Barry Bonds says he doesn't use steroids.
Never has.
Never will.
We should take him at his word.
Because there is no proof to the contrary, Bonds should receive all the credit he deserves for his terrific career and his amazing home run performance in 2001. But the lingering questions about his dramatically bulked-up physique should prompt the San Francisco Giants' All-Star and every other clean-living baseball player to demand the same thing.
Mandatory testing.
The steroid controversy that erupted a few weeks ago seems to be blowing over, but it shouldn't. This issue is too important to sweep under the rug. There are too many people with too much at stake to let the outrage that flared up in May disappear by July.
The Major League Baseball Players Association claims it is seeking a consensus on testing. Baseball owners have included steroid testing in a comprehensive drug screening proposal that is part of negotiations for a new labor deal. That's a start.
Trouble is, anything that is part of the collective bargaining process can be bargained away or watered down. That's why the steroid problem should be dealt with as a separate matter, so that it gets solved as soon as possible for the good of the athletes who are putting themselves at potentially great risk and to protect what's left of the integrity of the game.
If steroid use is as prevalent as some players have claimed, then a lot of damage already has been done to the game's statistical legacy, but that's the least of baseball's worries.
Mandatory testing and severe sanctions for steroid use are the only certain way to protect the long-term health and welfare of the game's greatest commodity - its players.
No doubt, there are a lot of people, including millions of baseball fans, who would prefer to look the other way, but there's just too much at stake.
Another classic
There aren't a lot of Atlanta Braves who were around for the heart-stopping 1991 World Series against the Minnesota Twins, but veteran left-hander Tom Glavine could see the parallels when Minnesota won the first-ever interleague game between the two clubs in the 15th inning at the Metrodome.
The '91 Fall Classic was decided in similar fashion, with the Twins winning games 6 and 7 in extra innings to win their second world title in five years. Monday night's victory - which came on a two-out RBI double by Cristian Guzman - kept the Braves winless in five games at the Metrodome, but Glavine finally got some revenge with a strong performance in Atlanta's 11-0 victory the next night.
"We finally won a game here," Glavine said. "The jinx is over."
Apparently so. The Braves won the rubber game of the series, 3-2, Wednesday.
Turn back the clock
The interleague series between the San Francisco Giants and the Toronto Blue Jays brought back memories of a time in the 1970s when it appeared that the Giants might leave the Bay Area and settle at Exhibition Stadium.
The struggling Giants were close to a deal that would have put them in Toronto for the 1976 season (at a price of just $13.25 million U.S.) until the city of San Francisco got an injunction to prevent them from walking away from their lease at Candlestick Park.
Apparently, it all turned out for the best. The Giants returned to prominence in San Francisco. The Blue Jays got an expansion team instead and went on to win a pair of world titles - two more than the Giants over the same period.
Fence busters
When the Texas Rangers and Chicago Cubs hook up for their first interleague meeting Tuesday, the series will bring together four players with at least 400 career homers.
If Sammy Sosa (474), Fred McGriff (459), Rafael Palmeiro (459) and Juan Gonzalez (401) all are in the lineup, it would be the first game to include three guys with at least 450 home runs and four with at least 400.
Patience pays
The Rangers continue to look for a consistent closer. Hideki Irabu did well for a while, but he has four losses and two blown saves in his past seven games. John Rocker is back from a minor-league assignment but still is not someone the club believes it can count on.
Who's left? Remember Anthony Telford, who knocked around the Orioles' minor-league system and made a few appearances at the major-league level from 1990 to 1993?
The 36-year-old journeyman spent several seasons pitching in middle relief for the Expos before hooking up with the Rangers. He spent the first two weeks of the season at Triple-A but has emerged as one of the most consistent relievers in the Texas bullpen, entering Friday with a 2.31 ERA in 11 appearances.
Fenway oddity
When Junior Spivey legged out an inside-the-park home run at Fenway Park last weekend, he became only the second visiting player since 1973 to perform the feat. The other, strangely enough, also was named Junior - Toronto outfielder Junior Felix, who hit his in 1989.
Closer for sale?
The Cubs expect injured reliever Tom Gordon to return from a shoulder injury in the next couple of weeks, but they appear to be satisfied with Antonio Alfonseca in the closer role. That means that Gordon might be traded as soon as he proves he's healthy.
"I know what I'm capable of doing," Gordon said, "and as long as teams see I'm back and healthy, somebody is going to want the best closer in baseball."
Forever is a long time
Indians reliever Paul Shuey took it pretty hard when Mike Piazza hit a game-turning homer off him last weekend, but he felt a lot better after getting Piazza to ground into a double play in the late innings the next day.
"I can die happy now," Shuey said.
That apparently wasn't a throwaway line. Shuey wasn't sure he would ever get a chance to face Piazza again, so he really wanted to get him out the last time he faced him so he wouldn't have that home run hanging over his head forever.
"I'm a Christian, so I believe in eternal life," Shuey said. "But I don't want to go through eternal life worrying about giving up a three-run bomb to Mike Piazza. I'd rather go through eternal life knowing I got Mike Piazza to hit into an inning-ending double play. I'm just being honest."
This may be as good an argument as any against engaging in theological discussions with ballplayers.
No bargain
The Colorado Rockies' Mike Hampton still owns the biggest contract ever given to a pitcher ($123.8 million over eight years), but he's having trouble living up to it.
Hampton is a combined 8-19 with a six-plus ERA dating to this point last June.
He insists, however, that he has not been overwhelmed by the expectations that came with his tremendous contract.
"I don't care what anybody thinks besides the people in this clubhouse," Hampton said. "I know they are pulling for me. I know they see the struggles I have had and I can see it in their faces that they hate to see me going through this."
Compiled from interviews, wire services and reports from other newspapers.