Dissenting voice on steroids
Then there is this side of the steroids debate, the one you didn't hear on Capitol Hill last Thursday, when Mark McGwire shrank in front of America's eyes and a congressional panel battered Major League Baseball from alabaster pillar to marble post.
"This all reminds me of `Reefer Madness,' " said Jose Antonio, executive director of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, "when they told you that if you smoked pot you'd go crazy.
"Now they're saying that if you take steroids you die? When did steroids become lethal? More people died of Benadryl and Tylenol overdoses than ever died from anabolic steroids. When did you ever hear of an anabolic steroid overdose? You haven't, because it can't happen."
Antonio has a PhD from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas. He did a post-doctoral fellowship and did a study on anabolic steroids that was published by the Canadian Journal of Applied Physiology. He is the co-founder of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, and is the owner of Javalution Coffee Company in South Florida, which markets a high-energy coffee drink.
He is well-known among sports nutritionists and others in the fitness industry, having published dozens of articles in fitness magazines and authored a couple of books on sports supplements. On the society's website, Mark Verstegen, the athletic trainer who runs the gym used by Curt Schilling, Nomar Garciaparra, and a host of other pro athletes, is quoted as being delighted that his Athletic Performance Institute hosted a symposium conducted by Antonio's group.
Among his friends, Antonio said, is Bob Alejo, the personal trainer used by Jason Giambi, the Yankee first baseman who according to leaked grand jury testimony confessed to using steroids over a three-year period.
Antonio was not impressed by what he observed in Washington.
"It's like that line from the Jack Nicholson movie: `You don't want the truth, because you can't handle the truth,' " he said.
The notion, as put forth by several members of the congressional panel, that baseball needs a stricter testing program, much like the Olympic program, is laughable, he said.
"They're catching from 1 to 5 percent out of the 95 to 100 percent of athletes who use them," he said. "You talk to Olympic athletes, and they laugh. The NFL program, that's a joke, too."
What he heard last week in the hearings, he said, was a lot of ill-informed opinion.
"The athletes are 10 steps ahead of any testing program that is out there," Antonio contended.
The truth that no one wants to hear, he said, is that there is a monetary incentive for baseball and its players to have players who are bigger, stronger, and faster, and they can accomplish that through the safe use of anabolic steroids, which Antonio insists is not an oxymoron.
"There are good things associated with steroids," he said. "You're able to increase lean body mass and muscle mass with minimal side effects, with the right steroids, the right doses, and under the supervision of the right doctors."
When asked how prevalent steroids were in baseball, he said: "I definitely tend to agree with [Jose] Canseco and say it's more widespread than people think. You don't hear how anabolic steroids can be good for you, but that's an opinion shared by a lot of sports scientists. It's the same thing when they were saying things about creatine [a muscle-enhancing supplement], that it was bad for you. Me and my sports scientists friends laughed about that."
In the current climate, Antonio's position, which he insists is grounded in medical research, is an untenable one. The possession or use of anabolic steroids are federal offenses. But the greater point may be that despite the law -- and regardless of how strict a testing program is put in place -- steroids and other performance-enhancing substances aren't going away soon, and there is a need for more informed discussion. If significant portions of the fitness community are convinced of the positive effects of steroids, regardless of their legality, you can be sure they won't be going away.
Cabrera doesn't feel shortchanged
Orlando Cabrera said the Red Sox approached him last September about a new contract, but he didn't think the timing was right.
"I felt I'd be cheating my teammates," he said. "At that time, we were thinking about catching the Yankees. I didn't feel it was the right time to do it."
By the time his agent talked contract again with the Sox, at the winter meetings, "they told us they were not that interested," Cabrera said. The Sox elected to pursue Edgar Renteria, who originally was recommended to Marlins scout Levy Ochoa by Cabrera's father, Jolbert. Ochoa, who would later work for the Sox, signed Renteria for the Marlins, and Renteria became a national hero in his native Colombia when he knocked in the winning run in Game 7 of the 1997 World Series. He reigned as his country's top baseball star until last season, when Cabrera became a catalyst in the Sox' drive to the World Series title.
When he returned to his native Cartagena, Cabrera said, it was as if the entire country joined him in celebrating both his birthday and the Series triumph.
"It was pretty much unbelievable," he said. "People who had never watched a baseball game wanted to shake my hand. I was pretty much invited to everything that went on in Cartagena.
"They'd always gotten to see Edgar play, but when I went to the Red Sox, they bought the rights to NESN, and got to see me play every day for three months. I used to see on TV the guy with the Nomar jersey, who after three games crossed out Nomar's name and wrote `Cabrera' on top. A lot of kids were mad at me when I didn't go back to the Red Sox."
Cabrera has no quarrel with the Sox' decision to sign Renteria, a more disciplined hitter. Cabrera wound up signing with the Angels for four years and $32 million, reuniting with Vladi Guerrero, with whom he'd played on the Expos.
"Winning everything last season made it easier to move on," he said. "Hey, I'm not a disciplined hitter. I think my best season, my OBP was around .340. I'm not going to walk 70 times in a season, or see more than three or four pitches. So I understand."
