With the recent release of Yankee slugger Jason Giambi's grand jury testimony against the Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative (BALCO), Major League Baseball has found itself in a heated controversy over the prevalence of steroids among the league's top players.
Naturally, one cannot help but place San Francisco Giant and current single-season homerun record holder Barry Bonds at the top of the most-juiced list.
Since his 1986 MLB debut with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Bonds has hit over .300 in 11 seasons and earned 12 All-Star appearances. So why the uproar? Well, while its true Bonds' statistics make him a shoo-in candidate for the Hall of Fame, his status as baseball's ultimate slugger is a recent phenomenon.
In fact, prior to 2000, Bonds hit over 40 homeruns in only three seasons. Since that time, however, the California native has evolved into the greatest power hitter who ever lived, setting the all-time homerun record at 73 and crushing no less than 45 long-balls each year. But I guess most ball players don't reach their peak until the age of 40 or so.
In his testimony, Giambi admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs known as "the clear," a liquid administered under the tongue, and "the cream," a testosterone-based balm massaged into the body, both obtained from Greg Anderson, Bonds' trainer. Giambi disclosed he was drawn to Anderson because of Bonds' unprecedented success in 2001.
"So I started to ask him: 'Hey what are the things you're doing with Barry?'" the Yankee first baseman said. "'He's an incredible player. I want to still be able to work out at that age and keep playing.'"
Soon Anderson began providing Giambi with "the clear" and "the cream" in addition to injectable testosterone and human growth hormone. Giambi claimed Anderson said that the substances were alternatives to steroids and would not show up on a test.
Giambi hit 94 homeruns over his next three seasons as a Yankee, nothing out of the ordinary from his already impressive career. But this past year, the party abruptly ended. Giambi missed over half of the season due to mysterious ailments, and it was not until August that the media learned that he suffered from an intestinal parasite and a benign tumor on his pituitary gland.
Incidentally, one of the drugs Giambi has been tied to using in conjunction with the other steroids, a female fertility drug called Clomid, has been known to cause tumors of the pituitary glands. Anderson reportedly told Giambi to take Clomid as a way to enhance the testosterone production of the other drugs.
After Giambi's woes went public, Bonds' testimony to the same grand-jury fell under heightened scrutiny. Bonds allegedly admitted to using the "the clear" and "the cream," but denied knowing that they were steroids.
Instead, he claimed Anderson said the substances were a nutritional supplement made of flaxseed oil and a rubbing lotion for arthritis.
However, according to the San Francisco Chronicle documents and bills exist linking Anderson to Bonds and specifically detailing the Giant's use of steroids and human growth hormone. The Associate Press also reported that while Bonds denies ever paying good "friend" Anderson money for steroids, in 2003, he paid him $15,000 and gave him a $20,000 bonus following his historic 2001 season.
Although it seems inevitable that Bonds will break Hank Aaron's all-time home record within the next year, the scandal has forced MLB to stop promoting the 2005 Mastercard-sponsored campaign of Bonds quest.
Of course, despite the damning physical evidence, grand-jury testimony and public condemnation, one must remember that testosterone does not hit homeruns; people do.
Sure steroids build strength and make arms look really, really good, but hitting is not proportional to muscle mass. The success that Bonds has achieved, both recently and throughout his career, is the result of a variety of physical gifts working in unison " among them razor-sharp eyesight.
No matter what anyone thinks of Barry, steroids just can't make a guy see better. But then again, human growth hormone can.