"98 bottles of pee on the wall..."
The continuing PED-athon.
"98 bottles of pee on the wall..."
Rich Hofmann, Daily News Sports Columnist
The New York Times is doing great reporting on the business of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball, finding lawyers -- presumeably lawyers who are Yankees fans, given the latest -- willing to put themselves in contempt of court by revealing names on the list of 104 players who tested positive in 2003 as part of an anonymous (ha) program that was a precursor to the current testing scheme. Now we know that Manny Ramirez and David Ortiz were on the list. Stunned and amazed are we.
So the names dribble out now, every couple of months. How many are left? Sing it with me: "Ninety-eight bottles of pee on the wall, 98 bottles of pee..."
There are people -- you know, actual thinking people -- who now believe that the thing to do it just release the rest of the names and be done with it. This is wrong on about a million levels (and, at the very least, on 98). You design a program. You promise the players anonymity. You bless that promise with the sanctity of a labor-management agreement. Then the government seizes the list before it is destroyed, and then the union goes to court to try to get the list back. That is why certain lawyers have access to it -- because the case is now before a Federal appeals court in California, and the list is under seal there.
But, to solve a perceived public relations problem, the solution is to violate the pledge of anonymity to the players who have not yet been outed? Because you don't like the size of the type used in the headlines, you are going to throw away the last, tattered shred of integrity remaining in this process? Because lawyers are willing to potentially submit themselves to court sanctions, if caught, you are going to identify the overwhelming majority of players who have not been outed, players who were promised that this could never happen?
And it is only public relations. People who want the list released act as if this settles the matter and somehow allows baseball to wash its hands of its past. This is so intellectually dishonest as to be laughable. They caught about 100 players after they told them there would be testing. How many hundreds more stopped using whatever they were using when told what was coming? Nobody -- nobody -- believes that only 104 players were using -- but that is the predicate that people are proposing.
You cannot just make this go away. And based upon the reaction of the people in the seats, it isn't necessary. People get it -- they're not stupid. They have made their peace with this mess. They see it for what it was and they still love Big Papi.
Comment removed.
Hoffman, what's the big deal. The list is already public. Public, that is, on the world wide web. rotoinfo.com. Check it out and satisfy your curiousity if you want to see the names of the positive testers. One of our new additions is on the list. Howard and Pujols are NOT ON the list— jp- The steroid era has turned into a disgrace for baseball that should be delt with harshly and swiftly. However that isn't going to happen with a commissioner who lacks the backbone to deal with the problem. How can it be "OK" in this sport when it is banned in all others, including horse racing. Doping, no matter what the source, for the purpose of enhancing performance, is cheating, and that is the bottom line here. If all our olympic atheletes were found to be using steroids would that be acceptable? NO IT WOULDN'T! When Mark McGuire broke the single season HR record I was so proud but now if he has been involved in this I hope he gets what he deserves. The same goes for Bonds, Ortiz, A-rod, Clemens et al. Palmyro outright lied to the public also and typlifies the attitude of many of these characters. Ban them all and move on, then if someone else wants to chance it and gets caught ban them, forfeit their salaries and see how soon it stops. You have to ask yourself what do I value the most, seeing flyweight infielders hit HRs or Maintaining the integrity of the game.— Wally 24
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- I'm pretty sure the 'sanctity of a labor-management agreement' goes out the window when both sides agree to keep multiple felonies by one of the parties a secret....That said it is unfair to just single out certain guys for public scrutiny just because they are better known. They should release the whole list , or not release it. But it's probably lawyers leaking the names , so....— drbob1
bud selig is a creepy lying money sucking spineless creepy liar— daveH- Shocking that a member of the media wants to protect the cheaters. The media enabled these "athletes" to cheat. How many articles were written that joked about Dykstra and his "lucky vitamins"? The fact is that these people broke the law. The labor agreement means nothing, it was illegal in the United States to consume or use anabolic steroids. Don't protect criminals. I paid for tickets and I and many others were fooled into thinking the field was equal. Publish the list and expose the frauds that broke the law.— phillyjeffsr
