MLB Steroids Scandal

Bush Moped, Players Doped

Spencer Ackerman | December 14, 2007, 2:29PM

Happy Friday, I can't resist this. Froomkin, go!

John D. McKinnon blogs that Perino was asked yesterday why Bush didn't notice the epidemic of performance-enhancing drugs that was taking hold of the game when he was an owner.

Perino pointed to an ESPN interview in which he said that he's thought long and hard about it, but doesn't recall ever seeing or hearing evidence of a steroid problem.

Writes McKinnon: "A Fox News reporter, Wendell Goler, pointed out that former Ranger Jose Canseco has said 'he cannot comprehend why Mr. Bush didn't know that steroid use was going on on the team.' So does Bush regret not picking up on the problem, Goler asked?

"'I don't think it's a time for regret,' Perino said. 'I think it's time to do what the president has done, which is . . . to shine a light on the issue. And now we have a result . . . a report that is getting a lot of attention, and deservedly so.'"

MLB Steroids Scandal

Waxman, Davis: We're Looking At Steroids in Baseball -- Again!

Spencer Ackerman | December 13, 2007, 5:06PM

Remember that fateful day? March 17, 2005? When House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Tom Davis (R-VA) held his hearing into steroids in baseball, and Mark McGuire disgraced himself for all time? When Jose Canseco named names? And Sammy Sosa pretended not to speak English?

Well, there may not be do-overs in baseball, but it's time for a rematch of sorts. Davis, now the committee's ranking member, and Henry Waxman (D-CA), the chairman, announced today that they'll ask steroids investigator George Mitchell, baseball commissioner Bud Selig and players' union chief Don Fehr to testify next week. Unfortunately, none of the implicated players -- Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, the whole gang -- will be "invited" to speak. However, reliable sources tell us the official soundtrack for the hearing will be Bruce Springsteen's "Glory Days."

Full statement after the jump.

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MLB Steroids Scandal

Yanks 2B Chuck Knoblauch Lost His Ability To Throw To First, But Gained A Love for HGH

Spencer Ackerman | December 13, 2007, 3:45PM

Commenter Joe Corrao takes me to task in my last post for cherry-picking a data point from the Mitchell Report that reflects badly upon my hated Boston Red Sox. He goads me into citing some Yankees named in the report who were part of the Bronx Bombers' torrid 1996-2000 teams. Sure, I mentioned both Clemens and Pettitte in the last post, but you know what, Joe? Fair enough. Behold, the horrible coda to one of the strangest psychological tales in baseball: the case of Chuck Knoblauch's wonky arm.

Every Yankee fan remembers the horror of Knoblauch. Knoblauch was a fantastic second basemen who, starting in 1999 and accelerating in 2000, lost the ability to throw to first base. Sure-fire outs sailed into the stands or into the home-team dugout. The conventional wisdom said it was a vicious circle of self-inflicted psychological pressure, as Knoblauch buckled under the freight of playing for the Yanks. Buster Olney devoted a whole chapter to Knoblauch in his book The Last Night of The Yankee Dynasty.

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MLB Steroids Scandal

Theo Epstein, Eric Gagne and the Boston Red Sox: A Match Made in Muck Heaven

Spencer Ackerman | December 13, 2007, 2:52PM

The fallout from George Mitchell's 409-page report (pdf) into baseball's Steroids Era (Mitchell's words) is yet to fully drop. We're still combing the report for the most explosive revelations -- no big surprise that Yankee greats Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte juiced -- but for now, this Yankee fan wants to bring you his moment of schadenfreude. To wit: the 2007 World Champion Boston Red Sox. According to Mitchell, Sox general manager Theo Epstein acquired flop reliever Eric Gagne nearly a year after learning of serious circumstantial evidence of Gagne's steroid use.

Gagne and Paul Lo Duca were teammates in Los Angeles from 1999 to 2004. During that time, Gagne used Lo Duca, who went on to a beloved career catching for the Mets (sorry, Paul), as his hook-up to steroid and human-growth hormone pusher Kirk Radomski. The Red Sox scouted Gagne, once a valuable relief pitcher, after the 2006 season, when Epstein began overhauling the Sox pitching staff. Yet a certain concern lingered. On November 1, 2006, Epstein emailed his scout, Mark Delpiano, "Have you done any digging on Gagne? I know the Dodgers think he was a steroid guy. Maybe so. What do you hear on his medical?"

Delpiano replied:

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