Baseball's All-Enhanced Team
The Steroid Era claims another career with news of Dodgers superstar Manny Ramirez's 50-game ban Thursday.
In honor of the tainted slugger (and the tarnished national pastime) the News names our All-Enhanced Team -
the giants of the sport
who've been caught, linked, implicated or otherwise connected to performance-enhancing drugs in baseball.
Catcher: Ivan Rodriguez
Signature season: 1999 with Rangers (35 HR 113 RBI .332 AVG)
Pudge is implicated in Jose Canseco's book, Juiced,
in which Jose claims he injected Rangers teammates - and some All-Enhanced Team members - 'many times' with 'roids he'd purchased for them.
In subsequent years, Pudge's power has plummeted - along with his shrinking biceps.
First Base: Mark McGwire
Signature season: 1998 with Cardinals (70 HR 147 RBI .299 AVG)
Public opinion turns against McGwire during his "I'm not here to talk about the past" performance before Congress,
but as the News first reports in 2004 the savior slugger is busted as a steroid cheat as part of the FBI's 'Operation Equine' investigation.
Second Base: Chuck Knoblauch
Signature season: 1999 with Yankees (18 HR 68 RBI .292 AVG)
Knoblauch's named in the Mitchell Report - too bad the HGH he allegedly purchased from convicted steroid
deal Kirk Radomski doesn't solve his throwing problems. He admits using the performance-enhancer.
Shortstop: Miguel Tejada
Signature season: 2004 with Orioles (34 HR 150 RBI .311 AVG)
When Rafael Palmeiro (our All-Enhanced Team's DH) is caught using Stanozolol, he throws his teammate Tejada under the bus.
Being named in the Mitchell Report - and then pleading guilty to lying to Congress about performance-enhancing drugs - also earns Tejada a starting spot in our lineup.
Third Base: Alex Rodriguez
Signature season: 2007 with Yankees (54 HR 156 RBI .314 AVG)
A-Rod quickly turns to A-Roid in the tabloids after his failed steroid test in 2003 is leaked and reported by Sports Illustrated's Selena Roberts.
The three-time MVP says he was just "young and stupid."
Outfield: Barry Bonds
Signature season: 2001 with Giants (73 HR 137 RBI .328 AVG)
Baseball's all-time home run king admits to using two BALCO products - The Clear and The Cream - but testifies to a grand jury
that he didn't know they were steroids. The government is chasing Bonds on perjury and obstruction of justice charges.
Outfield: Manny Ramirez
Signature season: 2004 with Red Sox (43 HR 130 RBI .308 AVG)
The most recent addition to our team, Manny gets hit with a 50-game suspension after an MLB investigation finds
that he used the banned fertility drug human chorionic gonadotrophin, or hCG, according to sources familiar with the case.
Just Manny being Manny, we presume.
Outfield: Sammy Sosa
Signature season: 1998 with Cubs (66 HR 158 RBI .308 AVG)
Slammin' Sammy gets hauled in front of Congress to talk about the use of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball
and hides behind his inability to speak the language. In any language, Sosa's bloated numbers are in question.
DH: Rafael Palmeiro
Signature season: 1999 with Rangers (47 HR 148 RBI .324 AVG)
Just weeks after infamously wagging his finger at Congress and denying ever using performance-enhancing drugs,
Palmeiro tests positive for a steroid and is suspended by MLB for 10 days. Baseball has sinced beefed up its penalties.
Starting Pitcher (Righty): Roger Clemens
Signature season: 2001 with Yankees (20-3 213 SO 3.51 ERA)
While Roger Clemens steadfastly refutes the notion that he took performance-enhancing drugs,
his former personal trainer Brian McNamee and a mountain of evidence seems to suggest otherwise.
His name is one of the biggest to emerge from the Mitchell Report.
Starting Pitcher (Lefty): Andy Pettitte
Signature season: 2003 with Yankees (21-8 180 SO 4.02 ERA)
The standout lefty, another Bomber tied to Brian McNamee, admits to using human growth hormone to recover from an elbow injury in 2002.
Closer: Eric Gagne
Signature season: 2003 with Dodgers (55 SV 1.20 ERA)
A dominant closer with the Dodgers, including a Cy Young season in 2003,
the Canadian import finds himself in the pages of the Mitchell Report for his ties to former Mets clubhouse attendant Radomski.
Radomski says he sold Gagne human growth hormone.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/galleries/baseballs_allenhanced_team/baseballs_allenhanced_team.html#ph11#ixzz0F5YcbP6Q&B