- Hey Syddan, add every other team up there too including the 2008 World Champion Philadelphia Phillies* for JC Romero and his 2 big wins in the series. Burn the list, find the lawyers leaking this and sue the heck out them. No one cares anymore.— Phillies1120
I am so sick of your SIMPLETON argument that since attendence is up, no one cares about steroid use in baseball. I do. I hate it. I think it is cheating and cheating has not place in any contest. Yet, I still am a baseball/phillies fan. i've been one my whole life. by your logic, i should no longer like baseball or the phillies because some players have cheated. so disconnected from actual fans and players. a hack is what you are.- To not release the names of cheaters because they were told their cheating would be kept secret sounds pretty hypocritical to me. I'm tired of this whole charade and these grown liars trying to cover themselves up. Ortiz (and seriously folks, any adult calling another guy "big pappi" is just a little bit overboard) was one of the few that was so adamant about how bad it was that these other guys cheated, now just to be caught. Howard and Pujols are the only two I believe 100% are innocent....anybody else, there's doubt! The 104 cheated everybody, they have no innocence left.— Bleue
- Agree with FlyersFan88. These guys tested positive and the union is protecting them because the substances were not banned by Baseball. What about Federal Law. Post the list and charge these cheaters.— Jaybird59
- The union has fought tooth and nail to preserve the identities of its cheaters; it has lost all remaining credibility, integrity and honor in the process. These players do not deserve fairness. Having said that, people with integrity do not violate a trust; it doesn't matter if it's the trust of people who do not have integrity. Isn't that the whole point of this? The list should be made public; but it should be made public by the union, with a profound and sincere mea culpa.— philly_in_DC
- Who gives a sh#t, who gives a f*@#!— jlhocken
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- Boston Red Sox 2007 World Series Champions* Boston Red Sox 2004 World Series Champions*— syddan26
- Well said, Rich. The way these names have been leaked is not only agonizing and ridiculous for MLB, but totally unfair to the players who were promised these tests were anonymous.— Mike G
- Well said, Rich. The way these names have been leaked is not only agonizing and ridiculous for MLB, but totally unfair to the players who were promised these tests were anonymous.— Mike G
- I agree with Rich about that fact that the dozens to hundreds of players who stopped before the testing started would then be considered at the least "cleaner" than the 104...that's unfair to the 104 if you ask me. Yes, I know, I'm worried about being unfair to a bunch of cheaters who couldn't even contain themselves when they knew they'd be tested. MLB blew this whole thing. They should have implemented the program unilaterally and let the players walk out if they didn't like it. The players would have caved so as not to be accused of being afraid of a little drug test.— B in DC
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- Baseball as a whole would be better off if they just release the names and be done with it because it will continue to be a story every month as another name is leaked. I would imagine that most of the names on that list won't really surprise us all that much. However, the player's union and the players on that list aren't going to agree to that and I'm not sure they should as those particular players obviously face a lot of negative consequences as far as fan reaction, possibly endorsements, future Hall-of-Fame status, etc. As a lawyer though, I am really appalled that lawyers are anonymously leaking the names on a list that is currently under seal with the court. That's a violation of the court order to leak those names and the judge really needs to come down on these lawyers that are leaking this stuff. They have no business doing that.— JimG
You my friend are being intellectually dishonest. These scum have ruined baseball records forever. The 104 were told to stop...they were warned...and yet they continued. The "rules" need to be broken because the TRUTH needs to come out and that includes Dykstra, Hollins and the rest of the 93 team that I loved if the info were available. At the very least the records of all 104 need to forever have a * next to their name. We do not "think" they took, we know they took ....now lets find out exactly who !— 64 survivor- No Rich, it does matter, regardless of how many people attend games, because the honest players who didn't cheat are lumped in the same basket with the fraud players. You're the one that treats people like they're stupid.
- Of course they still love Big Papi, just like the Dodgers love Manny. They HAVE to. When people have invested something into a cause they are more likely to defend that cause. It's basic Psychology. People can invest a dollar into something and can be extremely defensive over it, where as if they had invested nothing, they would care much less. There have been many studies done on this...It's the only reason I don't hate the fans...cause we'd be defending these players to...even if they have cheated their entire careers.— MFPhils
- Get it over with lets see all the names— lacboi
