Vincent can't control rage when it comes to 'roids
Back in 1991, MLB commissioner Fay Vincent sent a groundbreaking memorandum to all the clubs reminding them that players were forbidden from taking any illegal substance, including steroids. The memo read, in part, "The possession, sale or use of any illegal drug or controlled substance is strictly prohibited. ... That use is subject to discipline by the commissioner and comes with the risk of permanent expulsion from the game."
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| 'We're not making enough progress,' Fay Vincent says about baseball's battle against steroids. (Getty Images) |
"We're not making enough progress," he said from his home in Williamstown, Mass., the bucolic village in the Berkshires where Vincent went to Williams College. "We still don't know how to combat the problem, and it exists well beyond baseball -- we've seen in cycling, the Olympics -- remember Marion Jones? It extends virtually to every corner of the athletic world."
Now Vincent is passionate.
"In the small college atmosphere of Williamstown, I'm sure kids are taking steroids to get bigger to play football," he said. "They think they have to do it because their competitors are doing it. There are serious health issues that have to be addressed. This is a very big problem, and Congress has got to become more energetic. It's not going away."
For baseball fans, it has been a rough few months. Most fans are tired of the slow drip of names, the cut that will not heal, and many fans say just publish the remaining names from the confidential test that was performed in 2003.
I couldn't disagree more. The names were sealed under court order and remain there. The test was "anonymous" at the time. Would anyone in any business -- you or your family -- want to be named just because fans were tired of the slow revelations?
"It is a crime to reveal those names," Vincent said. "Remember when the Barry Bonds grand jury testimony was leaked, the lawyer went to jail for 2½ years."
Vincent was referring to attorney Troy Ellerman, who pled guilty in February, 2000, of allowing a San Francisco Chronicle reporter to view confidential transcripts of testimony taken in the BALCO steroids investigation. After the Chronicle published the player's testimony -- which was required to be confidential -- exactly as the current list of 104 players who tested positive in 2003 is (or was to be), the judge in the case recommended the Justice Department conduct a leak investigation.
Should Bud Selig do the same?
"I don't think Bud has a copy of the list," Vincent said. "You'll remember, that was the complicated agreement between the players union and the league. Obviously, the list should have been destroyed, but I don't think Bud's in a position to do anything about it."
The drip of names has caused another outrage -- are some championships tainted? David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez, who starred on Boston's two World Series championships, were revealed to have tested positive for using performance enhancing drugs in 2003. Ortiz was the MVP in the 2004 ALCS, and Manny was the MVP of the World Series.
Ramirez famously confronted Roger Clemens in Game 3 of the 2003 ALCS, which must have been quite the rage.
Yankee players have been named -- Andy Pettitte and Clemens in the Mitchell Report, A-Rod on the list of 104 players. Should all these championships have asterisks?
"Well, it's kind of a dark irony that if so many players were doing it, then what's the point of an asterisk?" Vincent asked. "I don't believe we should have a special corner in Cooperstown."
Jose Canseco, the mouth that roared, said there is already a player in the Hall of Fame who took steroids.
"That's entirely possible," Vincent said.
On another topic, Vincent heard Hank Aaron's recent support for Pete Rose's induction into the Hall of Fame, 20 years after Rose was banned for life for gambling (a decision Fay Vincent carried out when his friend and mentor, commissioner Bart Giamatti died in office in September of 1989).
"I understand," said Vincent, with no criticism toward Aaron. "Every few years, people start to feel sorry for Pete. But I don't think Bud [Selig] will wobble on this. It has been an effective deterrent -- we haven't had another gambling problem in two decades."
So what does Vincent think should be done about steroids? The Williams College and Yale Law School grad, the former attorney for the SEC, turned to his leather bound library.
"In the words of Justice Louis Brandeis, 'Sunshine is the best disinfectant,'" Vincent quoted. "Let the public know what the players took, who they got it from and what they think can be done to stop it, in high schools on up to the majors. We're not going to make progress unless we expose everything."
