Baseball player Jay Gibbons is playing Major League Baseball for the Los Angeles Dodgers almost four years after his dismissal from the Baltimore Orioles following steroid allegations. Gibbons believed his dismissal was related to the allegations concerning his use of performance-enhancing drugs although Orioles management claims the decision was unrelated. He wrote an emotional letter to all MLB baseball teams asking for a second chances. Gibbons feels he has finally surmounted the steroid stigma with his second chance in the Majors. [Read more…]
Steroids in Baseball
Apr
16
Major League Baseball Tells Impoverished Dominicans Not to Use Steroids
Major League Baseball has singled out the Dominican Republic in one of their most ambitious efforts to crack down on the use of anabolic steroids and performance-enhancing drugs among top amateur baseball players. The sport of baseball is an obsession in the small Caribbean country with a population of approximately nine million people. Steroid use was shown to be a major problem last year when MLB tested revealed that 13 of 40 top Dominican prospects were using steroids. Up until this year, top Dominican prospects did not face penalties after a failed steroid test. [Read more…]
Apr
14
Jurors Say Government Totally Failed to Prove Barry Bonds Lied About Steroids
The majority of the jurors in the Barry Bonds steroids-perjury trial thought that the federal government totally failed to prove that Bonds knowingly used anabolic steroids or human growth hormone (hGH). The jury was deadlocked on all of the perjury charges against Bonds and only convicted him on a single obstruction of justice charge.
Eight of the twelve jurors voted to acquit Barry Bonds on Count 1 in which prosecutors allege that Bonds lied about knowingly receiving anabolic steroids from his personal trainer Greg Anderson. Nine of twelve jurors wanted to acquit the baseball star on Count 3 after the feds failed to prove that Barry Bonds lied about receiving hGH from Anderson. [Read more…]
Apr
13
The Confusing Verdict in the Barry Bonds Steroids-Perjury Trial
A federal jury found Barry Bonds guilty of a single count of obstruction of justice but was unable to reach a decision on three other charges facing the former baseball slugger in the case of the United States of America v. Barry Lamar Bonds. Bonds was essentially cleared of three perjury charges after a hung jury resulted in a mistrial on those charges; the government has the option of retrying Bonds on those charges.
The verdict was somewhat confusing to many journalists who wondered how the jury determined Bonds was guilty of obstruction if it wasn’t convinced he was guilty of perjury. Bonds’ appellate attorneys have filed a motion requesting that Judge Susan Illston set aside the jury verdict but this is unlikely to happen. Judge Illston presided over the perjury trial of cyclist Tammy Thomas in which she was found guilty in a legally inconsistent verdict; Illston refused to set aside the verdict in the Thomas case. [Read more…]
Apr
10
Angry Christian Baseball Player Attacks Manny Ramirez Steroid Use
Former Houston Astros’ baseball player Morgan Ensberg felt compelled to lash out at Manny Ramirez by calling him “stupid” as well as “a coward”, “a fake” and “a cheat” in a post on his personal blog. Ramirez recently retired rather than face a 100 game suspension after testing positive for banned performance-enhancing drugs. Ensberg, a self-proclaimed Christian, repeatedly talked about God in his self-righteous blog post entitled “Manny” as he detailed the angry emotions and feelings caused by Ramirez’s recent retirement. [Read more…]
Apr
09
Barry Bonds Personal Trainer Released from Prison
Greg Anderson, the former personal trainer of Barry Bonds, has been released from federal prison. Anderson was reincarcerated on March 22, 2011 for contempt of court after refusing to testify during the Barry Bonds’ steroid-perjury trial. Judge Susan Illston had ordered Anderson incarcerated for the duration of the trial. The evidence portion of the perjury trial has ended and the fate of Barry Bonds rests in the hands of a federal jury as they deliberate the evidence against him. Anderson was released since his testimony is no longer needed. [Read more…]
Apr
01
Barry Bonds Has a Needle Phobia
Major League Baseball home run king Barry Bonds has a fear of needles according to testimony by his orthopedic surgeon at his perjury trial on Friday. Bonds dislike of having blood drawn for medical tests was so severe that he required small shots of novocaine prior to the procedure according to Dr. Arthur Ting. Most bodybuilders and veteran steroid users find such fears laughable among newcomers in the steroid subculture .
The defense is likely to use Bonds fear of needles to create reasonable doubt among the jury that Bonds was the recipient of any injections for non-medical purposes. The government believes that Bonds committed perjury when he told a 2003 grand jury investigating BALCO that he never received any injections from his personal trainer or anyone else other than a medical professional. The defense will their work cut out for them after Bonds’ former personal shopper provided eyewitness testimony that she observed Bonds receiving an injection from Greg Anderson; the likeable Kathy Hoskins made a very favorable impression on most observers in the courtroom and most likely the jury as well. [Read more…]
