Grimsley Reportedly Accuses Pettitte, Clemens, Tejada, Roberts and Gibbons of Using PED’s
The New York Times reports:
Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte and Miguel Tejada were among the players that a former major league pitcher accused of using performance-enhancing drugs, according to a federal agent’s affidavit, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The player reportedly making the accusations was Jason Grimsley, who used to play with Clemens and Pettitte on the New York Yankees and is now out of baseball.
Clemens and Pettitte, now teammates on the Houston Astros, denied the allegations Sunday. Baltimore teammates Brian Roberts, Jay Gibbons and Tejada also were implicated in the sworn statement, the Times said Saturday on its Web site and in Sunday editions.
“I just think it’s incredibly dangerous to sit out there and just throw names out there,” Clemens said Sunday before the Astros played in Atlanta. “I haven’t seen (the report), nor do I need to see it.”
I am very aggressive towards stuff like this normally, but I do have this strange belief that one should have proof first, before accusing people of using performance-enhancing drugs.
8 Responses to “Grimsley Reportedly Accuses Pettitte, Clemens, Tejada, Roberts and Gibbons of Using PED’s”
Somehow I think that enhancements have been out there so long that it’s time to look to the future and enact new rules and new consequences. Baseball hasn’t had consequences before and now is time.
There are PED’s like HGH that are difficult to detect, and this is a problem for the NFL as well.
I don’t think any of the pro sports in the USA have blood testing like they do for bicycling.
Question is, though, how much do the fans care?
I agree that jjc’s question is valid, but also there’s another problem: blood testing is still an imperfect science and witch hunts happen. I give pro cycling credit for trying to deal with the problem more seriously than other sports but they’re a long way from figuring out how get the desired effect too. As long as there are opportunities to criticize the validity of the testing process and leaks to the press, the tests have little meaning.
I think one step in the right direction is that we’re seeing an attempt at targeting systemic doping and blood doping programs, as in the recent “Operation Puerto”. Going after the athletes individually is part of the picture but we won’t see a general decrease in doping until we round up the doctors and team managers who support and encourage this activity.
Michael – we normally agree, but the statement “strange belief that one should have proof first, before accusing people of using performance-enhancing drugs.” is a little hard to agree with. The very nature of professionals using yhese substances means they will be very cautious about leaving evidence. It si strange, isn’t it, the surge in not only home runs but players like those named having careers that last so lo9ng. Nolan Ryan was supposedly an exception, but now there are many, many players pitching asd long as he did.
And as to my initial point, if everyone waited until they themsleves had the solid proof, which the almost couldn’t have unless the were recoding things in secret, we would accuse them of helping the covereup, or of being afraid to step forward and do the right thing.
AustinRoth,
You have a point, but there should be some system of reporting suspicions to an investigating body without having to go public and allow the case to be tried in the court of public opinion.
C Stanley – HA HA HA HA! Man, that was a funny post. You mean, like the baseball Commissioner’s office? After the bang-up job they did in the 90′s with steroids?
Come on, let’s get serious. What baseball wants is revenue. Old, established stars and home runs bring fans into the seats.
I don’t know if you read my earlier posts about the NFL league offices and owners, but if you did, same the comments apply to baseball. The players are nothing more than racehorses that talk back, in their opinion.
LOL, well, I don’t disagree with that either AustinRoth. I was speaking hypothetically, idealistically I guess, in suggesting that there SHOULD be such a system; that’s not to say that I think it exists in the real world or that there’s much chance that it will come to be that way.
Your post reminded me again of the Borowitz column on steroids in sports, where he sets up the joke about a baseball player caught without having steroids in his system, and an irate fan is quoted as saying, “At these ticket prices, you expect the players to be juiced!”
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TITLE: Say it Ain’t So, Roger Clemens
BLOG NAME: rightlinx.com
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