I just love it when baseball’s deep, dark secrets are exposed and everyone in the game starts running for cover. Whenever a whistleblower writes a book or talks about his experiences with baseball’s seamier underbelly, the first thing everyone does is call the whistleblower a “rat” or “crazy” or a publicity-hound. That’s what everyone said about Jose Canseco when his book came out last winter and that’s what everyone said about Jim Bouton when his tell-all book “Ball Four” came out in the 1970’s.
So it’s really no surprise that a number of Boston Red Sox took their potshots at a former teammate, Paxton Crawford, who spoke on the record about steroid use in the Red Sox clubhouse in 2000 and 2001. The most amusing portion of the accused players’ rebuttal is when Mike Stanley talks about Trot Nixon, Jason Varitek and Nomar Garciaparra, as if merely suspecting the oft-injured outfielder, Neanderthal-jawed catcher, or hyper-chiseled physique of the former shortstop would be an act of national treason. Give me a break.
Why would Paxton Crawford lie? He was an anonymous player during his short-lived career and he was living an anonymous life as a former big leaguer. He doesn’t have anything to gain by speaking openly about his time in Boston.
I understand why these guys have to circle the wagons and live by the Nixonian code of “deny, deny, deny,” especially in this climate of witch-hunting and overzealous prosecution so I can’t fault their reaction. I just think it’s laughable that these guys think us so foolish as to believe anything they say on the subject of steroids.
So it’s really no surprise that a number of Boston Red Sox took their potshots at a former teammate, Paxton Crawford, who spoke on the record about steroid use in the Red Sox clubhouse in 2000 and 2001. The most amusing portion of the accused players’ rebuttal is when Mike Stanley talks about Trot Nixon, Jason Varitek and Nomar Garciaparra, as if merely suspecting the oft-injured outfielder, Neanderthal-jawed catcher, or hyper-chiseled physique of the former shortstop would be an act of national treason. Give me a break.
Why would Paxton Crawford lie? He was an anonymous player during his short-lived career and he was living an anonymous life as a former big leaguer. He doesn’t have anything to gain by speaking openly about his time in Boston.
I understand why these guys have to circle the wagons and live by the Nixonian code of “deny, deny, deny,” especially in this climate of witch-hunting and overzealous prosecution so I can’t fault their reaction. I just think it’s laughable that these guys think us so foolish as to believe anything they say on the subject of steroids.
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