The New York Daily News is reporting that Barry Bonds failed a drug test and violated MLB’s amphetamine policy last season but blamed it on a teammate. According to Bonds, he took a substance from Mark Sweeney’s locker and it turned out to be amphetamines. Hmmmm…. so what we have here is a world class athlete under intense scrutiny for performance enhancing drugs just randomly putting stuff in his body that he found in a teammate’s locker. Unless that substance was a bucket of friend chicken he found in Pedro Cerrano’s locker, we’re calling bullshit.
Amphetamines (speed), long used in baseball and known as “greenies” are a performance enhancing drug but does not fall under the steroid category so Bonds wasn’t suspended 50 games. Instead he was given counseling and treatment. A second offense would have meant a 25 game suspension.
Bonds and all his defenders have always said that he never did anything wrong because even if he took steroids, it was before the league banned them outright and he has never failed a drug test. Well, that argument is out the window. He has failed a drug test for a performance enhancer. Is there really any question that Bonds is not a “natural” athlete and a cheater? And on top of that, in a team sport, he throws a teammate under the bus. It really will be a shame if Bonds breaks Hank Aaron’s home run record.
Links:
[NY Daily News]: Failure leaves a testy Barry
[Palm Beach Post]: Baseball and amphetimines