Chipper takes shots at drug cheaters (though he considered it)
Chipper Jones knows when his career is over, he will have done it right way. (Jason Getz/AJC)
LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. – There was a time when he considered it. Chipper Jones thought about taking a pill, sticking a needle in his arm, doing whatever it is cheaters do in hopes of gaining an edge and fooling us into believing the mutant statistics all came about from hard work and whey shakes.
“Yeah. I mean, definitely,” the Braves’ almost-40 third baseman said Monday when asked if he ever considered using performance-enhancing drugs. “You see peers doing it. You see contemporaries on other teams doing it and putting up [big] numbers. But at that point in my career, while I didn’t have kids yet, and I thought, I don’t want to jeopardize their lives [with the backlash] one day.”
On Monday, Braves players were given a presentation from a team doctor on what substances to stay away from.
“I can pretty much recite it from year to year,” Jones said, and the banned list didn’t include the yogurt he happened to be eating at the time.
Jones will go into the Hall of Fame one day. He will be in a special group of players who, as he said, “have done it right. The guys who get done with their career and make it through the so-called steroid era unscathed, that’s a huge feather in our cap.”
There have never been any allegations against Jones. No smoking syringe. No leaked grand jury testimony with his name on it. No chapter in a Jose Canseco book.
Still, Jones’ father wanted to know for sure. “A few years ago,” according to Chipper, the elder Larry Jones asked him point blank if he had ever cheated.
Jones believes "less than one percent" of players in the majors still take performance-enhancing drugs. (Jason Getz/AJC)
“I can just imagine what my dad would’ve said if he found out that four, five or six years out of my career he knew that I was cheating,” Jones said. “He told me as much. He said, ‘Please tell me you never did that.’ I said, ‘I never did.’ He said, ‘I can’t think of anything that would disappointment me more than finding out that you did something like that.’ I said, ‘Well, you don’t have to worry about that.’”
Performance-enhancing drugs are in the news again. Ryan Braun, the National League’s Most Valuable Player last season, failed a drug test last October. He had extraordinarily elevated levels of testosterone. He was suspended for the first 50 games of this season but had the penalty overturned by an appeal. Braun and his legal team did not question the science of the test but rather the protocol, and won the appeal on a technicality: The sample was stored in the tester’s home over a weekend because he believed Federal Express was closed.
Jones understands why Major League Baseball is livid over the arbitration panel’s decision: “Now the integrity of every positive test is going to be scrutinized. They’re going to have to back-check everything,” he said.
But he didn’t openly question Braun.
“I feel like I know Ryan pretty well — he would’ve been one of the guys who never would’ve considered to have done it,” Jones said. “If he went to the lengths that he did to clear his name, I believe him. I just don’t know how someone could be so negligent. If he did [take something], he got lucky. If he didn’t, he was rightly vindicated.”
But haven’t Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens gone to great lengths to clear their names?
“Sure — and did they? Why was [Bonds] convicted of [obstruction of justice]? Why would he lie?”
Jones believes the used of performance-enhancing drugs in baseball, while not completely eradicated, is way down. He estimated that at its peak, 20 percent of the league was using, or five players per team. His breakdown: “I would say one of the numbers producers, one of the stud pitchers and the other two or three were down at the end of the roster, trying to stay out of Triple A.”
And now?
“Less than one percent,” he said. “Guys just don’t do it anymore. You’ve seen what happens to the reputations of the guys who even remotely are considered to have done it. It’s so not worth it.”
He said players in general know who’s using and who isn’t. “Let’s just say there’s an aura about them,” he said, laughing.
For what it’s worth, he said some PED users should be allowed in the Hall, the deciding factor being whether they would have had the credentials without drugs.
That’s not an issue for Jones. He has done it right way and has the credentials: 454 homers, 1,561 RBI, 2,615 hits, a .304 career average.
He turns 40 in April. He has been non-committal about playing after this season, health obviously being a significant unknown. But we can be certain of one thing: He won’t resort to chemistry to play another year.
By Jeff Schultz
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241 comments Add your comment
Jeff Schultz
February 27th, 2012
7:29 pm
1eyedJack: “Take it from someone who had to take steroids “legally” for 9 years. If your life don’t depend on them don’t do them. I’m still dealing with the side effects 15 years later.”
