It definitely isn’t the Tucson sun at Hi Corbett Field that has fans rubbing their eyes and squinting as if they were awoken unexpectedly from a deep sleep by a flick of the light switch.
Most of the Colorado Rockies faithful probably had no clue that the purchase of a spring training ticket included an invitation to play a game of speculation that would give Milton Bradley’s Guess Who? a run for its money.
With the familiar faces of Todd Helton at first base and Preston Wilson nursing himself back to health in the weight room, fans have had a hard time figuring out which member of the famed “genRation” youngsters will comprise the opening day lineup.
Many new faces from the minor leagues made it a pretty safe bet that the Blake Street Bombers turned Fountain of Youth fanatics would steer clear of any steroid allegations.
But on March 19, former Rockies broadcaster and current St. Louis Cardinals radio personality Wayne Hagin made the worst call of his career in an interview on ESPN radio.
“I’m going to say something that is the absolute truth, and he will be mad at me for saying it if it gets out, but Todd Helton, a tremendously gifted baseball player, he tried it,” Hagin said on KSLG 1380 AM, the ESPN affiliate in St. Louis.
“I know he tried it because (former Rockies manager) Don Baylor told me. He said to me, ‘I told him to get off the juice, that he was a player who didn’t need that, get off it. It made him into a robot at first base defensively, and may have altered his swing.’ He got off of it,” he said.
Hagin even came out with the statement knowing he was going to upset Helton.
With that attitude he might as well just take candy from a baby and tell a couple women at the beach this summer that they didn’t work hard enough in the gym to be sporting a two piece bathing suit.
The year in question is 1998, a season in which Helton went yard 25 times, a number not stacked with steroids.
Helton put up the most astonishing numbers during the 2001 season when he smashed 49 home runs and drove in 146 runs.
The nastiest part of this ordeal is that Hagin called the very first pitch in Rockies history during their inaugural season in 1993 and he worked with the club up until 2003.
This should have allowed him to know Helton above and beyond any other player considering he has been one of the few clubhouse constants.
Hagin released an apology to Helton over ESPN radio on March 20 basically stating that he meant Helton was using creatine and not steroids, which he was.
Hagin could have at least thrown some anabolic terminology into a search engine before going on national radio because I had never heard of anyone becoming ‘juiced’ from a product you can buy from a nutrition store.
Two thumbs up to Helton for considering legal action after being tagged for life as an alleged steroid user.
Last Tuesday Barry Bonds bluntly stated that the media and steroid accusations have exhausted him to the point where he may just rehab his knee and not play this season. Why isn’t he putting up a fight?
The cloud of suspicion in Colorado will blow over before the home opener against San Diego on April 4 because Helton is nipping the problem in the bud.
With at least 30 clean home runs the past seven seasons, expect nothing less from him this season.
Major League Baseball attendance will skyrocket, especially at Coors Field as fans rally around Helton.
