Another Cheating Liar Caught: NY Times Reporting AS FACT That Sammy Sosa Tested Positive for Steroids in 2003
Link and excerpt below. I’m not touching this one beyond that and one sad, frustrated, distraught paragraph (and, of course, the exceedingly relevant “Cheating Liars” video from FST).
The NEW YORK TIMES IS REPORTING that Sammy Sosa tested positive for steroids in 2003. Here is your excerpt, none of which was written or speculated about by me, but rather comes directly from a New York Times report that is putting this information forward as confirmed fact:
Sammy Sosa, who joined with Mark McGwire in 1998 in a celebrated pursuit of baseball’s single-season home run record, is among the players who tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug in 2003, according to lawyers with knowledge of the drug-testing results from that year.
The disclosure that Sosa tested positive makes him the latest baseball star of the last two decades to be linked to performance-enhancers, a group that now includes McGwire, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez and Rafael Palmeiro.
…
The 2003 positive test could also create legal troubles for Sosa because he testified under oath before Congress at a public hearing in 2005 that he had “never taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs.â€
If you would like a blogger’s reaction, hop on over to our good friend Josh Q. Public to see what he had to say about the report that Sammy Sosa testing positive for steroids. We’re laying off steroid talk around here for a while.
Needless to say, this is another sad, sad day for baseball fans everywhere. One more hero for whom speculation proved true and whose accomplishments will forever be tainted. Way to go players, the union, and Major League Baseball.
The fact that no one is surprised by this is YOUR fault and nobody else’s.
Update: One more thought. I know there are going to be a lot of I-told-you-so’s and jokes going around and all of that stuff, especially in light of everything that happened last week with the Raul Ibanez story. And I know that I’ve always been a Sosa and Cubs hater. But let me make one thing one clear:
I HATE this story. Hate it.
Yes, I suspected all along that Sosa was on steroids, and in fact I would have bet money that he was had I been forced to. (This, remember, is the complete of opposite of what I’ve maintained about Ibanez, who I believe is clean.) And even though the video below called Sosa out two years ago, way before any proof had been gleaned, I take zero satisfaction in a story like this.
It sucks, and it sucks bad.
The Summer of Big Mac and Sammy was such a great experience, such a great memory; and I can only imagine how special it much have been for Cardinals and Cubs fans. And perhaps everyone had already given up the purity of that memory before today, but even in that case this story is still a big, fat kick in the junk with a steel-toed boot for any baseball fan.
I know that we’re all cynical in this day and age, but in our hearts we all still have that innocent, pure baseball fan inside of us who watches the game with child-like wonder — the one who first fell in love with the game way back when.
This story is yet another insult to that part of me. And I’m fucking sick and tired of it.
**********
“Enjoy” the video, which sadly seems to become more relevant with each passing year, month, and day:
(And once again, for the record, this song is NOT purporting that Derek Jeter ever used PEDs. Listen to the words! “But not Yankees #2!” Not sure how many times I have to explain this to people…)
Tags: chicago cubs, MLB, PEDs, sammy sosa, steroids
---------------
If you enjoyed this post, please consider sharing with your friends:





I’ll tell you why this bothers me. The Raul Ibanez reaction http://blogs.suntimes.com/sportsprose/2009/06/raul_ibanez_steroid_issue_expo.html was ridiculous. We didn’t paint this landscape. We were all once believers. Like my main man flavor flav always says, “It was you that chose your due. You built this maze you can’t get through. I tried to help you all I can. Now I can’t do nuttin’ for you man.” Don’t come finger waggin’to us.
Reply
JRod Reply:
June 16th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
@josh q public, I just feel dejected all the way around. I know that we all expect it now, especially from a guy like Sosa…but every time it comes out it’s still such a downer.
Maybe it shouldn’t be, maybe I/we just shouldn’t care. But at a certain point, it’s hard to fully embrace the game without trying to believe in it. Honestly, in the aftermath of the Ibanez situation the thing I questioned the most was whether or not I should really be suspicious of baseball players. Obviously, that was more wishful thinking/hoping than anything. Because the truth is that I AM suspicious, and this is exactly the reason why. In the last three months: ARod, Manny, Sammy. Three of perhaps the 10 most prolific hitters in MLB history.
Seriously?
I don’t know what else to say…
Reply
KVB Reply:
June 17th, 2009 at 7:29 am
@JRod, Let’s say this: This opens the door for a clean player like Frank Thomas to be a first ballot HOF guy. The seven year stretch where Frank accumulated stats that only Ted Williams could boast should have been enough, but his whole career was not in some eyes after the overall jump in stats during this era that we now know was tainted.
I would like to focus on that now, who are the handful of players that we know should be first ballot guys like Frank and Jr. Griffey? I know suspicion is all around us and it is warranted but we can keep the faith and raise praise to all that is pure and natural in the son of Ken Sr. and the former Auburn football player.
Reply
JRod Reply:
June 17th, 2009 at 8:15 am
@KVB, sounds like a hell of a post. Who do we believe in the most? As I’ve stated ad nauseum, I don’t believe totally in anyone. But there certainly is a list of guys (Jeter, Hurt, Griffey, Ibanez among them) that I would put at the top of my “It would shock me the most” list.
Get the debate going KVB.
look at sammy the first season him and Mark McGwire was slugging it out, then look at sammy the second season of that slugfest. A moron could tell sammy had been well enhanced during the off season.
Reply
ESPN is talking about you on the Phillies-Blue Jays game. Blogger with ‘no accountability’ and ‘no journalism standards’ making these ‘accusations about Ibanez’.
Reply
JRod Reply:
June 17th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
@Think Blue Crew, and more people who never read the Ibanez post continue sending traffic to the Ibanez post. I can’t really complain.
Reply