For years, ever since the Sammy Sosa- Mark McGwire home run chase of 1998, I was hoping I would hear some major leaguers take a strong stand against performance enhancers. Until now, the criticisms of those using banned drugs, has been pretty tame, when it originated from other baseball players. With that in mind, I was so happy to read the comments of Carlton Fisk, and prior to him, Jack Clark. The sentiments of Andy Van Slyke about cheating the game, were also outstanding. It is so refreshing to hear that some former greats are as upset about the artificial numbers that have been produced, as people like myself are, and have been for some time. How often have you heard the justification from politically correct pontificators, about how it was basically ok for some players to use drugs to improve their statistics, because Major League Baseball didn’t have any rules on performance enhancers at the time. I was proud to have urged baseball, the night of McGwire’s bench mark home run, to air public service announcements, on the dangers of steroids and other similar drugs. I was just as pleased to have seen some nasty letters, and e mails from a few angry listeners back then, who couldn't understand why I wanted baseball to make public statements, encouraging kids to stay away from any kind of performance enhancing drugs. The butt kissing towards drug cheats for all these years has been pathetic, with all the lame excuses, for those who wouldn’t pursue greatness the right way. The angry tone in the words of Carlton Fisk, Jack Clark and Andy Van Slyke, is truly a thing of beauty. It has restored my faith in the integrity of professional sports, that there are some high character men, who speak the truth, and say what needs to be said, with no fear of those they are criticizing or the sycophants who rationalize everything star athletes do. With that in mind, I am thrilled to quote some former greats about the phony benchmarks in the baseball record books.
As documented in ESPN.com, Carlton Fisk spoke out against both Mark McGwire and Roger Clemens. Regarding McGwire’s claim that steroids did not inflate his home run totals, Fisk said: “That’s a crock. There’s a reason they call it performance – enhancing drugs. That’s what it does-performance enhancement. You can be good, but it’s going to make you better…….Some guys who went that route got their 5-year, $35 million contracts and now are off into the sunset somewhere. Because once they can’t use (steroids) anymore, they can’t play anymore.” A veteran of 24 years, catching games for the Red Sox and White Sox, Fisk also went after Roger Clemens in no nonsense terms. “ The reason he got let go from the Red Sox (after the /96 season) was because he was starting to break down. His last couple of years in Boston just weren’t very productive, a la “The Rocket”. Then all of a sudden he goes to Toronto and he wants to show somebody something. Then he gets two consecutive Cy Young Awards (/97 and /98 ). Come on, give me a bucket”
Former All-Star slugger Jack Clark, who played with the Cardinals and Giants, unloaded on all suspected drug cheats in baseball. “All those guys are cheaters – A-Rod. Fake, phony. Rafael Palmeiro. Fake, a phony. Clemens,Bonds,Sosa. Fakes.Phonies. They don’t deserve to be in the Hall of Fame. …They should all be in the Hall of Shame”.
Andy Van Slyke also called out Mark McGwire. “There’s a lot of finger pointing by Mark McGwire. He blames it on being tested and he blames it on the era. Why would you blame baseball for taking steroids ?”
We need more gentlemen like these in professional sports, who don’t hesitate to say what needs to be said.