Bonds Ex-Teammate, "hard to dispute" Bonds Cheated

[TonyStarks]

NEW YORK -- Brian Johnson said it's "hard to dispute" that former teammate Barry Bonds cheated by using performance-enhancing drugs.

Johnson, appearing Sunday on ESPN's "Outside the Lines," recounted what he told the staff of baseball steroids investigator George Mitchell. He said they wanted him to "paint the picture that I saw as a player."

Johnson, a catcher with Bonds' San Francisco Giants in 1997 and 1998, also was asked by ESPN about Bonds, who tied Hank Aaron's career home run record on Saturday night.

"You can make a fair argument that he may have been cheating," Johnson said. "Based on what has been documented, it's hard to dispute that argument."

Johnson played with six major league teams from 1994-01 and said he spoke with the Mitchell investigators about his knowledge of steroids use.

"It was kind of a cloak-and-dagger society. Guys that were taking knew of each other and talked about things among themselves," Johnson said. "What I saw was that guys who were taking would never admit it, would never allow anybody to see. But it was pretty obvious to all of us that they were taking. ... Some people sold their soul to the devil and other people didn't."

Johnson hopes the investigation does more than document users.

"We need to do more than just find out who did it, crucify them, sweep them aside, and move forward," he said. "We need to do more than that."

---Taken from ESPN
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2962144

[Old Sweater]

Hmmmmmm, 471 games in 8 years. Looks like another player is hunting that fame after he retires.

[hiddengem]

Hmmmmmm, 471 games in 8 years. Looks like another player is hunting that fame after he retires.


Why does it matter how many games he played or what his status is? He was asked by investigators to answer some questions. He didn't throw Barry under the bus, all he said was that the possiblity is there.

[Old Sweater]

Why does it matter how many games he played or what his status is? He was asked by investigators to answer some questions. He didn't throw Barry under the bus, all he said was that the possiblity is there.

"We need to do more than just find out who did it, crucify them, sweep them aside, and move forward," he said.


Sounds pretty nasty to me.

[MyDogSparty]

Why does it matter how many games he played or what his status is? He was asked by investigators to answer some questions. He didn't throw Barry under the bus, all he said was that the possiblity is there.

Hiddengem, do YOU, being a major league ball player yourself, take ANY responsibility for PED usage in MLB? If so, what do you feel you're responsible for? If not, why?

[iPod]

If he hasn't used anything, I don't see why he should feel any responsibility for his colleagues' cheating, personally.

[MudvilleMike]

Hmmmmmm, 471 games in 8 years. Looks like another player is hunting that fame after he retires.

Huh? There's a lot more pressure to be quiet.

[Zito75]

Like I needed an ex-MLB player to tell me that Bonds may have cheated...

[hiddengem]

Hiddengem, do YOU, being a major league ball player yourself, take ANY responsibility for PED usage in MLB? If so, what do you feel you're responsible for? If not, why?

No I don't because I've played clean for 10yrs. I really don't care about amphetamines and things that get you up. Players have been using them for 50yrs or more I don't see why we shouldn't be allowed to now. "Joe" the normal fan has zero clue as to what it takes to get up for a game 28 days in a row without a day off. They make your body hurt less, help your arm get through the night, ect. I personally have no problem with them.

Steroids are different, and I think the guys in the 80's that started it all should shoulder some of the responsiblity. Our Union is to blame as is Major League baseball. Many guys that wanted to keep their jobs had to do what they had to do and it just became a snow ball effect.

Its like a Freeway where you know its against the law to cheat but nobody ever gets pulled over and ticketed. Whats going to happen? People are going to speed.

[west coast orange and black]

brian johnson spoke with the mitchell people and now with espn's "outside the lines". i wonder if he got a starbuck's gift certificate for his time.

anywaze, johnson seems to want it both ways. he positions himself as an outsider:
"it was kind of a cloak-and-dagger society. guys that were taking knew of each other and talked about things among themselves."
but also as one knows what's going on inside that cloak-and-dagger society: "what i saw was that guys who were taking would never admit it, would never allow anybody to see."

i am not gonna doubt anything that johnson says, but i do recall that bonds, according to the two sf chronicle reporters, started using in 1999, when johnson was no longer with the giants.

i'll never forget bj's game winner mid-september 1997 against the hated dodgers in the 12th

[Old Sweater]

HiddenGem>>>Steroids are different, and I think the guys in the 80's that started it all should shoulder some of the responsiblity


80's??? Used in the 60's and 70's to. Tom House a retired pitcher says he thinks the game is cleaner today then when he played, said they was taking crap you shouldn't give a horse.

[MyDogSparty]

Its like a Freeway where you know its against the law to cheat but nobody ever gets pulled over and ticketed. Whats going to happen? People are going to speed.

Have you ever seen anyone do steroids/PEDs or has it all been hearsay for you? And if you ever saw anyone doing it would you/did you say anything to him or management about it? If not, why?

[Sweet Lou]

"Joe" the normal fan has zero clue as to what it takes to get up for a game 28 days in a row without a day off.
Hiddengem, I respect and admire you very much. I'm grateful that you take time out of your day to spend here on this board and give us some insight as to the day in and day out of baseball.
With that said, I hope you'll hear what I have to say. I hope you'll understand that I see your point that we don't go what you go through everyday. However, there are loads and scores and millions of people who do hard, dirty, filthy work everyday in order to put food on the table. They may work 3 or 4 weeks in a row without a day off. They may put in 12-15 hours everyday. When I was a 16 year old, I worked on a farm 15 hours a day during wheat harvest. One week I put in 84 hours, the next I put in 78, and then it "dwindled" down to 60 hours a week after wheat harvest was over. I remember waking up in the middle of the night dreaming that I was on a tractor. I know what hard work is, I know how much it hurts, and while I'm not walking in your shoes, I think you forget that you are not walking in our shoes either.
Again, I hope to say this with a tone of respect, but I am a little tired of hearing how we all have no clue as to what you go through everyday. Believe me, I may not understand professional ballplayers daily lives, but I understand hard work, and so do a ton of us. Please give us some respect as well.
Thanks man,
Lou

[ESPNFan]

HiddenGem>>>


80's??? Used in the 60's and 70's to. Tom House a retired pitcher says he thinks the game is cleaner today then when he played, said they was taking crap you shouldn't give a horse.

House actually recanted his claim that everyone was using Steroids a couple of days afterwards. Not good when a guy can't get his own story straight. :shrug:

[KCGHOST]

The Bonds thing is just like the Rose thing. His supporters simply aren't going to listen to anything. Their arguments run from " until he's convicted in a court of law", "hey, everybody was doing it", "it's Selig's fault", "his accusers are bums", "what about amphetamines", "Babe Ruth was a whoremonger", etc. It is an endless litany of excuses.

I for one would be thrilled if these folks would simply come clean and say, "I don't care what he did or didn't do. He's my man."

As for the rest of us, just let it go until the smoking gun is found.

[west coast orange and black]

not an excuse, my reason: bonds has been singled out. he has been made made the whipping boy.

fainaru-wada and williams, from jump, could have taken any one of a number of paths.
they chose to go after bonds.
they publicly stated "bonds is the story."
that's a quote.

they could have done baseball-at-large a whole lotta good, but they chose not to.
they chose to go after bonds.
lotsa fans continue to choose bonds as the story instead of looking at or taking in the big picture.
it's a choice.

[west coast orange and black]

kcghost: [Bonds'] supporters simply aren't going to listen to anything .... I for one would be thrilled if these folks would simply come clean and say, "I don't care what he did or didn't do. He's my man."

i care about what bonds did or didn't do. he plays for my giants. he's my man.