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Tuesday, November 08, 2005Wally Joyner admits steroid useWally Joyner has told ESPN the magazine that he asked for - and received - steroids from then Padres teammate Ken Caminiti during the 1998 season.
In a 16-page report titled "Who Knew?" ESPN The Magazine chronicles the spread of steroids through the sport of baseball and reports on how executives, players, trainers and the media turned a blind eye to allow it. The report will appear in the November 21 issue.Not that there's necessarily a correlation, but 1998 was the last time Joyner would hit for anything resembling "power." (Of course, Joyner alternated between "adequate" power seasons and Darin Erstad power seasons throughout his career.) I wonder what effect - if any - this admission will have on the way the "Wally World" seasons (which were apparently clean, mind you) are remembered by Angels fans. I ask, because having been two at the time of his breakout 1987 season, I don't have any special appreciation for Joyner. Comments:Wally's my favorite all-time player, and this changes nothing for me. Until we read the actual story, the nature of his alleged use in 1998 is unclear. Though the TSN report you link to claimes he used "for some time," ESPN's own report on their story (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2217361) merely says "Caminiti supplied him with pills that Joyner ingested. Joyner says he regretted taking any of the pills and threw the rest away," which doesn't really fit the "for some time" phrase inserted by TSN. Has TSN read the story? I don't know -- but it seems that ESPN's description of their own story would be more accurate. Other news sources have yet to pick up on the story. Either way, it's notable that Wally's 1998 season is completely in line with surrounding seasons. Actually, let me also take issue with this: (Of course, Joyner alternated between "adequate" power seasons and Darin Erstad power seasons throughout his career.) Wally's career Isolated Power (extra bases per at-bat) was .151 in the park-adjusted league context of .144 -- he was 5% better than average. Erstad's is .130 in the context of .163 -- he's about 20% below average. In how many seasons has Erstad been 5% better than average in ISO? The grand total of three (1997, 1998, 2000). How many times was Wally's ISO merely 80% of league-average? Three times, as well -- but they were each of his last three seasons, when he was 37, 38, and 39 years old. (He got close a couple of times in the mid-90s with the Royals, but his power was still way above recent Erstad levels.) Even if you include 2000, Erstad wasn't anywhere near Wally's ability as a hitter. Erstad's career line is 287/342/417. Putting Wally's line into Erstad's career context would give him a line of 296/369/467. That's a difference of 40 points of Isolated Power, which is pretty substantial. Chronicler - NEVER in MY LIFE have I exaggerated. NOT ONCE! Fair enough - Joyner power was never as bad as Erstad's. But he did fluctuate rather wildly from season to seasonn in HR/AB, which is all I was attempting get across: 87 0.037 88 0.060 89 0.022 90 0.027 91 0.026 92 0.038 93 0.016 94 0.030 95 0.022 96 0.026 97 0.018 98 0.029 99 0.027 00 0.015 01 0.022 One of my friends' all-time favorite players is Joyner. I just broke him the news. It's as if he's 10 and I just told him there is no Santa Claus... Wally Joyner admitting steroid use is to an older Angels fan what Bob Novack admitting being Andrew Sullivan's submissive lover would be to true-blue Republican. All we know is he (allegedly) asked Caminiti for some stuff, took some, didn't like it, and threw the rest away. The story's not out until tomorrow, we don't really know anything about it yet. My sports life began in 1987-1988 (I was 6-7) and Wally Joyner took a place alongside Magic Johnson for me. These were my favorite players on my favorite teams. My favorite number was 21 because he wore it. Going to the games at that time was all about Wally World. When he left for the Royals, I was heartbroken. Because I was so young and early in my sports career, I was able to recover and soon discovered Tim Salmon, who is, probably always will be, my favorite player. I would be much more upset if Joyner had used them early in his career and/or if he had not thrown them away on his own, probably disgusted with himself. As it is, I am disappointed in Wally, and at least part of that is because he was my first superstar baseball player. Salmon using steroids would probably be my Santa Claus not being real. Joyner using steroids is like being told the Great Pumpkin is not real. The reports now are that he took the pills for a couple weeks, and then "felt filthy" and tossed the rest. I'll always have a soft spot for "Wally World". His admitting that he used steroids long after he left the Angels does nothing in my eyes to dimish what he did while with the Angels. The story is now online. The Wally section: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/eticket/story?page=steroids&num=7 He took three pills over the course of 12 days ... during Spring Training. He then flushed the rest down the toilet. Keep in mind that it wasn't against the rules for Wally to use the stuff. I consider it analogous to asking a teammate to share his MetRx shakes. |
