Steroids issue fueled by media—Royster

Former Major League Baseball player and team manager Jerry Royster said the steroids issue currently raging in America’s favorite pastime is an issue created by the media.

“The steroids issue is more of a media thing [rather] than about baseball…They are talking about the past, instead of dealing with the future,” said Royster, who is on Saipan with the Lotte Giants of Korea for spring training.

He said before there were no rules with regards to the use of performance enhancing drugs and while he heard a lot of players were using it, it was not a big issue.

“We heard about it but it is something that [was] never seen,” said Royster, who also served as a team manager for the Milwaukee Brewers.

Aside from managing in the big league, Royster also played third baseman for several Major League teams.

“I was pretty close to my players and I don’t think they knowingly took the drugs,” he added.

Royster said it was his policy with the Brewers not to engage in illegal activities because “you can’t do anything that is illegal.”

He advised younger players not to use steroids or other illegal performance enhancers because “there is no place for steroids in sports.”

The problem right now, he said, is that everybody is talking what had happened in the past.

“The commissioner is doing a good job in dealing with the problem,” noted Royster.

But in his personal opinion, he said that the best thing to do now is to strictly enforce the rules against those who violate it.

The BALCO steroid scandal, which involved allegations that top baseball players had used illegal performance-enhancing drugs, pushed MLB to issue harsher penalties for steroid users.

The policy, which was accepted by the players and owners, was issued at the start of the 2005 season and in November of the same year became even tougher for positive tests.

Under the new rules, a first positive test would result in a 50-game suspension, a second positive test would result in a 100-game suspension, and a third positive test would result in a lifetime suspension from MLB.

On March 30, 2006, Commissioner Bud Selig launched an investigation on the alleged steroid use by players such as Barry Bonds and Gary Sheffield as the weight of books like Game of Shadows emerged. The inquiry into steroids’ use in baseball is expected to go back no further than 2002, when the MLB started testing players for performance-enhancing drugs.

The latest player who is dragged into the spotlight is no less than the sport’s highest-paid player, Alex Rodriguez, who admitted last Feb. 9 that he used a banned substance from 2001 to 2003.

His admission came two days after Sports Illustrated reported he was on a list of 104 players who tested positive in the 2003 survey, which was to be confidential.

Royster played for several teams in the MLB among them were the Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, San Diego Padres, Chicago White Sox, and the New York Yankees.

After he retired he became a team manager of Milwaukee Brewers.

Last year, he became the first foreigner to manage a team in the Korea’s professional baseball league, Korean Baseball Organization.

Prior to his hiring, the Lotte Giants failed to advance to the playoffs in eight straight seasons.

Royster went on to transform the team into one of the most popular clubs in Korea.

The Giants also finished third overall in the 2008 season with former Yankee Karim Garcia leading the way.

Garcia could not make it to the spring training camp on Saipan because he is currently training for the upcoming World Baseball Classic starting next week in Florida. Garcia will play for Mexico.

Royster’s Giants also has three national team members—Lee Dae Ho, Kang Min Ho and Song Sun Joon. The three are currently with the Korean national team in Hawaii preparing for the same tournament.

As far as the Korean Baseball Organization is concerned, Royster believes it is free of illegal drug use.