It's a safe bet that there wasn't much of a race to bring Bud Selig a copy of Thursday's USA Today at the MLB offices on Thursday morning. After all, it's not exactly a strong career move to bring your boss an interview with a major league player making a mockery of everything you've said and done about performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. That's just what Bronson Arroyo did in a wide-ranging interview that's required reading for anyone on any side of the debate of drug use in Major League Baseball. Arroyo starts by admitting he takes a slew of supplements that aren't on the league's approved list, and has never failed a drug test, and then goes on to lacerate just about every sacred cow of the baseball world.
Now, you may be saying to yourself that it makes sense that he hasn't failed a drug test because clearly nothing he takes actually enhances performance. Perhaps, but it's everything else that Arroyo has to say that's making this interview a hot read around the country.
He takes fans and media to task for their outrage about steroid use, saying they're only concerned with records being broken and hypocritical about the health risks that may be associated with using the drugs.
"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 ... You think this country really cares about what ballplayers put in their bodies?" Arroyo asks. "If we really care, why are we pumping Coca-Cola in every kid's mouth, and McDonald's, and Burger King and KFC? That (stuff) is killing people."Owners are also in the firing line when Arroyo says that none of them care what players are doing so long as they keep making money, which is also true of the player's union as they work to make sure players can make as much money as possible for as long as possible.
He cops to using amphetamines as well as androstenedione, when they were legal, even though he was warned about risks to his health. Arroyo also makes it clear that he doesn't regret either one because he felt they helped him be a better baseball player.
By the end of the interview Arroyo sounds a lot like Jose Canseco, both in his willingness to discuss what's actually going on and the lengths he goes to in trying to justify his own decisions. That doesn't make him particularly likable, but, just as with Canseco, it doesn't make any of what he said less true, either.
For all of the time spent discussing the use of steroids, HGH, supplements and all the others over the past few years, there's been far too little of this kind of raw speech without fear of the consequences. Baseball's better for it, even if they get a black eye in the process.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Bronson's right. We lost Ken Caminiti at a young age but it was soon forgotten by most baseball fans. He performed well with a bat because of his strength and quickness with the bat. His name was mentioned in numerous media reports about players using PED's. The cause was most likely a result of using the PED's. Until Conseco opened the can of worms, the problem was disregarded because it wasn't a financial setback. Baseball has many things that Selig knows should be done better but they won't get fixed until it needs a PR boost. It's not the health issue anyone is worried about, it's a John Doe pumping PED's to hit homers while a Jake Jackson simply eats right and works out to improve his game. Players will use any edge they can get because they're reputation of being a good ball player is on the line, like using the spitball or corking bats as they did in days passed. It's a competitive sport full of people who want to win first. Nobody comes to the games if all you do is lose. Bottom line is it's business and the goal is to make a profit.
"Until Conseco opened the can of worms"
Of course, Canseco caught the worms, packed them in the can and made a pretty label for the can before he opened it.
It is quite refreshing to see a pro athlete telling it like it is. Its clear to see that the majority of players in MLB were using some sort of PED. In fact, their are still many that are usings undetectable things today. Unfortunately, there are cheaters all over the place. Once a cheater always a cheat. I give him props for being frank in the article
Smartest player interview ever.
At least Arroyo is doing it the way they did it in the 60s and 70s, before steroids took over from the handful of uppers.
And one last thing: no matter what weasel language USA Today uses, "not approved" does not equal "banned." His history of passed drug tests seem to indicate that in MLB terms Arroyo is playing "clean."
Good interview by Bronson. I like it when a person like him tells the truth and isn't worried about the backlash or sponsors etc. He is exactly right...if your team is winning people turn a blind eye to PED use. Bud and Owners have been turing a blind eye to it for years. Homeruns bring in fans, which bring in money to owners. That's Bud's job. Good job Bronson.
The cheaters gave us fake numbers and in turn reaped higher salaries and higher ticket prices for the fans to swallow. I,m pleased the numbers are coming back to normal. I like seeing speed and natural skills being valuble. I especially like the national league because of no designated hitter, even though I,n a whitesox fan. Strategy is a important element in the game for me.
truth hurt, don't it...
Who CARES?! He just got done saying nobody cares and he's right, so why go on and on? This has been talked about ad nausem and I'm really sick of hearing about it. If they want to stick that stuff in their bodies, who are they hurting besides themselves and how is it anybody's business? When the Babe hit all those home runs, his drug of choice, and Micky's was booze, where was that outcry? What, it's different? I DON'T THINK SO! I didn't hear any outcry for pro wrestlers when it was so obvious for decades! Give it a rest already!
There is a big difference between alcohol and steroids and any ped.
