Steroid City: The culture of cheating in Baltimore and Dallas
Over the years, scuttlebutt and hearsay has passed through the Internet and media about steroids, particularly who is using. Not necessarily who isn’t using. Craig Counsell’s diminutive frame doesn’t make headlines, nor does he hit 60 home runs a year.
Always at the center of a lot of steroid take is the Texas Rangers. What could be considered coincidence transitioned to a certifiable trend. For one reason or another, the Texas Rangers had a lot of steroid users or suspected steroid users to go along with it’s inflated offensive stats.
First it was Jose Canseco in his book “Juiced” implicated Ivan Rodriguez and Juan Gonzalez. Then Rafael Palmeiro comes up with a positive drug test. Then Gary Matthews Jr. and Jerry Hairston Jr. are implicated with Florida doctor who was dealing the junk.
Of course, if I were in Baltimore, I could say the same about the Orioles. From Brady Anderson, Palmeiro to Jason Grimsley, Miguel Tejeda and Brian Roberts, there’s a lot of proven cheaters and suspected ones.
Then I began to sift through these names and stats and try to find some connection and it was rather shocking the connections that the Rangers and Orioles held together. It’s quite extraordinary. Well, I should say, maybe all teams have just as many players that played for both teams, but, needless to say, I think it’s rather surprising.
There are a couple of points:
1. Any implication that the Rangers and Orioles are just knowingly swapping ‘roid users is pretty crazy. They may or may not know. But the point is to show that somehow, sometime ‘roids were introduced and the inbreeding between the clubs made them hotspots for use.
2. Only a handful of players have been caught or admitted to using. Others have been implicated. Still many have been neither implicated or caught, but their careers suggest some kind of unnatural goings-on.
Let’s start with what we know:
Known Users
Players, through testing or admission, are known steroid users.
Rangers
Jose Canseco
Rafael Palmeiro
Carlos Almanzar
Orioles
Jason Grimsley
Rafael Palmeiro
Suspected Users
Rangers and Orioles that through implication of court records or books, are rumored to have used steroids.
Rangers
Gary Matthews Jr.
Jerry Hairston Jr.
Juan Gonzalez
Wilson Alvarez
Ivan Rodriguez
John Rocker
Jim Leyritz
Sammy Sosa
David Segui
Manny Alexander
Randy Velarde
Orioles
David Segui
Sammy Sosa
Gary Matthews Jr.
Jerry Hairston Jr.
Jay Gibbons
Brian Roberts
Miguel Tejeda
Manny Alexander
Suspected/Proven Players That Played For Both Teams
Players that have played for both the Rangers and Orioles and have admitted to, been proven to or implicated as having taken steroids.
David Segui
Rafael Palmeiro
Gary Matthews Jr.
Jerry Hairston Jr.
Sammy Sosa
Manny Alexander
Other Players That Have Played For Both Teams
Players that one time or another played for both the Rangers and Orioles who may or may not have career anomalies or any steroid suspicion.
Mark McLemore
Damon Buford
Harold Baines
Jamie Moyer
Kevin Brown
Jeff Huson
Scott Erickson
Terry Clark
Billy Ripken
Pete Incaviglia
David Dellucci
Terry Mathews
Greg Zaun
Roger McDowell
Esteban Yan
Todd Zeile
Matt Riley
Rick Bauer
Bruce Chen
Craig Worthington
Sam Horn
Orioles-only Suspects
Players that have anomalies in their career stats
Brady Anderson
Melvin Mora
B.J. Surhoff
Jeffrey Hammonds
Geronimo Berroa
Lenny Webster
Mike Bordick
Chris Hoiles
Rangers-only Suspects
Players that have anomalies in their career stats
Dean Palmer
Herbert Perry
Kevin Elster
Of all these names, taking into account everyone’s career year (determined by me), 24 (almost half) took place between 1995-2000.
