Former Atlanta Braves’ closer John Rocker admits to having used steroids – MLB News
As the news of the Milwaukee Brewers’ left-fielder Ryan Braun’s failed test result swept the baseball circles, former big leaguer John Rocker stunned many people on Tuesday, December 13, when he admitted during a radio interview that he tested positive for
steroids in 1999.
Talking further on the matter, Rocker said all this ensued after he gave an interview to Sports Illustrated, which prompted the league to ask for an immediate test whose result then turned out to be positive.
However, upon the query of the interviewer if he felt any stronger after taking steroids, Rocker responded in negative. The Atlanta Braves’ former player said this he did due to enormous expectations attached to him by fans and the team.
"No. Can I throw three or four mph harder because of it? Yes. Was my breaking ball better because of it? No. The reason was [for taking it] with my teammates and their confidence laying on my shoulders, with the coaching staff and their confidence on my
shoulders, with the millions of Atlanta Braves fans, I am not going to step on that mound with that kind of responsibility with my gun half-loaded.”
Rocker had 88 saves in his career in the six seasons that he featured for the Atlanta Braves, maintaining an ERA of 3.42 with 13-22 record.
His revelation at this point in time raises key questions as to why the players take recourse to steroids. They do certainly prove to be performance-enhancing stuff, but do, significantly impact their career.
One of the luckiest things that happened to Rocker, however, was that Major League Baseball had not implemented any formal policy on the subject back then. However, the comments he made landed him in a trouble which still haunts him.
Regretting the revelation back then he made to the interviewer back in 1999, Rocker thinks he should have avoided it. But as that is a thing of the past, what observers will carefully look at in the days to come is the controversy surrounding Ryan Braun,
which will affect the career of this bright player to colossal proportions.
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