Jose Canseco?s latest grab for media attention promises more revelations and charges regarding performance-enhancing drugs among Major League baseball players.
Canseco has signed to play for the San Diego Surf Dawgs of the independent Golden Baseball League ? he?ll DH and throw his knuckleball as a pitcher. He returned knowing his “comeback” would garner some ink and airtime to plug the sale of the movie rights to his 2005 book “Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant ?Roids, Smash Hits, and How Baseball Got Big.” At a press conference on Monday, Canseco likened MLB to the Mafia insofar as how they handled the steroid issue, claiming they?ve covered it up for decades.
Jose went as far as claiming that former Orioles? first baseman Rafael Palmeiro had failed other drug tests prior to last season, and MLB looked the other way. He said that Raffy was, for all practical purposes, coached by MLB as to what to say on Capitol Hill in March 2005, right down to the finger-wagging. He said that because Palmeiro, like himself, is Cuban, MLB designated him to be the star of those proceedings, and threw him under the bus when it became evident that Congress wasn?t kidding around.
When Canseco?s book came out, he was universally criticized as someone with no credibility, whose entire story was just sour grapes over his career ending prematurely ? short of reaching 500 home runs, the automatic number for Hall of Fame inclusion. Not to pat myself on the back, but I thought he had too many specific details for the whole thing to be made up. After the hearings on Capitol Hill, whatever small doubt I had left was gone. I think his credibility is solid at this point.
But, just when you thought that the Orioles had moved past the Palmeiro incident, it creeps back into view. Between that and the inevitable leak of the names on Jason Grimsley?s list, the ballclub once again will be in the news for the wrong reason.
If there?s a local victim beyond the headlines, it?s probably the Orioles? training staff. Many fans ? and some rookie reporters ? believe that the team trainers “had to know” something was going on in seasons past when players suddenly blew up in size and strength. I can guarantee you they had suspicions, but beyond asking players about it, and warning them of the long-term consequences, they were powerless to do anything about it.
Do you think that the Orioles? trainers had any idea that Miguel Tejada was injecting himself ? and any interested teammates ? with B-12? Once they found out ? along with the rest of us ? they had no authority to stop it, and I can tell you, they weren?t happy.
Whether it?s their agents? rhetoric, or their high-end salaries, many major league players come to believe they?re a little smarter than you and I are. They believe that what they do to their own bodies on their own time is their own business.
I can go along with that ? up to a point. It?s when those selfish actions come back to reflect badly upon those who bear zero responsibility for them that I have a problem with.
Listen to Phil Wood every Saturday at 11 a.m. on ESPN Radio 1300.