Honestly, I don’t know what any of this means. If there is some random connection between steroids and members of the Rangers and Orioles, one must wonder where it all began. Was it Palmeiro, consorting with Canseco in Texas, who took to the Orioles in 1994? Who knows?
Additionally, I would doubt that any one team (more less any two different teams) have had their names more associated with ‘roids than the Rangers and Orioles (maybe Oakland with the Giambis, Canseco, McGwire, Tejeda, Velarde, etc.). Factor in how many players the two squads shared and how many of those players are already known users, it’s pretty evident that a strong presence of steroids looms large over the two franchises.
It goes without saying, however, how rampant steroid use is and how much faster usage can proliferate through trades, free agency and the clubhouse mentality -- a bunch of dudes locked up together over a summer with nothing better to do but play ball and make money.
There is, however, one name that has not been mentioned particularly because he wasn’t a player, but his influence on both teams throughout the 1990s is pretty evident:
Manager Johnny Oates
Baltimore Orioles -- 1991-94
Texas Rangers -- 1995-2001
I’m just saying ...
posted by Chip's Moody Blues at 8:08 AM
13 Comments:
Stupid Angelos
Stupid Hicks
I think Brian Downing may have started the whole thing.
Wow.
What a list of names.
What a series of coincidences that a listing of names adds absolutely nothing to.
Wow. What a shoddily-costructed way to throw suspicion at two franchises...and on a deceased guy who can't defend himself. Most of those players that have shuffled between these two teams ALSO shuffled on other teams.
Examples; Hairston didn't go from Baltimore to Texas. He went from Baltimore to Chicago to Texas. Matthews has played for something like 8 teams in his career. You could easily find lists of players that shared time on many many other pairs of teams.
In short; way to waste some time.
Segui has admitted HGH use, so you should probably move him into the known column.
Agree with the previous commenter. It seems like you just made a list of players who had good years. You can basically do that with any team.
And Jamie Moyer? Really? His best year with the Orioles (12 wins!) really fueled my suspicions. That, his 170-lb frame and his 82 MPH fastball.
P.S.: It's spelled Tejada, boss.
It drives me nuts that nobody every points out who owned the Rangers when Jose Canseco was allegedly stabbing his teammates in the ass with syringe.
Our President -- George W. Bush. And, he now is sicking Congress on all of the steroid users when he didn't even know what was going on with his own team or didn't care.
Don't forget Marty "Tanning Bed Injury" Cordova (Orioles 2002-2003)...
Don't forget Mickey Tettleton (does anyone think Fruit Loops were the cause in the sudden HR jump in '89?). Has anyone ever brought up Nolan Ryan? With all the suspicion regarding Clemens and his longevity being tied to performance enhancers, how come nobody mentions Nolan Ryan? The guy did end up having heart issues right after retiring in his mid-late 40's. Heart issues are a known result of steriod use.
Wow, this is the baseball version of Lincoln-Kennedy
I'd have to say Mickey Tettleton's HR jump in 1989 was a result mostly of getting a starting job and playing 135 games, also entering his prime years (28). It wasn't a ridiculous anomaly like Brady Anderson in '96 (even I, O's apologist that I am, can't see any reason for that but 'roids) because Tettleton went on to post 5 comparable years (91-95). I'd call 5 straight seasons, and 6 out of 7, of OPS+ over 120, as "sustained success," and also representative of his career (122 OPS+ for his career).
In short, Tettleton is not a statistical anomaly. Tettleton was a good player whose value wasn't realized in his time because people weren't as OBP conscious as they are now (which is a sad thing indeed). I'd KILL for a catcher with a .370 OBP on the Os now.
I think it's ridiculous to hack on Baltimore - they were one of only two teams that actually COOPERATED in the Mitchell investigation. Of COURSE they're going to have more known cheaters - for now.
I think it's ridiculous to hack on Baltimore - they were one of only two teams that actually COOPERATED in the Mitchell investigation. Of COURSE they're going to have more known cheaters - for now.
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