously)
posted by bdaddy at 12:17 PM on June 19, 2009
In other news, the sun will rise in the east tomorrow morning.