More than a dozen Yankees were named in Mitchell's findings with only Bonds being mentioned more often than Clemens. That's quite a statement. But the somewhat surprising news came in the form of Pettite. The other surprise? How many of these guys named were on any of the Yankee World Series teams of the late 90's:
1998: Andy Pettitte, Chuck Knoblauch, Mike Stanton, Darren Holmes
1999: Andy Pettitte, Chuck Knoblauch, Roger Clemens, Mike Stanton, Jason Grimsley, Daniel Naulty
2000: Andy Pettitte, Chuck Knoblauch, Roger Clemens, Mike Stanton, Jason Grimsley, David Justice, Jose Canseco, Glenallen Hill, Denny Neagle
While the timing of their indescretions vary, it still raises an eyebrow. Let's give them a free pass on 98 for arguments sake.
Now add in the fact that Clemens and Pettite use the same trainer, train together in the offseason, and are best buds, well, you do the math. You also have 4 other teammates on the juice as well. Coincidences are starting to pile up.
Even more so in 2000 when 9 teammates were juicing. Coincidence? Sure doesn't look that way. Let's not give Yankee management a free pass on this one either. If you were able to get your hands on internal memos you can bet your bottom dollar they knew most of these guys were juicing. Maybe 1 or 2 guys might slide through the cracks, but 9? Don't think so...
That being said, these Yankee teams were also very talented. The ultimate question is would they still have won if these guys weren't on roids? While no one can say for sure, you have to at least question it now knowing what we know. Two guys in your rotation is enough to raise a red flag, never mind 7 others.
Almost feel bad for the Yankee fans that have been clinging to the only thing they can - those precious rings. Sorry kids, but those rings and the "clean cut" image of the Yankees of yesteryear have been severly damaged. They can't take the rings back, but it doesn't matter. They don't have the same weight as say 2004 or 2007...
For those conspiracy theorists out there, Mitchell does have an interest in the Red Sox. However, he was part of a PANEL that included Federal Investigators and other officials. All of his interviews are documented and were held with other agencies present. If he chose to exclude something from his report, don't you think someone from the panel or other agency would speak up?
6 comments:
Yeah, cause the clean image is what we all baseball fans associate the boston red sox with. I don't know how the Big Poopie got away with one, but I could bet my life on it, he's been juicing and more than others
You, and therefore we all, may root & write the way we choose. However:
1. Much of the Mitchell report is circumstantial & boiler plate.
2. Several Red Sox were mentioned, so the 2004 comeback and WS is tainted too.
3. To have a blog named NY Choke firmly indicates a level of bias which undercuts any amount of fairness in your commentary. Which from my POV shows you to be a good, intelligent writer. Except for that bias.
The NYY won many of those WS long before anabolic steroids; 22 to be precise. Right or wrongly, jocks have been doing things to win since Ogg the Trogg. This is all politics & bullshit.
You could do better. AS could we all.
1. It may be cicumstantial, but they clearly have enough. People go to jail on testimonies alone, not to mention some of the idiots that wrote checks or used credit cards.
2. None of the players named were on the 2004 team. In 2007 Donnelly & Gagne weren't CORE players. Donnelly pitched for 2 months and Gagne blew more games than he won.
3. Can't really argue that one but fairness might be a stretch.
Agreed that they won many rings before steroids but thats not the point. There were 9 guys juicing on one team, and probably more. There were 22 current or former Yankees named - which is more than 25% of all players named (and includes core players & big names). That's alarming. How do you defend that?
The only former Sox with any impact was Mo Vaughn, but he didn't use HGH until after he injured his ankle with the Angels.
Hey Anonymous, take a look at some pics of Big Papi when he was with the Twins and then a current photo.
Let us know when you don't find anything...
Who else got away with one? Pedroia? Wally the Green Monster?
Lame attempt...
so wait, let me understand this - you got offended by Ortiz comments, right?
How do you think we feel when you not only bash every Yankees' success, but then explain their world series victories with drug allegations. You are a bit of hypocrite, my friend..
Ortiz wasn't listed on the report which is the difference. Why did they write that? To try and defend the fact that their Yankee players got caught. It was a lame attempt & they were called on it.
If you actually read the blog, it states that those Yankee teams were very talented. However, even the most diehard of Yankee fans has to now have some doubt at least in the back of their minds. This relates to the rings in the steroid era only - not the glory days of the 30's, 40's, and 50's...
Nine guys juicing on the SAME team. NINE. Most were impact players and comprised more than 30% of the roster.
Not sure how being hypocrite applies here. If the Sox had 5 or 6 named core players on those WS teams, then yes. But 2 crappy part time relievers doesn't get you there.
Sox Nation has a pride that none of their success was based on chemicals or cheating.
Your franchise in NY now has (another) black eye that won't ever go away. And one of the greatest players to ever take the mound will be forever linked.
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