<< Wow. Sorry to hear that.
ragnar danneskjold
February 27th, 2012
7:29 pm
Funny, as I read the article, the only names rolling through my mind were John Rocker and Andruw Jones, the former for the Clemens-like behavior, and the latter for the Bonds-like muscle development in his early 20s.
Jeff Schultz
February 27th, 2012
7:33 pm
I have so many wonderful editors out there. You folks are so kind and giving. (Those typos were fixed, FYI. But not sure editors in office have read yet.)
Long Pole Man
February 27th, 2012
7:47 pm
Did Marcus Giles use roids ?
Brava
February 27th, 2012
7:51 pm
Wow, doc, you’re a real piece of work. You believe Ryan Braun, who failed a drug test, is innocent, but you believe Chipper, who has never failed a drug test used PEDs. Surely, you don’t consider yourself a Braves fan.
Roidgate
February 27th, 2012
7:51 pm
I’m bettin’ Javy Lopez juiced…
Younger Than That Now
February 27th, 2012
7:55 pm
I believe Chipper and I believe in Chipper. McGwire, Clemons, Sosa, etc., I do not believe and never will even if they somehow have a real change of heart and actually “fess up”. At this point, short of a God thing happening in their lives, I don’t expect that to happen but I could be wrong. I’ve met Chipper’s dad and I can see him really not wanting to disappoint him… hell, I spoke with him for fifteen minutes and I wouldn’t want to disappoint him either. It would disappoint me terribly to find out that Chipper used and then lied about his using. Even in his past discretions of many years ago, I don’t recall him lying about any of it.
I think that any spike in Chipper’s performance and numbers came about from hard work, and let’s face it, there’s some luck involved in having an MVP season as well as there is from having a true championship season. It takes a little of it all to make it all come together and happen as it should.
Here’s hoping for a great season for a great, MVP and first ballot HOF’er… and a championship season for our Braves!
GO BRAVES!
Roidgate
February 27th, 2012
7:58 pm
Let’s see, Bud Selig is Commissioner and former Brewers owner. Ryan Braun (Brewers OF) gets off on a technicality. Enforce the 50 game ban MLB. I work in a lab and his specimen is either positive or not. Time doesn’t matter (few days).
JKP
February 27th, 2012
7:59 pm
@fuzzybee Chipper has always been a power hitter. His first 3 years in the league he hit 23, 30, and 21 home runs. In fact, if we’re talking smell test, his numbers smell exactly like a player who progressed, peaked, and aged quite naturally. His peak home run production occured between ages 27 and 32, after which his production has declined steadily to the level he is at today.
This is not in any way proof that he never took PED’s. But, on the face of it, there is no reason to think that he has had anything other than a natural career un-enhanced by drugs.
Younger Than That Now
February 27th, 2012
8:03 pm
And also… I’ve had to legally take steroids for what ended up being a month and a half. I came off of them and told my doctor that I would just have to suffer with my ailment, but I refused to take them any longer. That was eight years ago and I’m still here, but I do suffer from my ailment from time to time… but I’ll gladly continue down that path rather than take another steroid. How these guys take them at such high dosages… and voluntarily at that… I’ll never know!
BTW… thanks Schultzie for a fine article… and I can read around and thru the typos, as these others apparantly can as well. If they couldn’t they wouldn’t be complaining about them!
Thanks again and enjoy your time in Lake Buena Vista… I’ll be joining you guys in a couple of weeks!
slick
February 27th, 2012
8:05 pm
i agree lawdawg, bonds was a hof, long before peds
Hillbilly D
February 27th, 2012
8:08 pm
Lab errors do happen. I’ve been through one (and mine was for a medical condition, nothing to do with substances). Fortunately, in my case, a more experienced person in the lab caught wind of it and said, “This can’t be right”.
bulldogbubba
February 27th, 2012
8:15 pm
Wheres Clusters?
Furman Bitcher
February 27th, 2012
8:15 pm
Only 20% used steriods at its peak. Are you freakin kidding me. I have heard numbers like 60-70% from insiders.
DetroitBraves
February 27th, 2012
8:18 pm
There have always been anomalous seasons. Chipper’s 1999 season wasn’t even all that anomalous, rather just the best of a Hall of Famer’s great career. In fact, at the risk of Jeff telling me how much doesn’t like statistics again, he posted a 7.7 WAR that year but he has been at 7.5, and 7.4 twice in other seasons. At any rate, long-winded way of saying I believe him. I don’t know, of course, but I believe him. But at any rate, the real question is – where is Sonny Clusters? An article about Chipper, 3 pages of comments in and no Clusters? I’m starting to worry about him.
