A former bat boy for the New York Mets, Kirk Radomski—a.k.a. “Murdoch”—became the sport’s go-to guy for steroids, human growth hormone and other performance-enhancing substances. By the time federal agents knocked on his door in 2005, he had clients on every major league team. Now a convicted felon, his testimony was the cornerstone of Sen. George Mitchell’s groundbreaking investigation into baseball’s “Steroids Era.” Radomski’s new book, Bases Loaded, is anything but an apology.
Q: You sold steroids and human growth hormone (HGH) to hundreds of major league baseball players. Yet you insist that the players who bought those drugs from you weren’t technically cheating. How is taking steroids not cheating?
A: If you and me take steroids it doesn’t mean we’re going to hit a 95-mile-an-hour fastball. You have to have talent, you know? Basically, a lot of these guys who were taking these drugs, they were calling me when they got hurt. Most of the guys I met—99 per cent of the guys—they called me when they were hurt, or they were going to get surgery, and they wanted to know how they could get back on the field faster and earn their paycheque. They don’t want to sit out. Sometimes you hear in the papers, “Oh, these guys, they don’t care. He signed that five-year, $50-million…” But these guys don’t want to sit at home and be with their wives. They want to be on the field, they wanted to heal quicker, and with growth hormones, you could cut your recovery time in half.
Q: So the drugs were used to heal quicker as opposed to hitting 73 home runs?
A: Yeah. Barry Bonds took it to the next level. What I heard from players and what I’ve read, he did both: he took steroids and growth hormones in order to build muscle. If you look at pictures of him, he put 50 lb. on, easy. He wanted to hit more home runs. He was a Hall of Famer before that, but he wanted to be immortal. And most of the players I dealt with, they weren’t like that. They wanted to stay on the field and get healthy.
Q: So you think Bonds was cheating?
A: Oh, definitely.
Q: Where is the line? When is taking steroids cheating, and when is it not cheating?
A: Well, it becomes cheating when you don’t need to use them and you’re using them, and you use them to grow even more. I think that’s a line. You know, when your body is 220, 230 lb., and all of a sudden now you want to be 250 lb. and hit 50 home runs, I think that’s pushing the envelope. The guys that I dealt with, some of them were superstars but basically they were using it for recovery and longevity. They wanted to be out there, they wanted to play at their 100 per cent. With Bonds, which is an exception, he was out there trying to play at 110 per cent. His whole body just changed. He looked more like a guy who was getting ready for a bodybuilding show than a guy getting ready to take the field.
Q: Roger Clemens is accused of using human growth hormone to prolong his career. Do you think that was cheating?
A: No, I wouldn’t. He’s a great pitcher to begin with. His numbers are solid, but as his body was aging, he wasn’t recuperating. He wasn’t playing at his 100 per cent. Ball players have to play at 100 per cent. If they’re not, their numbers are going to suffer. The growth hormones are not making him better, it’s just making him recuperate so he can play at his 100 per cent.
Q: There is certainly, as you call it, a “blurry line” between legal and illegal. Steroids are banned, for example, but not creatine. Athletes are allowed to take cortisone shots as often as they want, yet HGH is outlawed. Why are some substances permitted and others aren’t?
A: You know why? The powers that be: the doctors, the governments. From day one, they say steroids are bad, but me and you could buy a pack of cigarettes that kill so many people every day. Why is that legal? They put stuff like Vioxx on the market that was hurting people left and right. How long did it take them to get it off the market? Cortisone shots are dangerous. Every time you hear somebody having a cortisone shot, what happens at the end of the season? They always have surgery. It only masks the hurting and keeps the inflammation down. That causes damage. So in other words, baseball players are ruining their bodies—and baseball is helping them.
Q: Someone is always saying that the “Steroids Era” was a stain on the integrity of the game, that it diminished all these records because guys were pumping themselves full of steroids. Is that a fair argument?
A: No, it’s not. I don’t want to hear about the numbers. What about Babe Ruth? Did he play against the best in the game? No. He only played against white people. He never played against the Negro leagues, so why aren’t his numbers tainted?
Q: Barry Bonds did play against the best, but he was filling himself full of steroids.
A: He’s still gotta hit the ball. Like I said, me and you, I could pump you with steroids all day long—it doesn’t mean you’re going to hit 500 home runs. Some of the players I helped never made it to the major leagues. They were able to play at their 100 per cent, but that 100 per cent wasn’t good enough to make it.
