Barry Bonds

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Originally posted by catcher09:
This will never happen but I think it would be cool if Bonds gets within 1 and retires - he would be more of a hero doing that then breaking the record.

I will come out of fantasy land now

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In the wake of the news


Rick Morrissey
When Radomski talks, baseball sweats
Ex-clubhouse attendant supplies steroids, info

Published May 2, 2007

When Barry Bonds breaks Hank Aaron's career home run record, I won't write about it, in protest. It will be my small way of saying I don't believe in the accomplishment.

It's pretty simple. I don't want to be a part of something that has the stink of performance-enhancing drugs to it. If you think that's unfair or irresponsible, so be it. Your opinion might be that Bonds is innocent until he's proven guilty. My opinion is that I don't trust him as far as I can throw him, and seeing how he's 228 pounds of muscle, I can't even lift him.

I trust Bonds even less now that Kirk Radomski threatens to bring down an entire generation of baseball.

If the name doesn't ring a bell, don't feel bad. If you took a national what's-my-line poll today, Radomski probably would get as many votes for accountant as he would for car-alarm installer or sword-swallower.

But his name is striking fear in a large number of current and former major-league players. Radomski, a former Mets clubhouse attendant, has admitted to supplying dozens of players with steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs from 1995 to 2005.

Federal prosecutors have not released the names of his alleged clients, and there's a definite possibility the list will be Bonds-free. Doesn't matter. Bonds' involvement in the BALCO case and this latest bombshell offers a glimpse of a sport rife with steroid abuse. How many Kirk Radomskis are fanned out across the country?

The wretched excess of the last 15 years, statistics-wise and body shape-wise, has raised all sorts of doubts and eyebrows, and the steady trickle of information regarding steroid use in baseball over the years only added to the suspicion.

If what Radomski says is true, then the jig is up and the lie that major-league baseball has been living would be further exposed. The 37-year-old personal trainer pleaded guilty last week to supplying steroids to players and—very bad news for his customers—has been helping the government in its steroids investigation for the last 16 months.

That could mean names, dates, quantities and surveillance evidence. When federal investigators raided Radomski's home in December 2005, they found not only large amounts of steroids but contact lists. Uh-oh.

This is how he described his business in his plea bargain, which requires him to testify in upcoming federal trials:

"During my past employment with Major League Baseball, I developed contacts with Major League Baseball players throughout the country to whom I subsequently distributed anabolic steroids and athletic performance-enhancing drugs.

"I distributed anabolic steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs, including human growth hormone and Clenbuterol, as well as amphetamines. I deposited the payments for those anabolic steroids into my personal bank account, and then I used the proceeds to finance my residence, which was the base of the operation, warehouse and communications center for my anabolic steroid-dealing business."

That doesn't sound like small potatoes. That sounds like big potatoes on a stacking regimen of Miracle-Gro.

Those cries of "witch hunt" that we have heard for years are getting fainter. And the cries to clean up the national pastime are getting louder from people sick of looking at players who bear a striking resemblance to Shrek.

Radomski could be a fraud, and when some of the cases go to trial that surely will be the defense strategy of many a player. His motivation is that he will face a long prison term if he doesn't cooperate with the government. But federal prosecutors say the raid on Radomski's home uncovered hard evidence, including financial records and players' cell phone numbers. Again: uh-oh.

When the names do start coming out and prosecutors do start getting convictions, it will be refreshing if one or more of the players explain themselves. For the most part, aside from the publicity-seeking missile that is Jose Canseco, all we have heard are denials regarding steroid use. A few public confessions won't make the last 15 years any better, but at least they would be acknowledgment that our eyes didn't deceive us, that there was something wrong with the game.

Two years ago, Mark McGwire refused to answer questions from a U.S. House committee about his possible steroid use. Bonds, testifying in the BALCO case, said he didn't knowingly take steroids.

Meanwhile, Bonds is 14 home runs away from breaking Aaron's record. Does anyone still care?

rmorrissey@tribune.com