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Talk about performance enhancement. There was plenty of it Monday (Aug. 5) at U.S. Cellular Field, where the New York Yankees played the Chicago White Sox. On the field and off. And plenty of talk regarding performance enhancement.
Aug. 5 was the 51st anniversary of the death of Marilyn Monroe, who once was married to Yankees legend Joe DiMaggio. Here she is long ago at White Sox spring training with Gus Zernial (catching) and Joe Dobson.[/caption]
With the Yankees in town and Alex Rodriguez returning to the team after injury, the third baseman held a pregame press conference. Not totally because he was back. In no small part because he soon may be gone.
Major League Baseball suspended Rodriguez through the end of the 2014 season and 12 others — including San Diego’s Everth Cabrera, Texas’ Nelson Cruz and Detroit’s Jhonny Peralta — for 50 games. The suspensions stem from the players’ involvement with Biogenesis, an anti-aging clinic in Florida.
“Obviously, I’m disappointed with the news today,” Rodriguez said. “What we’ve always fought for is the process and I think we have that, and I think at some point we’ll sit in front of an arbiter and we’ll give our case. That’s as much as I feel comfortable saying right now.”
Commissioner Bud Selig said in a statement the punishment is to begin Thursday and cover the rest of the 2013 regular season, the 2013 postseason and the 2014 regular season. A-Rod is expected to appeal, a move that would delay the process.
Selig said the suspension was a result of Rodriguez’s “use and possession of numerous forms of prohibited performance-enhancing substances, including testosterone and human growth hormone, over the course of multiple years.”
Yankees manager Joe Girardi managed to avoid offering any negative sentiments regarding Rodriguez. “I’m not here to judge people,” the former Northwestern University and big-league catcher said. “It’s not my job.”
Well, except that it is.
Managers make judgments all the time. OK, not in a courtroom. But surely in baseball’s version of a courtroom.
Girardi uttered something about innocent until guilty and appeared to sidestep the steps that MLB is taking. Steps that — presumably — are being taken based on evidence.
One of the hallmarks of baseball’s steroids era (and the ensuing fantasy that it is over) is managers sticking their head in the sand. Or whatever they did to turn a blind eye to what was going on in clubhouses and/or happening to their players who amazingly would show up to spring training more muscular after a winter of … gee, it must have been entirely exercise, don’t you think? Uh, no.
And when baseball began — belatedly — to crack down on performance-enhancing drugs, players would show up to spring training many pounds lighter
A-Rod said he is “fighting for my life.” More like he is fighting for his contract, which has a few years and millions of dollars remaining on it.
As for any performance enhancement during the game? Well, The object of boos from the crowd, Rodriguez was 1-for-4. That was the enhancement. The Sox won 8-1 to end a 10-game losing streak. That was the enhancement. Gee, all it took was to have A-Rod around for inspiration.
Because of a technical error Sunday, a video featuring former All American Girls Professional Baseball League player Dolly Niemiec Konwinski might not have been available for viewing when it should have been. Consequently, we are running it again. Information regarding the event she talks about Sept 4-7 in suburban Chicago may be accessed by clicking he.re.
Here is where to go for a daily dose of non-gratuitous video (thanks to the efforts of the editorial and video departments at elliottharris.com and their intriguing definition of “gratuitous”):
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