SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. – Barry Bonds is back in the news after making some interesting comments to a group of reporters recently. Bonds told reporters he was “proud” of Mark McGwire’s steroid admission.

Question via Colleen Dominguez of ESPN: What was your reaction to Mark McGwire’s steroid admission?

Bonds: I have a really good friendship with Mark McGwire. I’m proud of him. I have a great relationship through our entire life and career and I’m proud of what he did and I’m happy for him.

Question: Been swinging a bat, (Barry)?

Bonds: Actually, I went down to Florida to work out with Ryan Howard during the wintertime and coached him a little bit and he’s doing very, very well and hasn’t said one thing about me yet. (Laughs.) But I love him and I’m glad he’s doing well.

Still, Barry hasn’t given much thought to following in McGwire’s footsteps and becoming a Major League hitting instructor. Though he enjoys sharing tips with his fellow hitters — something he was notorious for not doing during his playing career.

Bonds: I was given a gift with the things that I know and can do in this game and sooner or later I will be able to pass that along and whoever wants it, I’ll just talk to them about it. I can see things that they don’t understand how I can see it. I have a very good talent in the game of baseball, especially for hitting. If you want it, I’ll be happy to share with you. I didn’t think it would be something I would do, but I really enjoy helping out others. God gave me a gift and it’s nice to let someone else see what God has given to me.

MLB’s all-time homerun king also reiterated that he hasn’t retired, but wouldn’t comment in much detail about it — in part because the Player’s Association is forming a collusion case against MLB. When he was asked directly about the suit mum was the word.

Question: The Players’ Association is preparing a collusion case against MLB. To what extent do you plan to be a part of that case?

Bonds: You know what, I’m sorry brother, this is the first time I heard about this. First time. I’m sorry, brother. I’d help you out but I can’t.

While Bonds avoided the perpetual black cloud that follows him daily — steroids — a different former Giants outfielder got something off his chest.

Speaking to San Francisco Chronicle beat writer, Henry Schulman, Benard admitted that he used performance-enhancing drugs while playing for the Giants.

“To be honest with you, it was an embarrassing moment that you can’t take back,” Benard told Schulman. “When you’re playing you do some dumb things, thinking, ‘This is going to help me.’ You realize later on they were stupid.”

Benard played parts of nine seasons in San Francisco, and never was healthy enough to earn a job after he left the team following the ’03 season. He’s now 40 and living in Washington with his son and second wife.

Also in attendance for the 2000 reunion aside from Bonds and Benard were Rich Aurilia, Ellis Burks, Felipe Crespo, Shawn Estes, Mark Gardner, Jeff Kent, Robb Nen, Armando Rios, Kirk Rueter, and J.T. Snow.

Re-printed with permission of the author.

Theo is a staff reporter and feature writer for the Marin Independent Journal where he covers local prep and college sports. As an Associate Production Manager for ESPN, he helped produce Sunday Night Baseball among other national ESPN and ABC Sports telecasts. Besides his contributions to Examiner.com, the I.J. and Sports Climax, Theo is the play-by-play voice for Sonoma State University baseball and softball.

Copyright ©2010 Sports Climax™

Jay McGwire and brother Mark haven’t spoken much since 2002 and with brother Jay’s book “Mark and Me: Mark McGwire and the Truth Behind Baseball’s Worst-Kept Secret,” scheduled to hit the bookstores Monday, don’t expect these two to exchange Christmas gifts any time soon.

In the book, Jay, an avid body-builder and heavy steroid user shares information with the world that up to this point, Mark has managed to keep away from the media, league and fans.

Jay told ESPN he reveals the details and types of performance-enhancing drugs he says Big Mac used during a three-year stretch beginning in 1994. He also suggests that Big Mac is dodging the truth since admitting his drug use days before Spring Training opened.

“Mark knows that he was getting stronger and bigger, come on,” Jay told ESPN. “He is coming across that it is only for health reasons, but he put on 30 pounds of lean muscle mass. That is why a lot of people don’t understand why he is not really coming out clean like that. Why not just admit it all? It is OK, everyone knows how powerful these drugs are.”

Back when it all started, Jay said he drove up to Sacramento with Mark and talked about the options and types of drugs available. “Mark asked a lot of questions. He was more concerned about something that is going to help him [get] healthy. At that time he had lot of foot problems, lower back problems. So we thought about getting him on HGH and Deca-Durabolin.”

As time went on, Jay said Mark’s drug menu expanded to include Dianabol, Clenbuterol, Primobolan and Winstrol.
“I just look at steroids as a shortcut,” said Jay. “It prolonged his career. He got some big contracts out of it”.

That he did as Big Mac extended his career and earned approximately $60 million between 1995 and 2001.
Jay compliments how his brother helped put Major League Baseball back on the map.

“He turned the game around. Come on, he got people in the stands. Remember when they’d go out and hit batting practice there would be 25,000 people for batting practice. That is neat. That is what baseball needed, but the steroid thing got way out of hand and Major League Baseball didn’t do anything and it got into the government.”

“I think he was freaky for a baseball player,” said Jay. “His forearms are 17½ inches. His biceps were 19-plus. That is pretty freak. His leg power is huge. If you see the before and after pictures, look back and look at them in ’98 compared to ’88. It is a huge difference. But I want to make it very clear it wasn’t just the drugs. People under estimate the training behind it. Mark busted his butt.”

