Bases Loaded: The Inside Story of the Steroid Era in Baseball by the Central Figure in the Mitchell Report [Hardcover]

Kirk Radomski (Author)

Book Description

Release date: January 27, 2009

On a quiet street on Long Island early on a December morning in 2005, more than fifty federal agents stood outside a lovely new home waiting for the front door to be opened. When it did, there stood the central figure in one of the biggest scandals in sports history: Kirk Radomski.

Radomski was a regular New York kid who, from the age of fifteen had the amazing fortune of working in the Mets clubhouse. The focus of his job was to give the players whatever they wanted or needed—he got their uniforms ready, packed up their homes at the end of the season, cashed their checks, and helped them beat the drug tests that would have led to suspension. And at the end of the 1986 season he even led the World Champions down Broadway during their victory parade. Eventually, he graduated to helping in other ways: providing them with steroids and human growth hormones. By the time the Feds knocked on his door, he was the main clubhouse supplier of performance-enhancing drugs to almost three hundred baseball players.

Under threat of a long prison sentence—and after being identified by players he’d helped—he cooperated with Senator George Mitchell to produce the Mitchell Report, providing names and dates. Now he’s ready to tell the whole story to the world. Radomski made little money from these transactions, and in this stunning book he will recount what baseball knew about the problem, his life since the report came out, and who took what. This is the tale of a young man seeing his heroes turn into clay, and the degradation of a once great sport into the drug-addicted spectacle it has become.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Kirk Radomski worked in the New York Mets clubhouse for a decade. In 2007, the Mitchell Report on steroids in baseball drew heavily from his testimony in revealing the names of players who took performance-enhancing drugs.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Hudson Street Press; First Edition edition (January 27, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594630569
• ISBN-13: 978-1594630569
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #785,218 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "YOU LITERALLY COULD GROW MUSCLES WHILE YOU SLEEP!" January 28, 2009

By Rick Shaq Goldstein

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Kirk Radomski is a former New York Mets clubhouse boy who grew from a fifteen-year-old gopher... for multi-million dollar Major League ballplayers... doing everything from picking up dirty, sweaty, jocks... to picking up bats and balls... to sweeping up the sloppy aftermath of spoiled ballplayers post-game messes... and eventually graduated to become one of the main figures in Senator George Mitchell's campaign to expose and "clean-up"... the awful... illegal... drug problem... that has stained... and tarnished... the grand-old-game-of-baseball. On April 26, 2007 Radomski "signed a plea agreement with the U.S. attorney in San Francisco, pleading guilty to one count of distribution of anabolic steroids and one count of money laundering." The author admits wholeheartedly without even a stammer... or an excuse... that he was definitely guilty. And in addition to the illegal drugs... Radomski admits his involvement with illegal "corked" bats... and twice providing Doc Gooden with his own urine... to pass baseball drug tests. And it's from this point... that this story is told.

I am an "old-school" baseball fan... and like most true fans... am mad at what has been done to the reputation of the game that was part of almost every American boy's youthful dreams. Though this story is told from a different perspective than the Canseco books... there is one distasteful trait that both authors have in common. They are both so egotistical about their "talents" and "expertise" in the use of steroids... human growth hormone (HGH)... and all the other illegally used drugs that have damaged the game... and sullied... the holiest... of holy... records. Where Canseco would brag that he was the pioneer of steroid use in baseball... the Godfather of steroids...... Radomski constantly brags that he knows sooo much more than any ballplayer about the proper use of these *ILLEGAL-DRUGS*. This bellowing braggadocio... is repeated... not just once... but over... and over... and over... again. Never do you hear either of these author's ever utter... even one word... of remorse... for the illegal activities they were involved in.

