Baseball
Who's On Base?: Watch Your Back Barry
By John A. Poole
Mar 5, 2003

GLENN BURNIE, MD.---I was sitting here just the other night and debating on whether I wanted to purchase the book “Perfect I'm Not! Boomer on Beer, Brawls, Backaches and Baseball," written by David Wells of the New York Yankees. I thought it may be entertaining, whether the information is true or not, but at the same time I had to wonder if I wanted to support a person who in the streets would be called a, “snitch.” Now, normally this wouldn’t bother me too much, but seeing that this is the second person to implicate players in the league about using foreign substances to improve their skills on the field I felt a little further look into the situation was very worthwhile.

Personally, I don’t buy any of it. Now, of course I could be completely incorrect with my assumptions because I’m not out there on the field or in the clubhouses with these guys day in and day out. I don’t travel, party or even have casual conversations with them on a regular basis. But don’t some of you find it interesting that these accusations come when the best players in the league are players of color? Think about it.

I don’t remember Jose Canseco or Mark McGuire being accused of using steroids or any other illegal substances when the “bash brothers” were on top of their game. Or what about good old Nolan Ryan or Roger Clemens? As far back as I can remember no one has ever mentioned these guys in association with these drugs.

No, all of these accusations come when Barry Bonds is on the verge of being considered the greatest player of all time. On the verge of Sammy Sosa having the greatest power hitting stretch in the history of baseball. Over the past 7 years Sosa has hit 36 or more home runs in each season to give him a monstrous total of 402 homes runs during that span. These accusations come on the verge of Pedro Martinez being the most dominant pitcher of his era.

Last year, when Canseco decided to rip the entire baseball community saying 60-70% of the players are using steroids, everyone immediately wanted to know if Bonds and Sosa were using steroids. Did they immediately believe them? No! But when McGuire said he just used Andro, no one had a problem with his statement or even questioned him about it. Does anyone find this kind of odd? Maybe even the public showing a little favoritism? Does anyone notice a pattern?

Of Course there is nothing really to stop these players from making these accusations but to me their statements might be able to hold water if players didn’t wait until there career was over or on the demise before they accused players of these actions. Who knows, maybe one day Bonds, Sosa or even Pedro might come forward with their own accusations but if you have noticed, it’s not normally the players of color that come forward. Does that tell you something?

Please check back next week as we take a look at some more up and coming superstars to look out for this baseball season. Remember last week’s future star? He hit 3 home runs in his first game with the Yankees.