Herman Cocain
February 27th, 2012
8:21 pm
I think Chipper did use steroids. Only he & his daddy know the truth, & they will carry that to their graves. He never shouldve been given this latest contract. I hope his overpaid overrated ass retires after this season FINALLY. HE is the main reason why the Braves have had difficulty with bolstering the lineup. If he really wanted to win another ring he would’ve taken a reduced salary instead of handcuffing the Braves for these last 4 years!!!
Hillbilly D
February 27th, 2012
8:23 pm
I agree about anomalous seasons. If you look at most any player who has a long career, he’ll have usually have a year that stands out above the rest and he’ll usually have one that stands below the rest. There is a such thing as having “a career year”. Lots of times a playoff team will have 2 or 3 guys who are having career years.
Anyway, for the record, I don’t know anymore about who used and who didn’t than anybody else but I’ll take Chipper’s word on this one. I’m not a fan of his, even though he’s been a great ballplayer, but I haven’t seen any real evidence that he’s not telling the truth, on this one.
DetroitBraves
February 27th, 2012
8:29 pm
You know, if Chipper had stayed healthy (which isn’t really fair because you could play what if with a million players) he would probably already have 500 homers. As is, not very likely he makes that milestone. Might have gotten to 3000 hits too. I mean, Hall of Famer either way but those are some nice round numbers. As for the salary, there were some years where he was probably vastly underpaid by MLB standards for what he did. I don’t know, I just don’t blame players much for contracts even when they turn bad. Some times it’s just bad luck and sometimes the club should have known better. It neither case is it really the player’s fault. The club always had a choice.
South Georgia
February 27th, 2012
8:31 pm
Baseball is still complicit with Ryan Braun walking free by their kid glove approach. I will be watching less baseball as protest of pitiful handling of steroid use.
Will
February 27th, 2012
8:31 pm
Thanks Jeff — a truly uplifting piece, about this generation’s Pride of the Braves. We are lucky to get to watch this future Hall of Famer still performing at a high level.
Supes
February 27th, 2012
8:33 pm
Folks…both sample A and sample B for Ryan “FRAUD” Braun tested POSITIVE. The sample was SEALED same as it was when it was taken. Believe what you want…but somewhere Matt Kemp wants his freaking MVP trophy.
Supes
February 27th, 2012
8:34 pm
In order for one to talk about this, you really should check out the ESPN Outside the Lines with Bob Lee, they had experts in the field of drug testing explaining all this stuff.
Jeff Schultz
February 27th, 2012
8:44 pm
Younger Than That Now — Thanks.
Dumbo
February 27th, 2012
8:44 pm
Even though I feel that Jones should have hung it up 2 seasons ago…I respect that he never felt the need to stick a needle into his butt. Like him, I too have only had 1 role model, like him, it too was my father. He has had plenty of mentors that have helped show him right way to do things, but he’s lucky to have had a father that taught him that honor cannot be compromised.
That said, please let this be his last year!
Jeff Schultz
February 27th, 2012
8:46 pm
Furman Bitcher — “Only 20% used steriods at its peak. Are you freakin kidding me. I have heard numbers like 60-70% from insiders.”
<< I don’t think so. I think what skews perceptions is that so many records are set or threatened by steroid/HGH/PED users in all sports that we tend to believe it’s everybody, when in fact it’s mostly the ones who are raising the bar. I actually had a doctor/steroid expert tell me that.
Longtime Brave Fan
February 27th, 2012
8:47 pm
Love is blind.. and we’ve been duped by many of our favorite players for a long time. I’ve stopped giving baseball players the benefit of the doubt, and choose to wait for the next book to come out that outs the next hometown hero. In baseball, words don’t mean a thing anymore. In life, we’ve all come across the crooks who’ve befriended and shaken our hand with one hand, and stole our wallets with the other hand. In baseball we’ve seen them all file in, place their hand on the bible and lie. Don’t automatically defend them because of what you think you know about them statistically or performance wise. If you do, you’re doing so blindly.
Jeff Schultz
February 27th, 2012
8:47 pm
Thanks Will.
