Via Brew Grit, The NY Daily News pens part one of an excellent investigative piece on the 1990’s FBI probe of steroid trafficking. There are allegations that McGwire was using more than andro. In fact, they list his regimen:
The recipe called for 1/2 cc of testosterone cypionate every three days; one cc of testosterone enanthate per week; equipoise and winstrol v, 1/4 cc every three days, injected into the buttocks, one in one cheek, one in the other.
It was the cocktail of a hardcore steroids user, and it is one of the “arrays,” or steroid recipes, Mark McGwire used to become the biggest thing in baseball in the 1990s, sources have told the Daily News.
It appears the dealers the FBI were after don’t play nice:
The two convicted sources who connected Wenzlaff to Canseco and McGwire declined to be named, saying they feared retribution from some of the steroid dealers they informed on. But two FBI sources confirmed the men’s identities and said they provided credible information throughout the operation and, like Wenzlaff, avoided jail time for their cooperation. One FBI source also said the men’s fears about retribution are well-founded.
“That’s why I’m amazed at what Jose said in the book,” Wenzlaff says. “There are some people who might come after him.”
It’s also becoming clear that Canseco was a major vector for steroids coming into baseball (Emphasis added):
Stejskal, the agent who told the News last month that he warned Major League Baseball about a rising steroid problem at least 10 years ago, declined interview requests for this story. After he was quoted last month he was told not to speak to the media anymore. But before he was admonished, he told the Daily News what he learned about Canseco during the investigation.
“Canseco was one of those people that we heard would take orders from other people who would say ‘Hey, can you get me some of this?’ and he would do that. We didn’t characterize that as being a dealer. That was just somebody acting as a middle man,” said Stejskal, who put Major League Baseball security in touch with Wenzlaff to discuss Canseco’s burgeoning steroid allegations about a year ago. “We were a little skeptical at first because Wenzlaff kinda comes off as he has a high opinion of himself. So consequently we weren’t quite sure. But as we did some more checking and we were able to get his phone records and things like that, it was clear he did have a relationship with Canseco.”
In addition, an undercover agent saw a photo of Wenzlaff with Canseco, recorded Wenzlaff on a wiretap talking about providing steroids to Canseco, and the FBI found Canseco’s private phone number in Wenzlaff’s phone book after they arrested him.
In hindsight, it might have done a world of good to look at Canseco as a dealer. If Hal Chase had been driven out of baseball 100 years ago, the gambling scandals of the teens might not have happened. Canseco was dealing with unsavory characters. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of those people had gambling ties. That would have been enough for discipline by the Commissioner’s office. But the players didn’t want testing, and MLB didn’t want a scandal, so nothing happened.
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I’ve posted something similar to what I am about to say in several places now, so I apologize if anyone has read this before but…
For some reason I still fail to see how this means Big Mac did the juice.
The Daily News article states that no evidence was gathered against McGwire in the investigation, so really all we have is more of what we had yesterday before this article, people of questionable character accusing McGwire of using steroids.
Is there something of substance that I am missing?
Mark McGwire implicated in steroids probe?
Say it ain’t so, Big Mac
It can’t happen. I can’t believe it. I won’t be deprived of one of the greatest moments in modern sports history, the true “Where Were You When?” that was McGwire blasting homerun number 62 off Steve Trachsel in …
“The Daily News article states that no evidence was gathered against McGwire in the investigation”
Tom, what this means is that the FBI did not gather evidence against McGwire because he wasn’t a target of the investigation. They do, however, have testimony and apparently some documents that implicate McGwire. Probably not enough for trial – largely because they weren’t investigating McGwire.
What does it all mean? This provides additional and apparently credible sources linking McGwire to steroids. While he is probably guilty we won’t know that beyond a reasonable doubt unless an investigation occurs. But why would an investigation occur? I seriously doubt anyone wants to press criminal charges.
The question is what does this mean if he testifies? *If* he took steroids, which now is a very distinct possibility, will he:
1) Lie and deny, and risk possible perjury
or
2) Take the fifth amendment, which would cause further speculation and suspicion on McGwire.
And if he does take the fifth, Congress may give him immunity to try to force him to tell the truth and make taking the Fifth a moot point.
I guess we will find out
Seamus, I agree with just about everything you said except for “credible sources”. Who are the sources? All the article tells us is, “FBI informants”. Who are they? What makes them so credible.
I agree, this doesn’t look good at all for McGwire, but it is not at all a smoking gun.
In Malcom Gladwell’s fantastic book, The Tipping Point, he describes how epidemics occur not gradually, but incredibly rapidly, very often the result of the work of a few people who are in the right place at the right time. He dubbed these Few Connectors, Mavens, and Salesmen. Connectors have a wide, diverse group of friends, and are uniquely capable of spreading an idea or trend through a wide variety of channels. Mavens are experts in a particular field, people who are relied on for advice when looking into something. Salesmen are those people who can convince their friends to try something different or new through the strength of their personality. The combination of these three types of people tend to power revolutionary ideas and products.
I think Jose Canseco is one of these people. As an oft-traded popular outfielder, he stayed connected in a variety of worlds. As an early experimenter in steroids, he held a unique position as a “steroids expert” among his teamates, someone they could go to for advice and juice. And as evidently stupid as he may appear, he was also immensely popular 15 years ago, and was one of the most well-known ballplayers in the league. It’s therefore not surprising that someone like Canseco can single-handedly start a steroids epidemic in baseball.
The lesson of The Tipping Point is, however, that to control these epidemics we need not take broad, comprehensive measures–just find the tipping point, and counteract it. One way to do that may be identify the Cansecos of baseball and remove them. Now baseball has a unique context, and steroids hold a powerful message for potential users, but I have no doubt that had La Russa or Jocketty or somebody had singled him out early on, steroids would not have gotten as widespread as they appear to have gotten 10-15 years ago.
Steroid use appears to have plummeted in recent years, and many attribute this decline to MLB’s new policy and increased public attention to the issue. I have no doubt that both of those factors played a huge role. But we should not overlook the role that specific players have on steroid usage.
Charismatic, successful players like Canseco or Bonds have enormous influence on young players and could easily override any sort of influence the media or testing programs may have on their choices. It’s important to remember that as testing technologies develop, steroids become more elusive and harder to detect. Solely relying on the media and a testing program to curtail usage is destined to fail if players still feel pressure to succeed and still admire steroid users for what they accomplish. That’s the tipping point. I think we should be focusing even more on individual players in figuring out how this epidemic happened, and how to prevent another one from occurring in the near future.
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