The People News, a free newspaper serving Cleveland Tennessee (TN) and Bradley County Tennessee (Tn).





Of Bradley County Tn.


JULY  2006

                            The People News, a free newspaper serving Cleveland and Bradley County Tn.

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Summer 2006

By Jerry Keys

Summertime is finally upon us!  School is out, boaters are at the lake, and the beaches are packed.  After the middle part of June we have a short period of near silence in the sports world.  The NFL doesn't start up until mid-July and the NBA and NHL conclude their seasons in early to mid June.  Its pretty much baseball, all by itself (except World Cup play every fourth year).  Well… baseball and police blotters.

Earlier this month we learned about pitcher Jason Grimsley's testimony to federal agents about his misuse of banned substances throughout his career.  We also learned that he specifically named nearly a dozen players (it is not known if these players are all active, all retired, or how many in each group) who were also users of banned substances.

The Steroid Era of Baseball may not be over, although Bud Selig may say it is.

Jerry Keys

The one part of Grimsley's story that confuses me is when he mentioned "boatloads" of players who participated in the use of banned substances.  When someone says "boatloads", I don't exactly think of my dad's bass boat.  It brings to mind something similar to The Love Boat.  I know I was quite young when the series was on the tube but to the best of my knowledge, the boat carried many more than "nearly a dozen players".  Either Grimsley had a poor choice of words or someone is keeping a great number of names hush-hush.

In April Grimsley admitted to using banned substances throughout his career, yet we had no knowledge of this until June.  Does that mean admitted banned substance users have a two-month grace period?

BUSTED
"Grimsley still wants paid for
services not given due to cheating"

Didn't Rafael Palmeiro test positive for steroids a good while before it became public?  Is there a smoking gun somewhere that is not visible to the public?

In one way baseball looks like the good son who messed up badly over the

years and is drastically making efforts to clean up the mess left behind.  The other way to see this is there may be enough damning testimony in the near future to rock the foundation of baseball.  What if Grimsley named more names than we know about?  How many people that he called out will decide to name names as well?

Ah… the American Pastime, shrouded in controversy.  Eventually, this ever-growing saga will make the mid-1980's cocaine ring look like a sleigh ride on Christmas Eve.  But what will happen to the record book?

Will Cooperstown have a split section for all-time records?  Legitimate Top 10 home run hitters to the left, juiced-up Top 10

BUSTED
"Palmeiro watched his Hall-bound career go up in more smoke than a Cheech-n-Chong flic"

home run hitters to the right?  Will pitchers who started their careers after 1990 get a half-run knocked off of their career earned run average (ERA) before consideration for enshrinement?

Yes this is a very over the top suggestion but it is one that needs considering.  Baseball has entrenched itself into the

American conscious for over 100 years.  Recorded play has been traced back another 50 years.  The exact date when steroids (or banned substances) first entered the sport may never be known.  But when Fred McGriff led the National League in home run with 35 in 1992, it would have been good enough for 16th place in the NL nine years later.  The overall NL ERA was 3.61 in 1992, 4.64 by 2000.  Significant jump in such a short period?  Maybe.

With all the advances made in drug testing over the past twenty years, wonder what would be revealed if we could snag a few strands of hair from players who participated in major league play since 1986?     
.

BUSTED 
"To be Determined"

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