It must the be the off-season as weeks have gone by without anything resembling a fantastic quote from that leader of men, Dusty Baker. Until today, that is. From the Associated Press.
Dusty Baker believes Barry Bonds didn’t know the substances provided by his trainer were steroids.
“If he said that to a grand jury, those are words you go by,” Bonds’ former manager said Saturday at baseball’s winter meetings.
Baker said he felt for Bonds, who according to a report in the San Francisco Chronicle told a grand jury last December that he used substances that prosecutors have identified as steroids — but did not know they were steroids.
“I’ve never seen a guy who works harder than Barry,” said Baker, manager of the Chicago Cubs for the past two years after 10 seasons in San Francisco.
The 40-year-old Bonds has 703 homers, including 42 last season, trailing only Babe Ruth (714) and Hank Aaron (755).
“He’s still the king,” Baker said of Aaron, a former teammate on the Atlanta Braves. “Barry’s on his trail. Barry’s better at this age, Hank was better at a younger age.”
Baker said he felt for Aaron, too, since he’s been the unwanted center of attention recently.
“Hank’s not in this, other than his record,” Baker said. “Hank’s a private dude. This has kind of made him less private.”
Has Dusty ever admitted a problem? He’s also currently saying he never knew Sosa was upset, that he and Steve Stone have no problem, he’s not wearing anybody’s arm out, that “choke is just a word for people who don’t have another word,” he’s not a “team meeting” kind of guy, and now Bonds isn’t on steroids — and by anabolic extenstion, neither is Sosa when he wants to dump him to get Beltran. Does Balco hand out ecstasy, too?
Yeah, I hate it when people act like nothing’s wrong just to protect their business interests.