Dan Serafini, a former Major League Baseball pitcher, doesn’t believe that baseball players who use anabolic steroids or human growth hormone (hGH) are cheating other players or cheating the game. In an interview with Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated, Serafini doesn’t see anything wrong with steroid use in baseball.
“No, I don’t consider it cheating,” said Serafini. “I think it just helps the better player with longevity and a chance for guys to stick around longer.”
Serafini is a journeyman, left-handed pitcher who played in the Major Leagues for seven season between 1996 and 2007. He played for six MLB teams until he was busted taking steroids in November 2007 while playing for the Colorado Rockies.
Serafini claimed that was the only time he used steroids in the MLB. He was prescribed steroids by a physician in Japan to help him recover from an Achilles tendon injury. He never played in the Majors after the positive steroid test. However, he has continued playing baseball for independent teams and Mexican Baseball League teams since then.
“I would never throw another player under the bus thinking he was cheating,” said Serafini. “He’s doing whatever he can to make the fans clap and scream and yell.”
Serafini views baseball players as “entertainers” who are simply doing what the job requires to make themselves better and healthier players who are available to play (and entertain) more frequently.
He doesn’t believe steroids make anyone a big leaguer. A professional athlete, first and foremost, must have the natural ability. Otherwise, no amount of performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) will make a difference.
Serafini also dispels the misconception that steroid use and hard work are mutually exclusive. He defends athletes, such as Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, who have been linked to steroid use by pointing out that they are some of the game’s hardest-working athletes.
Bonds and Clemens deserve to be in the Hall of Fame according to Serafini. There should not be an asterisk beside their names and they should not be labeled “cheaters”.
Serafini’s point of view obviously represents a minority perspective. But his lack of hypocrisy is refreshing in a sport where athletes busted for steroids frequently convert to become “reformed” anti-steroid advocates.
Photo credit: Tshires / Wikipedia
Source:
Verducci, T. (May 29, 2012). Dan Serafini among those who deny that using steroids was cheating. Retrieved from http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/tom_verducci/05/29/dan.serafini.steroids/index.html
