Barry Bonds on 'roids

#31

Barry Bonds Failed A Drug Test in 2006

Barry Bonds failed a test for amphetamines last season and originally blamed it on a teammate, the Daily News reported Thursday.

When first informed of the positive test, Bonds attributed it to a substance he had taken from teammate Mark Sweeney's locker, the New York City newspaper said, citing several unnamed sources.

"I have no comment on that," Bonds' agent Jeff Borris told the Daily News on Wednesday night.

"Mark was made aware of the fact that his name had been brought up," Sweeney's agent Barry Axelrod told the Daily News. "But he did not give Barry Bonds anything, and there was nothing he could have given Barry Bonds."

Bonds, who has always maintained he never has tested positive for illegal drug use, is already under investigation for lying about steroid use.

A federal grand jury is investigating whether the 42-year-old Bonds perjured himself when he testified in 2003 in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative steroid distribution case that he never knowingly used performance-enhancing drugs. The San Francisco Giants slugger told a 2003 federal grand jury that he believed his trainer Greg Anderson had provided him flaxseed oil and arthritic balm, not steroids.

Under baseball's amphetamines policy, which went into effect last season, players are not publicly identified for a first positive test. A second positive test for amphetamines results in a 25-game suspension. The first failed steroids test costs a player 50 games.

Bonds did not appeal the positive test, which made him subject to six drug tests by MLB over the next six months, according to the Daily News.

"We're not in a position to confirm or deny, obviously," MLB spokesman Rich Levin told the Daily News.

According to the newspaper, Sweeney learned of the Bonds' positive test from Gene Orza, chief operating officer of the Major League Baseball Players Association. Orza told Sweeney, the paper said, that he should remove any troublesome substances from his locker and should not share said substances. Sweeney said there was nothing of concern in his locker, according to the Daily News' sources.

An AP message for Sweeney was not immediately returned late Wednesday.

The Giants are still working to finalize complicated language in the slugger's $16 million, one-year contract for next season -- a process that has lasted almost a month since he agreed to the deal Dec. 7 on the last day of baseball's winter meetings.

The language still being negotiated concerns the left fielder's compliance with team rules, as well as what would happen if he were to be indicted or have other legal troubles.

Borris has declined to comment on the negotiations. He didn't immediately return a message from the AP on Wednesday night.

The 42-year-old Bonds is set to begin his 15th season with the Giants only 22 home runs shy of surpassing Hank Aaron's career record of 755.

Bonds, considered healthy again following offseason surgery on his troublesome left elbow, has spent 14 of his 21 big-league seasons with San Francisco and helped the Giants draw 3 million fans in all seven seasons at their waterfront ballpark.

After missing all but 14 games in 2005 following three operations on his right knee, Bonds batted .270 with 26 homers and 77 RBIs in 367 at-bats in 2006. He passed Babe Ruth to move into second place on the career home run list May 28.

Source: http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2727325

#32

Dude is a fucking sham....period!!!

Doesn't deserve to be talked about in any light other than that of a fucking circus sideshow.

Hall of Fame for this dick???? I think not!

#33

Bonds Says Teammate Didn't Give Him Anything

Barry Bonds said he did not get amphetamines from teammate Mark Sweeney, but did not deny a report Thursday saying he tested positive for the drugs last season.

Thursday, Bonds did not deny that but did apologize to Sweeney.

"He is both my teammate and my friend," Bonds said in a statement. "He did not give me anything whatsoever and has nothing to do with this matter, contrary to recent reports.

"I want to express my deepest apologies especially to Mark and his family as well as my other teammates, the San Francisco Giants organization and the fans," he said.

That's all the Giants star, shadowed by steroids allegations and only 22 home runs from breaking Hank Aaron's career home run record, said about the alleged positive drug test. Bonds has steadfastly denied used performance-enhancing drugs.

"Obviously, we're pleased that Barry has straightened this out," said Sweeney's agent, Barry Axelrod.

"Last night was the first time we heard of this recent accusation against Barry Bonds," the Giants said in the statement. "Under Major League Baseball's collective bargaining agreement with the Major League Baseball Players Association, clubs are not notified after a player receives a first positive test for amphetamines."

Rob Manfred, baseball's executive vice president for labor relations, refused comment, according to spokesman Rich Levin.

"I don't comment on the drug program, and I've never heard Barry Bonds blame anybody for anything," Gene Orza, the union's chief operating officer, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press.

San Francisco's front office and fan base long have stood by Bonds through his off-the-field problems and injuries. So have his teammates, deciding in spring training last year to support him every step of the way. Bonds did not appeal the positive test, according to the Daily News, which said Sweeney learned of Bonds' positive test from Orza. The newspaper reported Orza told Sweeney he should remove any troublesome substances from his locker and should not share said substances. Sweeney then said there was nothing of concern in his locker.

Before Bonds' statement, Axelrod told the AP that his client received a call informing him that his name had come up in regard to the testing.

