Imagine how many games the Kansas City Royals would’ve lost if the entire team had Mike Sweeney’s conscience? From the Kansas City Star’s Jeffrey Flanagan.
Were the 1999 Royals using steroids?
You™d never have guessed it by their record: The Royals finished a woeful 64-97 that season, 32 1/2 games behind the first-place Cleveland Indians.
But Royals slugger Mike Sweeney said on talk radio Friday and to The Star that he was approached by friends on the team who had œthe juice.
œIn 1999, my career was in the crossroads and I was converting from a catcher to a first baseman, Sweeney said on KCSP™s midmorning show with Tim Grunhard and Doug Franz, œand I had some friends of mine that I played with at the time in KC that said, ˜Look, hey, I picked up the juice. It will help you be stronger, it will give you a better longevity in your career. Do you want to take it?™
œI went to bed that night and I had a sick feeling in my stomach, and I woke up the next morning and I told myself, ˜Look, I™ve never done drugs in my life. I™ve never even taken a puff of marijuana, nothing, no greenies. Why should I start now?™
Sweeney told The Star later Friday that he has never taken steroids.
œThere would have been no repercussions back then, Sweeney said by phone from California. œThere was no testing like that. But I knew in my heart it was wrong, and I had my faith to get me through it.
Sweeney said he also has no intentions of naming those who may have been using steroids.
œWe are a family in the clubhouse, he said. œWhat happens in the clubhouse stays in the clubhouse. It™s like that saying about Vegas ” what happens there, stays there.”
That’s funny, I thought the saying about Vegas was that it would be a great place for the Marlins to relocate to.