04/23/24
August 22, 2007
The Fat Lady Ain't Singin', But the Bat Boy Is...: Former New York Mets clubhouse attendant Kirk Radomski recently told former United States Senator George Mitchell the names of players who purchased performance-enhancing drugs from him. According to Scott Schools, the U.S. attorney in San Francisco, Radomski admitted selling anabolic steroids, human growth hormone and amphetamines to "dozens of current and former major-league baseball players and associates, on teams throughout baseball."
posted by The_Black_Hand to baseball at 09:46 AM - 8 comments
Well said, bperk. However, I believe this inquest ultimately will (sadly) be about naming names, whether through official channels or leaks. Let's just say that if there's one former Met (albeit of more recent vintage) who wasn't using, it was some aged cat who was roiding on the juice of Jesus of Nazareth instead of performance enhancers of a more chemical variety.
posted by holden at 12:31 PM on August 22, 2007
I have to agree with holden, this will become a perp walk of sorts, with names being named, and baseball fans eating it up like self-flagellators hanging out at a loop joint. Could it be, though, that much like publishing "john lists" in the local paper, you could shame some people enough that they'd stop taking steroids? Or am I naive to assume that professional athletes have any shame left?
posted by The_Black_Hand at 12:59 PM on August 22, 2007
Players come and go, but team culture and how it faciltates getting an edge no matter what will remain. It's that damn Mr. Met. It's so obvious, I mean just look at the size of his head.
posted by SummersEve at 03:54 PM on August 22, 2007
Asterisks for them all! At least they aren't killing dogs and fixing games.
posted by jasonspaceman at 04:19 PM on August 22, 2007
No offense TBH, but a better ending to the heading for this FPP would have been, But the Rat Boy Is... IMO they need to give these narcs like Radomski as long of a sentence as they can. Once he was caught doing something illegal he then wants to cut a deal to list the names of the pro athletes? I always thought that the plea bargains went up the chain the other way. Just like was discussed above, nobody cares about the names of the suppliers, they just want to hear about which player was the buyer. I also can't help but wonder how much of a roll the media plays in all of the behind the scenes action, since they are allowed into the lockerrooms now. Plus we all know how much "fun" the media will have with any part of, or that entire list of names.
posted by jojomfd1 at 04:56 AM on August 23, 2007
jojo, plea bargains work the way you think. The little fish get a deal for ratting out the big fish. Who is the bigger fish in this case, the bat boy or the ball player?
posted by apoch at 07:43 AM on August 23, 2007
I guess that would depend how you look at the situation. Is the fish bigger because he supplies the drugs, or because he has more fame and money? The whole situation is just frustrating to me as a fan (and I am sure others too), because I am tired of hearing about who did this PED and who did that one. Aside from BALCO how many other suppliers have they caught? How many have they investigated? We don't know and likely never will but, we sure as hell know it every time somebody even thinks this player or that player is using.
posted by jojomfd1 at 04:48 PM on August 24, 2007
Is the goal for Mitchell to just get a list of players who did steroids? What's the point? I think it would be much more interesting to know who hired Radomski, did they know what he was doing, and who were his contacts on other teams? It seems like stamping out the steroid culture would be more successful if you found out how the selling of steroids could go on a lockerroom by team employees? Players come and go, but team culture and how it faciltates getting an edge no matter what will remain.