Arundel baseball coach Bernie Walter has won a record 10 state titles and guided 17 players to the professional ranks in 34 seasons at the Gambrills school. But he discovered how little he knew about the game?s players on Thursday.
The legendary coach acknowledged he was fooled by how many Major League Baseball players excelled on the game?s biggest stage ? including one of his own.
Walter?s most-prized pupil, pitcher Denny Neagle, a 1986 Arundel graduate who made about $53 million during his 13-seasons in the big leagues, was one of 86 players liked to performance-enhancing drugs a report by Major League Baseball investigator George Mitchell.
Walter was do disappointed in Neagle ? a man who has donated thousands of his baseball earnings to Arundel and the baseballprogram ? he couldn?t talk about Neagle being mentioned on the same list that includes Miguel Tejada, Rafael Palmeiro, Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte.
“These are some of the best players in the history of baseball,” Walter, the state?s all-time winningest coach, said. “It sort of destroys the great things that baseball always meant. It went way, way too far. I think the cheating is a secondary issue. I think more of the issue is the morality of it.”
Neagle, who recently was inducted into the Anne Arundel County Hall of Fame, did not return calls placed to his Colorado home.
Two current Orioles ? All-Star second baseman Brian Roberts and veteran outfielder Jay Gibbons ? along with 17 former Orioles were linked by Mitchell to using performance-enhancing drugs.
But to George Washington Elementary School assistant principal Nora King, whether Roberts and Gibbons bats were powered by illegal drugs mattered little after she saw how he spent Monday afternoon entertaining 90 of her school?s students at ESPN Zone.
“Not to me. I don’t see anything how it had to do with the kids,” King said. “They did it from the heart. If they made 75 children a little happier, then God bless them.”
Walter disagrees. He ? like many baseball fans ? will never look at the listed players the same way, especially the list?s biggest name: Roger Clemens. The seven-time Cy Young Award with 354 games was a lock to be enshrined alongside the game?s all-time great in Cooperstown ? until Thursday.
“I’ve admired Roger Clemens for a long time because I’ve seen how hard he trains,” Walter said. “I was naïve enough to think his workouts were a reason why he became so strong and was able to continue on until his 40s. He’s one of the guys who really disappointed me.”