BIOMASS
February 27th, 2012
8:53 pm
1999. Until he takes a polygraph about 1999, I will never believe he didn’t go on the juice.
Jeff
February 27th, 2012
8:57 pm
Remember Furcal-the sudden monster muscles and acne. Makes you wonder………..
Pete
February 27th, 2012
9:00 pm
Nice article overall. For those of you that allege Chipper Jones to have used some sort of performance enhancing drug, I ask you to point to one shred of evidence from which you base your allegations. Simply because Chipper Jones participated on extra-marital activities in no way implicates in honesty when he talks about staying clean under the MLB drug testing policies and procedures. Even in a court of law, a jury would be prevented from making such an inference.
In this country, despite what some of you wish to believe, or your own skepticism, we are innocent till proven guilty. Some of you suggest that such a presumption does not apply to a “court” of public opinion or the MLB drug violation appellate process (i.e., Ryan Braun’s current issue), and perhaps you are correct. But we are not in the MLB drug violation appellate process, and what type of public “opinion” can you offer without any reasonable evidence of any kind to prove your point? Granted, you are entitled to any opinion you like, but facts and evidence of some type go much farther in the “court” of public opinion than your own personal, baseless allegations, assumptions and conspiracy theories.
Chipper Jones has been a model baseball player from start to finish. He is future Hall of Fame inductee and will be remembered as such a player. Should evidence to the contrary arise–that he did in fact use PEDs–then I retract everything I said about him just two sentences earlier. Nevertheless, should any such evidence ever arise, this does not make those that doubted his integrity anymore correct on the matter. You (by “you” I mean those individuals who claim that Chipper Jones used such substances) are not anymore correct because you offered no insight or evidence of any type that suggested you were correct from the start. Your argument is essentially the equivalent of predicting an already-known-to-occur event. For example, one is not a fortune teller just by stating that “one day, some where, at some time, the Earth will cease to exist,” and in fact the Earth does die and disappear. If that were case, under that logic, you could walk up to any individual on the street and tell that person he or she will die someday, having no evidence of how or why you came to that conclusion. The same applies to Chipper Jones. All you have is speculation, conjecture and the ability to express yourself loudly.
I hope that Chipper Jones did not use PEDs, and I have never believed him to use them.. But should he found to be in the wrong, I will no longer appreciate his career for what it was and has been up until this point.
Hooters Man
February 27th, 2012
9:00 pm
Really? From the same Saint Chipper who cheated on his first wife with a Hooters waitress he got pregnant?
Lee in S GA
February 27th, 2012
9:04 pm
Jeff Schultz you think there is any chance Chipper moves out of batting 3rd in the lineup this season. Seems to me batting 2nd may be best for him at this stage of his career.
Jerry Sanduskey
February 27th, 2012
9:05 pm
Chipper is an awesome role model, just ask the kid he has from the Hooters waitress he knocked up!
BIOMASS
February 27th, 2012
9:19 pm
Not to bash Chipper too much, but I always hear about his son Shea. Never about his love child. Poor kid.
Marcus Giles
February 27th, 2012
9:28 pm
Juicing is great!!! That needle made me alot of money…
boots
February 27th, 2012
9:35 pm
It would be nice for the Brewers to sit Braun for a month, but they won’t. Chipper earned the right to be trusted, and his numbers would have been much higher if he had. I’m glad he kept clean, and he is someone who is worthy of the Hall. Well done, Chipper.
Jeff Schultz
February 27th, 2012
9:46 pm
Lee in S Ga — Yes, it’s possible. He was moved out of third last season.
Longtime Brave Fan
February 27th, 2012
9:56 pm
Dude.. i’m not saying he did it, I’m also not taking up arms to defend he didn’t do it. Since dishonesty has already been proven in his most intimate of relationships, or in his family matters, how can you say with any certainty it hasn’t ever carried over professionally to any extent. I’m not proclaiming him guilty, just more skeptical now to climb into the innocent bandwagon. I too will be be extremely disappointed to find out he did cheat. But taking a more skeptical position, allows me to lose a little less. Oh! btw.. I’m still targeting to pick him as a Corner Infielder in my fantasy baseball draft, but will definitely need a surplus in that position since he’ll end up probably skip 1 to 2 games per week. Go Braves! .. and I’m not sold on Fredi yet.. the only thing he’s proven is he cant motivate a the team out of a Sept skid!!
