Baseball: FBI warned MLB on steroids 10 years ago

An FBI agent says federal investigators warned Major League Baseball about 10 years ago that some of its players were using steroids, but baseball executives failed to act on the information, the Daily News reported. In Tuesday's editions, the Daily News reported that a special agent in Ann Arbor, Mich., told baseball security chief Kevin Hallinan that Jose Canseco and other players were using illegal anabolic steroids.

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After a day of counterattacks from Major League Baseball, FBI Special Agent Greg Stejskal stood by his charges yesterday that he told baseball 10 years ago the game had a problem with steroids. "I don't think I was off-base with anything I said," Stejskal told the Daily News. "I don't know what's going to happen. I hope the Bureau allows me to defend myself if necessary. But I'm not particularly worried. I can weather the storm." Stejskal, a 30-year FBI veteran who oversees the Ann Arbor, Mich., office, set off baseball's latest steroid scandal when he was quoted in the Daily News yesterday saying baseball "looked the other way" when he told the league several players had been named during a three-year undercover operation into steroid trafficking in the early 1990s. Several FBI sources, speaking on the condition of anonymity, were stunned to hear that an active agent had spoken so bluntly, and Stejskal said his office got calls from the office of U.S. Sen. Joe Biden (D-Del.) to ask why MLB was essentially calling one of their agents a liar. Media attention was also overwhelming, Stejskal said. "Mike Wallace (of '60 Minutes' called me to ask if the article was accurate, and I told him, 'Yeah, that article, it was accurate.'" By yesterday afternoon, calls to Stejskal's office were referred by a receptionist to a spokesperson in Detroit.

[Edited on 2/16/2005 by toejam]

[Edited on 2/16/2005 by toejam]

[Edited on 2/16/2005 by toejam]

what can you say other that "this is sad"

La Russa: Canseco bragged about having 'helper;' MLB responds to FBI agent's claim


NEW YORK (AP) -- Jose Canseco bragged about not having to work out as hard as other players on the Oakland Athletics because he had a ``helper,'' his former manager, Tony La Russa, said in an interview with ``60 Minutes Wednesday.''

La Russa managed Canseco and the Athletics to consecutive AL pennants from 1988-90, winning the World Series in 1989. La Russa's interview was broadcast Wednesday night on CBS, three days after the network aired an interview with Canseco, who has admitted using performance-enhancing drugs and accused several former teammates of the same.

Sandy Alderson, executive vice president for baseball operations in the commissioner's office, said Major League Baseball has no record of being contacted during the mid-1990s by an FBI agent who told the New York Daily News he warned baseball about steroid use among players.

La Russa, now manager of the St. Louis Cardinals, told ``60 Minutes Wednesday'' that Canseco would boast about not needing a lot of time in the gym to build his strength.

``He would laugh about the time that other guys were spending there, and how he didn't have to, because he was, he was doing the other 'helper,''' La Russa said. ``He was having help in a different way. You know, the easy way.''

Earlier this week, the Daily News reported that baseball executives failed to act on information provided by Special Agent Greg Stejskal in Ann Arbor, Mich. He said he told baseball security chief Kevin Hallinan in the mid-1990s that Canseco and other players were using illegal anabolic steroids.

``Kevin has told me that he does not remember any conversation with Special Agent Stejskal,'' Alderson said. ``However, because of the nature of the assertions made by Stejskal, we have reviewed our records to determine what, if any, contact there may have been between Stejskal and our office.''


Alderson said baseball has no record of any contact with Stejskal during the period, adding: ``Nor has the FBI provided us with any such documentation.''

Alderson said Stejskal left a message on Hallinan's voice mail Tuesday. Alderson said the message states that the '90s contact to which Stejskal has referred occurred at an FBI conference in Quantico, Va., where Hallinan was speaking.

``Hallinan does not recall the scenario described by Stejskal,'' Alderson said in a statement. ``Had Hallinan been more formally contacted, or had he received a follow-up call from Stejskal, he would have pursued whatever information was available.''

Alderson said baseball's phone records do reflect a call on June 19, 2002, from a Greg Stejskal, who identified himself as an FBI employee in the Detroit office. Alderson said Hallinan was out of town when the call came and directed Marty Maguire, a member of baseball's security department, to return the call.

``Stejskal referred Maguire to an informant, whom Maguire contacted,'' Alderson said. ``The informant provided very dated information linking only one player, Jose Canseco, to steroid use. At the time that this information was obtained, Canseco was no longer an active professional baseball player.''

On May 28 that year, Sports Illustrated released a report in which former NL MVP Ken Caminiti alleged many players used steroids. That June 7, The Wall Street Journal reported that Canseco, who was circulating a book proposal, had told publishing houses that he took steroids.

Will the whole truth ever come out? Yeah, right.