The Chris Moeller Archives

Give us hell, Arroyo

If people still care or ever did about steroids in baseball, they haven't been showing it at the turnstiles. I was at Sox Park in Chicago two weeks ago when the Yankees were in town, and the ballpark was sold out for all four games of the series. Alex Rodriguez, the Yankees star linked to a positive PED test in 2003, was booed loudly and subjected to taunting cries of "A-Roid" and "A-Fraud" And that was just from the Yankees dugout.

Rodriguez's admitted use of "performance-enhancing drugs" and his supposed-staining of the game obviously didn't prevent 150,000+ fans from turning out for a four-game series between the White Sox and Yankees, and if fans had their doubts about the competitive integrity of the game(s) they came to see, it wasn't evident to this observer seated one afternoon in Section 509.

Now with "steroid fatigue" firmly setting in, we have a Major Leaguer finally speaking out in support of the common sense decision to allow professional baseball players access to the same medical advancements and technologies that are available to all other residents of the United States (excluding, of course, the 47 million Americans without access to health care).

Cincinnati Reds pitcher Bronson Arroyo, a rock and roll musician in his other career, struck a blow this week telling his own story to USA Today. He admitted that he has used androstenedione and amphetamines during his career, that he suspects his name appears on the same court-sealed list of positive drug tests A-Rod has been linked to from 2003, and most importantly, that he continues to take supplements and proteins that do not appear on Major League Baseball's list of approved substances.

What Arroyo is doing, in effect, is the same thing musician Pete Seeger did during the Army-McCarthy Congressional hearings during the 1950s. Rather than pleading the Fifth Amendment, he's pleading the First. He's not apologizing. Bronson Arroyo's employer is not the final word on what he does with his body.

"People can think what they want of me. I don't give a fuck," Arroyo said, "I can see where guys like Hank Aaron and some of the old-timers have a beef with it, but as far as looking at Manny Ramirez like he's (serial killer) Ted Bundy, you're out of your mind. At the end of the day, you think anybody really (cares) whether Manny Ramirez's kidneys fail and he dies at 50? You were happy if the Red Sox won 95 games. You'd go home, have a cookout with your family. No big deal."

And I'd also be curious to ask Hank Aaron if he ever took amphetamines, HGH, or steroids, as Tom House, his teammate with the Braves in the late 1960s and 1970s, says all were already common in their clubhouse during that period. "We were doing steroids they wouldn't give to horses," House said in 2005. For that matter, I'd be curious to know if Aaron ever used Cortisone, the steroid hormone used to reduce swelling or inflammation. If steroids are acceptable in medical situations like that, shouldn't they also be permissable in other medical situations such as rebuilding tissue weakened by injury or illness?

Of amphetamines, Arroyo said, "That stuff's like bubble gum compared to steroids. You're playing (a night game) in L.A., you fly across the country, and you're pitching a day game in Wrigley (Field in Chicago). You telling me you don't want something to wake you up? You have half this country, maybe more, that can't function without a cup of coffee."

MLB officials, after announcing Thursday that they would be contacting Arroyo to discuss the list of approved substances, had not done so through Friday. "It's hard to get a hold of me, unless you're in this locker room," Arroyo said, "I get tired of talking on the phone. Sometimes I'd like to throw it in the river. I don't pick it up if it's a number I don't know."

I say make 'em leave you a message.

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Chuck Grassley's country decency act is straining.

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I was already pissed that the butter sculpture memorial to Michael Jackson at this year's Iowa State Fair was slapped down, but seriously now-- shunned in favor of Lady Gaga?

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I bought a new television last night-- a 42 inch plasma screen. The purchase was instigated by the Cardinals' recent run at the post-season, opening a 4 1/2 game lead on the Cubs with a month and a half to play. The Birds have won 12 of 16 since July 27th, after acquiring Matt Holliday, Mark DeRosa, and Julio Lugo in three separate mid-summer deals. They spend money. I spend money. It's economic stimulus.

posted by CM @ 8:57 AM