Trapper John
February 27th, 2012
9:57 pm
Who knows? My take is the obvious users are now all out of baseball. Chipper is still chugging along as best he can. If he it did in the “day”, he certainly doesn’t now. Most people learn as they live and grow older. He’s a great baseball player. Hall Of Famer.Personal attacks on character are ridiculous. No one from the 1920’s on would be in the HOF if personal character had anything to do with playing baseball. See ‘ya later Babe Ruth. Ty Cobb. Shoeless Joe. Countless others! I still think Hank Aaron is the most dignified man to ever play the game!! Always out of the news as he likes being a private man. Went through absolute hell and never had an unkind word to say to any body. Married to his beautiful wife as the vows state “till death do us part”. Rare soul, The Hammer.
Dr. Kenneth Noisewater
February 27th, 2012
10:02 pm
Good read JS. I respect Chipper more for being a lifetime Brave, someone who stayed loyal to his team rather than taking a higher paycheck. Chipper & Jeter are rare athletes that I admire- those days are dying fast with free agency and stubborn agents.
Sonny Clusters
February 27th, 2012
10:02 pm
We was out at dinner and almost missed this blog but we read it with interest and was pleased to learn from the horse’s mouth that Chipper was not juicing when it appears he was aware of others in the clubhouse who were. We have a couple questions as we always do when Chipper offers his wisdom . . . Braun was vindicated? C’mon Chhipper. And how many currently juice? “Less than one per cent.” We would bet you that Chipper cannot tell us what number less than one per cent is if you spot him a Cray and the best Texas Instruments calculators.
Sonny Clusters
February 27th, 2012
10:16 pm
Let’s say you are a deer and somebody asks you, “Have you been eating the corn out of Jeff’s garden?” and you (the deer) look up and say something like, “No, we would never do that because of the stigma attached to such behavior and we know some little deer that did eat Jeff’s corn and we know some deer we think might have had some of that corn but as for us, we wouldn’t want people to think we ate Jeff’s corn.” Then as a follow up somebody asks, “How many deer do you think was eating corn at the present time and you confidently say, “less than one per cent.” That would presume you knew how many deer there was and how many of them was eating and how many was not eating and you could do that without consulting with the little deer or testing and verifying and keeping custody and all you really wanted to do was be a deer. That’s how we feel about it.
Trey
February 27th, 2012
10:16 pm
Jeff, great article. It will be a sad day when Chipper decides to retire. He, Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz had such great careers and once the last one out of them is finally retired, will be a sad day in baseball.
Nativebird
February 27th, 2012
10:22 pm
What is clear is this holier than though finger pointer had a neck and upper body the size of his Texas ranch in 1999 when he won the MVP. I guess the fact we’ve never seen performance like that from him since the juicing hit the front pages Is pure freakin coincidence. Yeah right. He’s aweful lucky. I’d keep my mouth shut if I were him. Karma can bite hard.
bulldogbubba
February 27th, 2012
10:41 pm
Clusters – Did Stinky Wintes “enhance” when ya’ll were at the “orange jungle” making all those championships?Panthers never lie.
MGibby
February 27th, 2012
11:02 pm
First off, I’m a Braves fan BUT…..
O’le Larry definitely juiced for a couple of years. Dude used to be thick!
Also, it would be rediculous to not allow supposed juicers in to the HOF considering it was an era of users and the supposed users brought attention back on baseball. The dumpster players were average before juice and above average w/ juice, so they were never gonna be in consideration anyway. But the great players were great before and after juice!
Ckgator
February 27th, 2012
11:04 pm
Great article Jeff! Guys like Chipper and organizations such as the Braves renew my faith in the modern game. Thanks for writing this!
Chipper's the Man
February 27th, 2012
11:14 pm
I cringe sometimes about what Chipper says but, you gotta hand it him. He always speaks his mind whether he’s right or wrong. I think he’s right in this case. I hope he retires this year and doesn’t become another Brett Favre.
KDL
February 27th, 2012
11:19 pm
You know that the list of players that MLB had info on hasn’t been released….just some players names leaked…..I’ve always expected CJ to be on that list. The way he bulked up and later started getting nagging injuries. I would not be surprised if the list ever comes out, his name is front and center. He’s just not the superstar that ARod is.
IceColdATLien
February 27th, 2012
11:38 pm
If Chipper getting mad about stuff in the sports world is your kinda thing, check out this new blog :
http://sportsvents.blogspot.com/