Still a tough pill to swallow

Greenwell resents '80s steroid users

Mike Greenwell shakes hands with another ex-Red Sox left fielder, Jim Rice (right), after Greenwell threw out the ceremonial first pitch before yesterday's game against the Mets. (Charles Krupa/Associated Press)

FORT MYERS, Fla. - Absent from the Red Sox organization for many years after a bitter dispute with Dan Duquette, Mike Greenwell will be inducted into the team's Hall of Fame this year. Yesterday, he punctuated his return to the Red Sox family by throwing out the first pitch at a spring game, while also denouncing the steroid culture in baseball that he believes cost him an MVP in 1988 and Rookie of the Year award in 1987.

Greenwell, 44, who says he's retired from his post-baseball career as a land developer after scoring a bonanza on a land deal in Fort Myers, said it was an eye-opener when he was told during contract negotiations that the difference between his salary and that of Canseco's was " 'he's hitting 40 home runs,' and I knew why. I didn't tell them I knew why, but I knew why and I always took issue with the fact that I was putting up similar numbers without the power numbers."

Greenwell, who is watching his son, Bo, develop as an outfielder in the Cleveland organization, added, "I was driving in the runs. I was a very clutch hitter. I was putting up batting average. I was doing things that players did back in the early 1980s and 1970s.

"Well, all at once, the numbers got crazy. Well, why? We all know why and I knew why. I did lose the MVP to Jose Canseco and also lost Rookie of the Year. If you'll look back, the guys that finished in front of me, we would all have doubt."

Mark McGwire was the 1987 American League Rookie of the Year. Kansas City third baseman Kevin Seitzer and Detroit catcher Matt Nokes also finished in front of Greenwell in the voting.

"[If] I could have won Rookie of the Year and MVP in back-to-back years, you're looking at a different person sitting here, aren't you?" said Greenwell. "You really are. You're looking at a guy who did something unbelievable, but the guys that finished ahead of me, I wonder.

"The reason I brought it up and made attention to it was Jose admitted he was doing steroids during that time. He said, 'I would not have hit 40 home runs, I would not have stolen 40 bases without doing steroids.'

"I get a little miffed at people when someone makes the argument, 'Well, does it make the player?' Of course it doesn't make the player, but I promise you as a guy that could hit like I could hit, if the ball would have traveled 20 more feet for me, what kind of player am I then? If I get healthier faster because of that, what kind of player am I then?"

Greenwell said he "was very tempted" to use steroids because "I understood the pressure to perform." But he is proud of the fact that he didn't.

And why didn't he?

"The truth? My wife's a nurse and basically told me she'd kill me if she caught me doing it. I looked into it. I studied it. I know a lot about steroids because I was very tempted as a player to do it.

"Probably if I didn't have my wife, I would have done it to try to at least perform at that level. Another reason I retired when I retired was I just didn't feel like [the playing field] was quite even anymore."

Greenwell played 12 years for the Sox, retiring at age 33 as a .303 career hitter.

Having said that, Greenwell said his former teammate, Roger Clemens, belongs in the Hall of Fame.

"First of all, he's one of the hardest workers I've ever met in my life," said Greenwell. "I mean, period - in sports and out of sports. It would just blow me away with how much he worked.

"Do I know, or think, or have an idea whether he did do any of that stuff? I really don't. I don't have any idea. My thought is no because he's such a hard worker that he wouldn't do that. Then when you watch the hearings and you see the things going on, it does cast doubt, but I certainly hope people don't judge his career on that. I think that's a shame."