Alcohol actually took away from Mantle's performance; I wasn't around for Babe Ruth, so I can't comment.
I saw the Mick play from his early career to his last years. He was a much different player later on because of his alcohol abuse, a shell of what he was.
Manny, Big Poopie, McGuire,Arod,Clemens,Bonds,and many others became Supermen with their drug enhancement.
Big difference, don't you think?
They cheated the fans and the game itself by taking the "supplements".
The temptation of the big contracts caused this to happen. The owners and the player's union knew about it and turned the other cheek --- They made more, as well.
Let us face reality; the game is not as pure as Ruth's or Mantle's era.
Finally, someone who tells it like it is!
The fans should care that these guys are making 5 to 10 mil a year for playing a f*ing game. But they keep flocking to these stadiums paying stupid amount for tickets, hot dogs, peanuts, beer ( $10 ) HA! They retire when they are 40 and go live in their mansions. Wake up people! Stop making these guys rich beyond belief. MLB needs a f*ing salary cap. Boycott pro sports!!!!!
So now you BOAST On Red Sox fans should see that the down three games to none comeback against the Yankees in 2004 was not only because David "Big Papi" Ortiz and Manny "Man Ram" Ramirez took steroids but Arroyo also took everything he could. Bud Selig this Arroyo guy is making fun of you. People call him honest. I call him a taunter as bad as any Red Sox fan. This is just one reason I'm a New York Yankee fan. They never brag. The only time they brag is when Steinbrenner apologizes to the people of New York if the Yankees play bad. The "B" on Boston's cap not only stands for the city but for their "BIG BRAG MACHINE."
JEEAAAAALLOOUUUUUSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
No, apparantly yankee "fans" are fantastically bad liars (like hilliary clinton) or very pathetically mentally unstable (like billy and al)..... I've never liked the yankee organization simply because of its "fans". Most real fans understand that when their team doesnt win...its not a good season, but it doesnt mean the other teams were bad. As a group of ball players I like the yankees, as a team and organization..its pathetic when they do nothing but overhype everything. Right now the best thing happening to MLB is that its ZERO for the 21st Century for the yankee organization. They were losers their last year in old decrepit Yankee Stadium and lets hope losers in their first season in the new one. What is sad is that really good ball players like Jeter, Posada and Cano will have to lug the yankee spooks around with them the rest of their lives. I wonder what its like to live with no real integrity...oh yea...the clintons and gores...and they are NYers...:)
Ralph - yeah Yanks fans never come across as cocky. No one would ever utter something about 26 rings or anything like that? Sounds like you live in quite a sheltered world.
And of course no Yankee has ever used a PED during their runs.
Sorry bud, but every team has been affected by this, like it or not.
Hey 321 Saint,
First of all, The Clintons hail from Arkansas and the Gores from Tennesse.
The majority of New Yorkers hail from other parts of the country and the world.
Unkike Boston which is only the center of New England, New York is the center of the world.
Secondly, Ralph is speaking from his heart and emotions. He basicly is responding to the Red Sox Nation sense of insecurity when they always bring a negative spin towards the Yankees and New York in general. I lived near Boston for several years, and experienced their animosity towards NY.
Thirdly, Most knowledgeable fans, even those in Boston, will acknowledge that today's game is tainted with illegal and some legal enhancements.
Every team was affected.
Fourthly, every team does have their share of over zealous fans like Ralph, which can be a good thing.
But, to make a generic comment that all New Yorkers all liars and mentally unstable is silly.
Look in the mirror or better yet, come and see and experience New York, you might change your opinion.
Part of what Arroyo said is not quite accurate. Many of rooted for Manny, or A-Rod or whoever when we thought they were clean. I stopped rooting for Manny before the steroids issue because he was a bigger jerk than a hitter. My concern, as well as many others' is the pressure the cheaters put on the rest of the players who did not want to cheat. How many roster spots were taken by cheaters from those who did not want to? How many kids were encouraged to cheat by the big numbers put up by Bonds, A-Rod, etc.? I care about the HONEST players, who have less of a chance because of the dishonest ones. The cheaters KNEW what they were doing, and they knew the consequences of their actions, just as I know that too many Big Macs aren't going to do me any good. The difference is that my eating Big Macs isn't going to make kids across the country eat them, and a Big Mac now and then can be offset by eating healthier other times and exercising.
Sure, Ralphie. Did you somehow conveniently forget that A-Roid, Pettit and Clemens were on that Yankee nose dive team?
Ya get loaded on booze and play hung over that is the same as performance enhancing drugs. What a moe.
salary cap,the owners,ceo's don't have a cap in anything.Your all morons.No football,baseball,sure as hades not basketball,ever again for me.