The List of 104: Why Are The Anonymous Being Revealed?

Written by: jimmyscott on 17th June 2009

The List of 104: Why Are The Anonymous Being Revealed? | read this item

The baseball, sports and cultural worlds were simultaneously rocked earlier this year when it was revealed that Alex Rodriguez had tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003. A scandal grew out of the revelations for two reasons. First, it was A-Rod, arguably the game’s best player, who failed and subsequently admitted he’d done PEDs (performance-enhancing drugs) from 2001-2003. Second, Rodriguez was part of a list of 104 players who failed. This list was supposed to be anonymous through a 2003 agreement between the Players Association and Major League Baseball. The samples were never destroyed, the FBI got hold of them, and these 104 anonymous players became 103 with A-Rod.

That remaining “Anonymous” group of 103 players has whittled down to 102. Yesterday, published reports stated Sammy Sosa had also failed the 2003 test.

My take on this has nothing to do with the ethics of Sammy Sosa. After all, there were no penalties in baseball for taking PEDs 6 years ago. The issues with taking were more ethical and moral than illegal in baseball. That doesn’t condone what so many players did. But I am not going to condemn either. Each person had their own reasons for using, from the superstar who had to put up better numbers than anyone else in history to the fringe player desperate to do anything just to stay in the big leagues and support his family back in his impoverished third world country. Let’s not judge anybody right now. Save it for sports talk radio.
My beef with the Sammy Sosa revelation is this: Why do we know? When players took these tests, they were told their names would be anonymous: ANONYMOUS. The union was supposed to retain ownership of the test samples after the results were tabulated and destroy the samples. The samples were not destroyed. Federal agents investigating professional athletes and drugs (remember BALCO?) took control of the tests. The union sued, stating the tests were seized illegally. For the past 6 years, the union and government have been battling out ownership of the tests in court. Which all comes down to this: A lot of people know who is on that list of 104 players who failed.

There are union employees. There are employees of Major League Baseball. These two groups were the first to know the members of this infamous group of players. The number of union and MLB people who have known has conceivably been a small group. Because the leaks of A-Rod and now Sosa did not come from these places. The leaks are coming from lawyers who have become involved since the government took control of the samples.

When Selena Roberts and David Epstein (brief aside: Why has Roberts received all of the glory and not Epstein for breaking the A-Rod story? His name is right next to hers in the by-line.) broke the A-Rod story in early-February, here’s what they wrote concerning their four sources:

“The list of the 104 players whose urine samples tested positive is under seal in California. However, two sources familiar with the evidence that the government has gathered in its investigation of steroid use in baseball and two other sources with knowledge of the testing results have told Sports Illustrated that Rodriguez is one of the 104 players identified as having tested positive, in his case for testosterone and an anabolic steroid known by the brand name Primobolan. All four sources spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the evidence.”

Yesterday, the New York Times wrote this about the sources for the Sosa story:

“The lawyers who had knowledge of Sosa’s inclusion on the 2003 list did not know the substance for which Sosa tested positive. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they did not want to be identified as discussing material that is sealed by a court order.”

My question: Why are these “sources” speaking out? Why now? It’s six years later. Who is benefiting from leaking these names?
The big story here is obviously Sammy Sosa, the once-lovable Chicago Cubs outfielder who helped put a post-strike baseball back on the map of American sports relevance in 1998 by battling Mark McGwire for the single-season home run crown. McGwire won with 70 home runs to Sosa’s 66, and both ended up on the same team in 2005 when they testified in front of Congress about steroid accusations, McGwire stating he didn’t want to talk about the past – which has killed his chances for getting into the Hall of Fame – and Sosa suddenly forgetting how to speak English and, through an interpreter, stating he never used PEDs. Sosa now officially allegedly used and has lied about it to the media, his fans and Congress. That’s the big story today.

We shouldn’t miss the point, however, that his name never should have been revealed. Whether he used or not is almost irrelevant. Nobody was supposed to know the results. We should not be having this discussion about Sammy Sosa right now because we aren’t supposed to have this information. So why is it coming out? How do these “sources” benefit from first spilling the beans about A-Rod and now leaking word about Sosa?

Methinks there’s more to all of this than just a handful of guys who aren’t Yankees or Cubs fans. Methinks there is more than one modis operandi here.

1. Power: The people who have this information are people. They have insecurities, like we all do. Knowing this information gives them a certain bit of power. They are the carriers of a Really Big Secret. People aren’t always the best at keeping secrets. Rules are meant to be broken and secrets are meant to be told. Not really, but people, human beings, like to tell secrets. It makes them feel special for a moment. You know the sources here had a certain pride in revealing what they knew, even if they were anonymous. And guess what? One day these “anonymous” people will also be revealed. You see, the anonymous source-holders had a secret and they damn well didn’t just tell some reporters about their secrets. These anonymous sources have friends and family who will one day need to feel good about themselves and subsequently leak to someone on the record who the anonymous sources were. Even Deep Throat eventually told all.

2. Dirty Politics: The Players Association and government have been fighting over ownership of these samples for six years. Key word here: Fighting. You think, just maybe, the government lawyers have decided to leak some really, really big names in the hopes of hurting the Players Association and their case? It’s like a bank robber telling the cops to give him money and a plane within 6 hours or he’ll start killing hostages. The government lawyer team wants this case dropped, or they want to win with full public support. If the union doesn’t succumb to the government’s wishes, names will be leaked. It’s dirty. It’s not fair to the 104 anonymous players. But it’s bigger than Alex Rodriguez and it’s bigger than Sammy Sosa. This is bigger than baseball itself. Here’s your next Really Big Scandal, the behind-the-scenes negotiations between union, government and courts.

3. Foolishness: If the samples had been destroyed by the union right away, like they were supposed to be (according to those aware of those procedures), then they should have been destroyed. It’s a simple as that. Most scandals develop because people make mistakes. This was a pretty major mistake. Its ramifications are going to be felt for years to come.

Of course, if players hadn’t started taking PEDs in the first place, this wouldn’t be an issue at all. But it is and they did (and probably still do), and the big story today is that Sammy Sosa used PEDs. The bigger story for tomorrow is that there are reasons why we know. That’s a story I can’t wait to read one day in the future.

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Topics: Alex Rodriguez, Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa

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molly says:

June 19, 2009 at 10:27 am

It is unfortunate the way this is unraveling.
Enough is enough already.
Why can’t the US Government just get the list publish it and be done with it.
I understand what anonymous means. But this leaking a name here and a name there every so often does nothing for the game.

People are tired of it. I know I am.
yankee fan says:

July 30, 2009 at 1:03 pm

these guys are using steroids and they should all be revealed its not fair to the pitcher or batters who are clean to face these guys especially if they dont even know there using the drug. i mean look at david oritz last year he was saying whoever does steroids should be banned but look what happened hes one of the people who did it and most of these players are good and look what steroids did to there career if these players know they did steroids then come on and come out with it i’m getting tired of waiting every month to see who’s using the drug