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Steroid list disappoints Long Island baseball fans

BY PATRICK WHITTLE AND MATTHEW CHAYES | patrick.whittle@newsday.com ; matthew.chayes@newsday.com

December 14, 2007

As he watched commentators dissect the blockbuster steroid report on a television at Play Like A Pro Baseball, an indoor training facility in Hauppauge, Patrick Lennon reflected on his six seasons in the major leagues and how he never would have used performance-enhancing drugs.

"There's one thing that my dad always taught me: compete. When you're competing, you're competing against another guy," said Lennon, who played outfield for the Mariners, Royals, Athletics and Blue Jays in the 1990s and was a member of the Long Island Ducks 2004 Atlantic League championship team.

Lennon, 39, of Islip, was among the Long Island baseball fans and former players who wondered what yesterday's revelations in former Sen. George Mitchell's report on performance-enhancing drugs would mean for the future of the game.

He saw the news that the report includes big names such as Roger Clemens, Miguel Tejada and Paul Lo Duca as the end of a big coverup: "Baseball looked over it. I was there," he said, adding that he knew some players were using steroids.

But Neal Heaton, of East Patchogue, who pitched for seven teams in the major leagues, said he was surprised so many players were named. He said he never saw a player take a performance-enhancing drug in his 12 seasons in the big leagues, and he played with Barry Bonds, the man at the center of the steroid controversy, on the Pittsburgh Pirates from 1989 to 1991.

Heaton said he was concerned about how young players would react to the news that the report named so many All-Stars. He said he hopes youngsters, including the ones he coaches at All Pro Sports Academy, a baseball training center in Bellport, will use the news as motivation to stay clean.

"I really think it's going to make them think that they shouldn't do this kind of stuff because of the trouble that these kids can get into and the harm that it can do to their bodies down the road," he said.

Marcus Stroman, 16, a shortstop and pitcher at Patchogue-Medford High School, said there should be consequences for the players accused in the report.

"There definitely has to be some type of punishment," said Stroman, of Medford. "If they're not punished, this might continue to happen. ... The pros aren't promoting a good image to younger kids at this point."

Stroman said some young players he knows use performance-enhancing substances, that seeing the cheating professionals succeed tempts people his age. "A couple do it," Stroman said. "They do it, but I tell them all the time it's bad for them. But they do it just to do it."

Rick Antinori, 38, of Hauppauge, a trainer at Play Like A Pro Baseball, said he warns kids not to take steroids or other drugs because "you'll get caught" and it will ruin their careers forever if they "poison themselves."

Other fans expressed contempt for baseball's handling of the steroid scandal. John Peppard, 24, an insurance underwriter from Huntington, said the league "turned a blind eye" and always knew what was going on with players' drug use.

"It was good for business," he said at Changing Times pub on Melville Road in Farmingdale.

Peppard, a Yankee fan, said he thinks the 89 players listed in the report are just "the tip of the iceberg."

Off-the-field players

GEORGE MITCHELL

Former U.S. senator from Maine and envoy to Northern Ireland peace process under President Bill Clinton. He led investigation into the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball. Also director for the Boston Red Sox.

"Everyone involved in baseball over the past two decades - commissioners, club officials, the players' association and players - shares to some extent the responsibility for the Steroids Era."

BUD SELIG

Baseball commissioner who in March last year launched the investigation and picked Mitchell to head it.

"His [Mitchell's] report is a call to action, and I will act."

DONALD FEHR

Baseball union chief who has been widely criticized for not encouraging players to cooperate with the probe. Yesterday made "no apologies" for how the union represented players.

"Their [players'] reputations have been adversely affected, probably forever. Even if it turns out down the road that they should not have been."

HENRY WAXMAN, TOM DAVIS

Congressmen Waxman (D-Calif.) and Davis (R-Va.) led the 2005 panel that called Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Sammy Sosa and others to testify about steroid use. Yesterday called for a House Oversight and Government Reform hearing.

"This is a sad day for Major League Baseball, but a good day for integrity in sports."