Famous names of drug enhanced ballplayers... are spewed out like fastballs out of a pitching machine fully loaded. When the author is asked who was the first ballplayer he provided with drugs... he states that since he had become "the most reliable source in the game"... having given drugs to literally hundreds of players... he couldn't remember for sure... who the first player was... but he thinks it was Lenny Dykstra. He then goes into great detail of Lenny's use. From there the names that either bought from him... or came to the "Messiah" for advice... flowed like water over Niagara Falls... Denny Neagle... Ken Caminiti... Kenny Rogers... Paul Lo Duca... Rondell White... Eric Gagne... Todd Hundley... Mo Vaughn... and Kevin Brown... who Radomski said was the biggest A-hole of them all... and the list is almost endless. The egomaniacal character of the author is highlighted when he tells multiple players they're using the drugs wrong... and they disagree with him... and he warns them of injuries they will incur... and boom!... in a blink of an eye... they all get the injury the "master" predicted. What bothers me the most about the author's writing... is not that I doubt the names that are named... I absolutely believe that... it's the hypocrisy that the author's own words lynch himself with. And whether the author realizes it or not... he is also defeating the arguments of guys like Barry Bonds (who the author did not sell to... but states Bonds is the poster boy for someone who overindulges in multiple illegal drugs) that steroids doesn't make a difference. *Here's an example of hypocrisy*

A friend of his (by the way he only sold to "friends"... another statement he contradicts himself on) catcher Todd Hundley who "may have been the first player I supplied with growth hormones"...

The author writes of Hundley before he used HGH: "I LAUGHED AT PEOPLE WHO BELIEVED THAT PLAYERS LIKE TODD, WHO LOVED THE GAME AND WORKED INCREDIBLY HARD TO IMPROVE, OWED THEIR SUCCESS TO DRUGS."

Yet five sentences later... when Hundley said: "Ok... I want to try anabolics. Can you put something together for me?" The author... two sentences later says: "DON'T BE SURPRISED IF YOU SEE YOUR HOME RUN NUMBERS DOUBLE; YOU'RE GOING TO HIT THIRTY, MAYBE EVEN FORTY." And then two sentences later Radomski writes: "I'D SEEN TODD PLAY A LOT OF GAMES, SO I KNEW THAT FOR HIM STEROIDS COULD MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE IN HIS POWER NUMBERS."

Huh???

Turns out Todd had the best season of his entire career. He broke the single season home run record for a catcher, and the Mets home run record with forty-one.

There are other examples like this throughout the book. The names are probably true... but the cumulative statements... contradict themselves... and are illogical. And then there's the "Canseco-like" uncontrollable ego:

"I KNOW BASEBALL'S EXECUTIVES AND OWNERS VILIFY MY NAME, BUT THEY OUGHT TO BE ON THEIR HANDS AND KNEES THANKING ME. IT WAS ME, AND OTHER PEOPLE DOING EXACTLY THE SAME THING, WHO ENABLED BASEBALL TO KEEP ITS STARS ON THE FIELD AS OFTEN AS PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE."

"STEROIDS AND GROWTH HORMONES MAKE A POTENT COMBINATION-YOU LITERALLY COULD GROW MUSCLES WHILE YOU SLEEP."

Reviewer's final note: There are still no tests for HGH. Please Major League Baseball... do something to clean-up our once proud... former national pastime. Read more ›

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Radomski's Calm Approach Deserves Consideration March 1, 2009

By David Ezra

Format:Hardcover

For anyone seriously interested in baseball's steroid situation, this is essential reading. To be sure, the book has its flaws, including the author's frequent reminders of his many self-perceived good qualities. As we might expect from a person who made it his life to serve professional athletes, Radomski seems to think he was important because he spent time with big name athletes who made a lot of money. And like other "trainers," Radomski seems to want a lot of credit for what "his guys" accomplished on the field.

But the flaws are easily tolerated, and what cannot be ignored is the way this book pushes the debate on steroids and human growth hormone. Like Jose Canseco, Radomski sees the substances so many have harshly condemned as things that enhanced player health. According to Radomski, Senator Mitchell was surprised that he "continued to defend the use of steroids and growth by baseball players."

While stories about Radomski's relationships with various athletes probably fill too many pages, here's a very knowledgeable user and observer who says "growth hormones increased a player's healing ability." He says that although HGH doesn't "build muscle like steroids," it allowed athletes to "play at the peak of their abilities every day without enhancing their performance." Radomski sees HGH as something that let's the body heal more quickly than normal. Since "growth hormones promote healing while cortisone simply reduces pain," Radomski can't help but wonder why HGH is still illegal....

