In a 16-page report titled "Who Knew?" ESPN The Magazine chronicles the spread of steroids through the sport of baseball and reports on how executives, players, trainers and the media turned a blind eye to allow it. The report will appear in the November 21 issue.
The report uncovers numerous damaging facts including that Joyner admitted he asked Caminiti to help him get steroids during the 1998 season while they were with the San Diego Padres.
Caminiti, who admitted to using steroids himself in 2002, did honor the request and Joyner ingested pills for some time before throwing them away after regretting what he did.
Caminiti, who struggled with substance abuse for most of his adult life, died of a drug overdose in 2004.
Also revealed was that Major League Baseball attempted to outlaw steroid use in 1991 and again in 1997. These dates clash with previous information provided by MLB, acknowledging that the sport knew that steroids were a serious problem well before it has recently stated in Congressional hearings.
The product of a six-month investigation, "Who Knew?" also includes the analysis of BALCO founder Victor Conte, who believes that it still is remarkably easy for players to cheat today despite MLB's current steroids policy.
Conte, who pleaded guilty to distributing steroids to professional and Olympic athletes in July, was sentenced to four months in federal prison in October.
Last week, commissioner Bud Selig indicated he would be in favor of an anti-drug policy for all sports legislated by the government if one cannot be implemented through collective bargaining.
Baseball's current policy calls for a 10-day suspension for a first offense, 30 days for a second, 60 for a third and one year for a fourth. It has been severely criticized as too lax in a pair of Congressional hearings this year that put Selig and Players Association executive director Donald Fehr on the spot.
Written and reported on by numerous ESPN employees, the report was compiled from the interviews of more than 150 subjects and the examination of hundreds of pages of documents.
Looks like we're going to get some very interesting stuff coming out. I'll have to look for "The Magazine" just for this story.
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