"He responded at that time ... he did not give anything to anybody and he doesn't have anything illegal," Axelrod said. "That was the end of it, as far as we were concerned, until yesterday. We thought it was just a sort of procedural thing."

Source: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/b ... index.html

#34

Before we send him to the gallows...

Does anyone have any specifics on the drug test..? As in, what's an acceptable level for amphetamines, what they are, and so forth..?

#35

So I just googled the MLB drug policy and this is what I see about it

2. Drug of Abuse and Steroids

All Players shall be prohibited from using, possessing, selling, facilitating the sale of, distributing, or facilitating the distrubution of any Drug of Abuse and/or Steroid

B. Steroids

Any and all anabolic steroids covered by Schedule III of the Code of Federal Regulations' Schedule of Controlled Substances (Schedule III), as amended from time to time, shall be considered Steroids covered by the Program. Anabolic androgenic steroids that are not covered by Schedule III but that may not be lawfully obtained shall also be considered Steroids covered by the Program. The following is a non-exhaustive list of substances that shall be considered Steroids covered by the Program.

1. Androstanediol
2. Androstanedione
3. Androstenediol
4. Androstenedione
5. Bolasterone
6. Boldenone
7. Calusterone
8. Colstebol
41. Testosterone
45. Human Growth Hormone
(there are 45 of them so I'm not gonna list them all)

3. Testing

E. Postive Test Results

Any test conducted under the Program will be considered "positive" under the following circumstances:

1. If any substance identified in the test results meets the levels set forth in the Testing Protocols section of Addendum A hereto

2. A Player refuses or, without good cause, fails to take a test or refuses to cooperate with the testing process

3. A player attempts to substitute, dilute, mask or adulterate a specimen sample or in any other manner alter a test

Addendum A

Testing Protocols

Steroids

A test will be considered positive if any Steroid as defined in Section 2.B of the Program is present. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the presence of nandrolone shall be considered a positive only if the level exceeds 2ng/ml.

This goes on for about 3 more pages naming the substances, what's found in them, and the DEA number for them. This may have been a really long answer to a really simple question but I put the link below for the PDF file if you want to check out the whole policy
news.findlaw.com/usatoday/docs/sports/mlbdrugpolicy05.pdf

#36

If Barry Bond's records can be wiped away, then so should Babe Ruth's record...

Barry played in a league where half the league juiced up. Babe played in a league where no blacks were allowed. Period.

So how can Ruth's records be validated, yet ... Barry's can't? In Babe's era, it is widely accepted that the top echelon of players in the Negro leagues were as good, if not BETTER than the top players in the white league, yet all of that amazing talent was excluded. Which included some of the worlds best pictures and hitters...

Barry's records should stand.

#37

Indeed...!

#38

Wow....those are 2 very different things.

In today's age, players are trying to advance their talent by taking substances. They are trying to be better than they actually are.

In Babe Ruth's day, people were kept from the league, yet the players who did play still had their natural talent. Babe's numbers were legit. There might have been other players who were more talented, yet that shouldn't undermine what the legit players did

#39

QUOTE(trashtalkr @ Jan 18 2007, 05:37 PM) Wow....those are 2 very different things.

In today's age, players are trying to advance their talent by taking substances. They are trying to be better than they actually are.

In Babe Ruth's day, people were kept from the league, yet the players who did play still had their natural talent. Babe's numbers were legit. There might have been other players who were more talented, yet that shouldn't undermine what the legit players did

Are they so different?

First of all. During Bonds era, there were more than "a handful" of players who took steroids to enhance their play.

Second of all. Bonds had hall-of-fame stats BEFORE he would started taking "steroids"

Third of all. There were MORE than one or two players that were more talented. There was probably around 20 players that were just as good, if not better than the players in the white leagues. 5-4 were probably head and shoulders better than most.

Fourth, and my last point. What good is a players natural talent if an ENTIRE RACE's talent were not even included into such stats? If you really think about it. Josh Gibson led the Negro National League in home runs for 10 consecutive years; credited with 75 home runs in 1931. SEVENTY FIVE. If I'm not correct, that OBLITERATES Babe Ruth's record by over 10 homeruns. If negroes were allowed to play in the whites game, today, Babe Ruth would NOT be a staple name of Baseball.

#40

I'm sure Babe Ruth would still be just as important to baseball if it had been integrated from the beginning. He was a poster boy for baseball. Babe Ruth dominated baseball during his era. It's a shame that baseball had a color barrier but there's no doubt in my mind that Babe Ruth would have hit the crap out of the ball coming from any pitcher in any league.

Barry's stats should stand as long as he doesn't fail any steroid tests. So he failed an amphetamines test. It should not even be out in the public anyway. If he juiced but he never gets caught, good for him. How many pitchers have put junk on a baseball to get more movement out of it or batters that have corked their bats to get more pop from the ball? Most of these guys have never been caught and although there's speculation of cheating some are in the Hall of Fame.

He's still a punkbitch for pointing the finger at Sweeney.