Frank Thomas called Wednesday for voluntary steroids testing by all players to end speculation that the majority of them are taking the drugs.
The controversy began with Jose Canseco’s recent claim that 85 percent of the players take steroids, followed by Ken Caminiti’s claim that half the players do it.
“I want them to get down to it,” Thomas said. “There’s something to [the claims]. I’ve been naive. I thought guys were just hitting the weight rooms a lot more. I thought I’d started that trend, because I was a football player and I came in with my football workout in baseball.
“I want testing tomorrow, pitchers included. I think a lot of pitchers are on it too, to throw harder and get more of an animal mentality. That stuff gives you an animal mentality, to focus on just killing the baseball.”
Thomas said he would be glad to be the first one to take a test.
“Jose opened up a can of worms, and now Caminiti is following up,” Thomas said. “The league needs to have a policy and start testing now. I want to know who’s doing this stuff. I liked [Curt] Schilling’s quote–average players [become] stars, stars become superstars and superstars are off the chart.”
Point, counterpoint: Yankees slugger Jason Giambi took the opposite tact, suggesting Canseco and Caminiti were exaggerating the extent of steroid usage.
“It sounds to me like Jose needs money,” he said. “That’s the only reason you’d make a comment like that.”
Giambi also called Caminiti’s claim “ridiculous.”
“Do the math,” Giambi said. “It’s ridiculous for him to make that comment about 50 percent. Twelve guys a team? C’mon. You know as well as I do, this is a sport that relies on flexibility, staying healthy. The one common thread that all the greats of the game have had was longevity. You don’t get that by taking shortcuts. You get that from working hard.
“In the new age, guys have trainers, like myself and Barry [Bonds]. They get people around them to do work to keep you in the lineup.”
Giambi believes the stark increase in home-run production since the ’90s can be traced to the smaller ballparks, increased weightlifting, expansion and the lure of big money.
“There is no miracle [drug] for this game,” he said. “You either have talent or you don’t. [Taking steroids] doesn’t help you hit a baseball or achieve things people worked hard for. The reason Barry Bonds broke the home run record is he stayed healthy all year.”
“You can’t make a broad statement saying half of baseball is using steroids, because nobody knows,” Derek Jeter added. “The bottom line is they don’t test for it.”
Roid rage? Sox manager Jerry Manuel said some players may “sell their soul” to get bigger through steroids and the potential health risk should be addressed. But he insisted taking steroids was “not cheating.”
“I don’t know if you can call it cheating if there’s no penalty,” Manuel said. ” The first time I heard of it was with Ben Johnson [in the 1988 Olympics], the sprinter. They thought it enhanced his performance and it was something that wasn’t allowed at the Olympics. [But] if it’s something that’s not banned, I don’t think it can be called cheating.”
Yankees manager Joe Torre pointed to Alfonso Soriano, who began the day tied for second in AL home runs with 14, as proof muscle mass doesn’t always translate to home-run power.
“He’s 180 pounds and has 14 home runs,” Torre said. “I’ve seen guys a lot bigger than him have trouble hitting 10 home runs a year. It’s timing more than strength.”