During the interview with ESPN, Jay said Mark worked “ridiculously hard” sometimes as many as 6 times a week and that the changes were not just brought on by the drugs.

Seeing the payoff, Jay believes Mark’s enhanced physical stature and increased success at the plate convinced other MLB stars to get involved in steroid use.

“I think these other athletes, A-Rod, Manny, Sosa, they saw Mark way back in the mid-’80s. They saw him grow and grow and grow. He’s not the one telling everyone, ‘Hey, I’m doing steroids.’ But I think people assumed that he was doing something, so I think that he motivated a lot of people . . . the temptation is overwhelming.”

Jay also finds it odd that investigators never contacted him while exploring steroid use for MLB commish Bud Selig, even after the contents of his book leaked out last year.

“It’s funny, huh?” said Jay. “You’d think that you’d want to go to the core of the story. And no one has really suspected me. I’ve been the person all along.”

According to ESPN, Mark did not return phone requests left with his spokesman, Ari Fleischer or the St. Louis Cardinals. Mark is currently the hitting coach for his former team.

When Jay was asked about brother Mark not remembering what type of steroids or enhancers he used, Jay believes that to be untrue. “Yeah, he knows,” Jay said. “I just think he is coached. He didn’t want to talk about it.”

Copyright 2010 Sports Climax™

Andre Dawson finally survived the controversial Hall of Fame voting procedure and will join other baseball greats in Cooperstown.

Many felt the slugger, who played 11 seasons with the Montreal Expos and another 10 with the Chicago Cubs, should have been voted in years ago but despite being one of just three major leaguers to steal over 300 bases and hit over 400 homers, Dawson had to endure a nine-year wait to be elected. BTW, the other two players are two of MLB’s greatest players ever; Willie Mays and Barry Bonds.

Dawson’s career stats are impressive and include 2,774 hits, 438 HRs and 1,591 RBIs.

“As I stand here, I’m literally shaking,” said Dawson, the 1987 National League MVP. “I had a knee replacement on one leg that I thought was dead but it’s shaking.”

Dawson was the lone player on the ballot to receive the required 75% of the vote.

Due to his long tenure with both the Expos and Cubs, Cooperstown hasn’t decided whether the eight-time All-Star will be presented with an Expos or Cubs hat.

Other players on the ballot receiving votes:

Andre Dawson 420 77.9
Bert Blyleven 400 74.2
Roberto Alomar 397 73.7
Jack Morris 282 52.3
Barry Larkin 278 51.6
Lee Smith 255 47.3
Edgar Martinez 195 36.2
Tim Raines 164 30.4
Mark McGwire 128 23.7
Alan Trammell 121 22.4
Fred McGriff 116 21.5
Don Mattingly 87 16.1
Dave Parker 82 15.2
Dale Murphy 63 11.7
Harold Baines 33 6.1
Andres Galarraga 22 4.1

ATLANTA – While Barry Bonds prepares for his trial and Roger Clemens awaits word on perjury charges, Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig remains on the hot seat following New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez’ press conference yesterday in Tampa.While the media spends their time over-analyzing how much truth A-Rod’s statements contained, many people still question whether Selig has spent the past decade ignoring his league’s steroid abuse problem.

Selig is quick to deflect the blame.

During a Newsday interview, Selig continued defending his reputation, “I don’t want to hear the commissioner turned a blind eye to this or he didn’t care about it,” said Selig. “That annoys the you-know-what out of me. You bet I’m sensitive to the criticism.”

“A lot of people say we should have done this or that, and I understand that. They ask me, ‘How could you not know? When I look back at where we were in ’98 and where we are today, I’m proud of the progress we’ve made.”

“Starting in 1995, I tried to institute a steroid policy,” Selig continued. “Needless to say, it was met with strong resistance. We were fought by the union every step of the way.”

Many of us close to baseball assumed there was enhancement help of some kind during the 1998 home run race between Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire. Why would it suddenly be possible for not only one, but two players to breeze past Maris’ HR record the same year with one guy nailing 70 out of the park.

I remember driving down the interstate in Chicago during that summer of ’98 with my wife and most every day that week the numbers on the banner keeping tabs on Sosa’s race were increasing by the day, reaching far past Roger Maris’ record of 61. Sosa ended up with 66 that year, four behind McGuire’s record-setting 70.

When asked about that home run race, Selig continues to defend himself and the league. In diminutive defense of Selig, the MLBPA union and the owners did not implement a joint drug program until 2002 with that agreement allowing punishment starting in 2004 so his argument is that his hands were somewhat tied.

“It is important to remember that these recent revelations relate to pre-program activity,” Selig told Newsday. “Under our current drug program, if you are caught using steroids and/or amphetamines, you will be punished. Since 2005, every player who has tested positive for steroids has been suspended for as much as 50games.”

While receiving a little bit of help from icons like Hank Aaron, Selig remains in a difficult position, being asked to throw his players and league under the bus and may be forced to remain in the damage-control mode for many months to come.

The Commish could always consider deflecting some of the recent attention of the ’98 home run race by blaming Sosa’s corked bats.

Copyright © 2009 – Sports Climax