After spending a few pages echoing themes that are more fully explored in "Asterisk: Home Runs, Steroids, and the Rush to Judgment" (Triumph Books 2008) (regarding some of the many reasons for increased home run figures that have nothing to do with steroids), Radomski says he is convinced that there "was never any crisis in confidence about the integrity of the game on the part of either the players, or really, the public." He argues that amphetamines (which were illegal but allegedly used by most of the players most of us regard as 100% legitimate) have a more immediate and direct impact on performance than steroids. Holding little back, Radomski concludes that "baseball has always tolerated cheating."

What is likely to be important about this book is not Radomski's personal role in distributing steroids and HGH to so many players. Instead, the thing that will probably make this book memorable is Radomski's willingness to challenge the prevailing conventional wisdom -- a conventional wisdom that simultaneously sees steroids as magical substances that can turn a Clark Kent into Superman and poisons so dangerous even responsible adults who have to use their bodies to make a living shouldn't be allowed to take them. As Dr. Jesse Haggard points out in "Demystifying Steroids" (Author House 2008), "Proper use of steroids may offer significant quality of life improvements to both individuals and society as a whole. . . . [A]dditional research involving steroids [may] help us advance our understanding of the human body and possibly unlock our true human potential."

Radomski may be wrong, but his book offers another informed and clear voice that may ultimately add some serious thought to today's overly emotional public debate. Read more ›

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The Story Baseball Doesn't Want You to Read February 17, 2009

By yaztheman

Format:Hardcover

This book is must reading for anyone who really wants to get a complete understanding of the steroid/PED problem in baseball. Radomski, who had been in baseball for years, does an excellent job of explaining the game's culture that drove player after player to use PEDs. For players who always tried to keep up on whatever their peers were doing to help them perform better (look at all the players wearing those magnetic necklaces), it was virtually no different than getting the inside tip on a good tailor in each town. "Cheating" was not even part of the conversation. And Radomski lays out a good case why the baseball hierarchy -- from coaches, managers, and owners up to the commissioner -- all knew what was going on, but all kept quiet. He also correctly predicts the entire A-Rod saga, including A-Rod's rationale for using. After you read this book, you'll have no doubt the majority of MLB players did something, and many continue to use. (And why wouldn't anyone use HGH? MLB is not testing for it). For baseball fans, the book is ultimately disillusioning, but in my opinion better to know the real story. Not recommended for young impressionable idealistic fans.

4.0 out of 5 stars Sort of like BALCO of the Northeast March 1, 2013

By Reid Mccormick

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I didn't get into too much trouble as kid, but when I did I always had a supposedly good excuse up my sleeve:

"So-so told me too"
"He started it"
"It wasn't me"
"I didn't know"
"Everybody else did it"

That last one is my favorite because even full-grown adults use that lame excuse every day. Bases Loaded by Kirk Radomski is one big fat steroid-filled excuse. Much like Jose Canseco's Juiced, which signified the beginning of the end of the visible steroid era, Radomski spends the entire time trying to justify his actions and blaming everyone else for his problems.

Throughout the book, he tends to contradict his own beliefs. He regrets getting into the steroid world yet is happy he "helped" his baseball friends. He understands why his friends were silent during the investigation yet furious when no one talked. He is disinterested in baseball yet treats the game with great respect. He believes steroids make no difference for a good athlete, yet shows example after example how athletes would have been nobodies without steroids.

This book is extremely interesting. Without Kirk Radomski's testimony there would have been no Mitchell Report and Major League Baseball would have had their heads in sand for a little while longer.

The visible steroid era will be a constant black eye for baseball. There is no single victim and there is no one single culprit. Commissioner Bud Selig, the Players' Association, the press, and all the PED pushers are responsible for visible steroid era and no matter how hard we try to forget - dismissing records, shutting people of the Hall of Fame, etc, - the steroid era was a bad mistake that we all turned a blind eye to because we were having too much fun.

Except for me......I was too young to know what was going on.:) Read more ›