But what he was able to do for the Sox, especially on defense, will not soon be forgotten in Boston. He smiled when someone said that when he comes back for the first time, he'll likely get a big ovation.
"That would be nice," he said. "I had a great time there."
Mantle vs. Radatz: Check those swings
Long a part of the legend of Dick Radatz has been his utter dominance of Hall of Famer Mickey Mantle, who is said to have ordained the late Red Sox closer with his nickname after striking out and grumbling about "that monster."
Newspaper reports have often claimed that Radatz struck out Mantle 47 times in 63 at-bats, an account that Sox historian Dick Bresciani believed to be true. But noted baseball researcher Dave Smith, whose remarkable website, retrosheet.org, is in the process of collecting box scores of every game ever played, crunched the numbers and emerged with a far different result.
Yes, said Smith, the Monster got the better of the Mick, but in the course of his 4 1/2 years with Boston (1962-66), Radatz faced the oft-injured Mantle only 16 times, striking him out 12 times while allowing three hits, including one home run.
Etc.
Needling Ramirez
Orlando Cabrera laughed at the notion that Manny Ramirez ever experimented with steroids. "My brother played with Manny in Cleveland," he said. "And Manny hated needles. Every spring, when they took their physicals, Manny would take off, and four, five guys would chase him down. He just hated needles. There's no way he would have ever juiced himself. He just worked hard. When we go on the road, Manny would be out of his room at 8 o'clock, going to the gym. And he practiced hard. He went out to Fenway Park many times to learn how to play the Wall, and he never -- never -- skipped going to the cage."
A good turn for Boston
Can you imagine how different Sox history would have been if David Ortiz had wound up with Montreal instead of Boston? It almost happened, according to Cabrera. Before Ortiz signed with the Sox two winters ago, Cabrera received a phone call from Omar Minaya, then the Montreal general manager. "He said to me, `What do you think of Ortiz?' " Cabrera said. "I said, `Sign him!' " Cabrera had played with Ortiz since 1993, when they were in the Dominican summer league. "He always could hit," Cabrera said. "He just never got the chance to play. But I think Omar got scared, and a couple of days later, David signed with the Red Sox."
A little change won't hurt
Jeff Bagwell, who has been playing with a bum shoulder the last four seasons, is adjusting his batting stance in an effort to alleviate some of the pain. "It's not the biggest adjustment in the world," he said. "It's a very small adjustment. It's tough to see with the naked eye." Bagwell's exaggerated bow-legged stance has not changed. The adjustment will be solely in his swing. "The stance is staying," said Bagwell, 36, who is entering his 15th major league season. "The fans aren't going to show up at the ballpark and say, `Oh, wow, Bagwell's changed his stance.' It's not that. It's just something I'm trying to do with the mechanics of my swing because of my shoulder. And, I'm getting older. I've got to make adjustments to get the bat head there a little quicker."
Dangerous Lyon
Maybe the Diamondbacks are going to get something back from the Curt Schilling trade after all. Brandon Lyon, who missed last season after undergoing elbow surgery, came into the weekend having retired all 15 batters he faced in a span of five innings, while walking none and striking out seven. Lyon has a chance to break camp as the team's setup man, and there has been some talk about giving him the chance to close. "He's been magnificent," said manager Bob Melvin. "He's a four-pitch guy, and for a late-inning guy where we have him envisioned, it's almost tough to establish four pitches. Most of those guys are two-pitch guys. But he'll throw fastball, slider, sinker, sinker, slider, then all of a sudden he needs a pitch and breaks his curveball out, and you haven't seen it yet. Same thing with his changeup. He's got a lot of weapons."
Holding out hope
Jeff Allison's disappearance just before the start of spring training for the Marlins' minor leaguers has reinforced the improbability of his comeback after bouts with OxyContin and heroin addiction. According to a moving piece by Karen Crouse of the Palm Beach Post, among those rooting for Allison is Juliana Bridge, mother of Greg Bartlett, who had become one of Allison's best friends in the Marlins' system -- and died after a night of binge drinking mixed with the pain reliever methadone. For months, Bridge told Crouse, she blamed Allison, because her son had no history of drug use before meeting Allison. But she has learned to let that go, she said. Last October, almost a year to the day her son died, she wrote a letter to Allison, saying, "Could you please live and pitch for Greg because he keeps telling this to my heart: `Mom, talk to my friend, Jeff. Tell him not to grieve for me. Live for me. Play for me.' Jeff, you are gifted and God has blessed you. So pick yourself up, dust yourself off." Bridge maintains hope that Allison will stitch his life back together. "I want to see Jeff changed," she said. "I don't want Greg's death to have been for nothing." The Marlins have offered no information on Allison's whereabouts, or his status with the club.
Stating his case
Mark McGwire in Sports Illustrated, Oct. 7, 1998, the year he hit 70 home runs:
"It sort of boggles my mind when you hear people trying to discredit someone who's had success. Because a guy enjoys lifting weights and taking care of himself, why do they think a guy is doing something illegal? Why not say, `This guy works really, really hard at what he does, and he's dedicated to being the best he can be'? I sure hope that's the way people look at me."
McGwire said he'll "take anything legal" but denied using steroids. Vehemently.
Material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.
