Everyone on steroids? News to me, Maddux says

By Rob Miech

Saturday, Jan. 5, 2008 | midnight

If taking anabolic steroids and other illegal performance-enhancing substances has been as rampant in baseball as has been alleged, most recently in the 409-page Mitchell Report, it's all news to Greg Maddux.

The San Diego Padres pitcher and longtime Las Vegas resident laughs about lacking firsthand knowledge of the subject.

“I feel like an idiot,” he says. “All this was going on and I had no clue? I'm thinking, Where was I? Guys were that quiet about it.”

Maddux, 41, has never been mistaken for a muscle-bound hurler with a temper as ferocious as his fastball.

He says he has never taken steroids or other illegal performance enhancers and he never felt the lure to explore how they could benefit a player.

He has always felt his guile and location were good enough without any extra help, and he's 347-214 in a storied career that should send him to the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y.

He's also been very durable, spending only one week on the disabled list in 22 major league seasons. Steroids and other illegal drugs often are associated with a quick recovery from injury.

“There hasn't been a whole lot of study on it, but I know it's bad for you,” Maddux says. “I have a lot of bad habits without having one more.”

After digesting the fallout from the detailed Mitchell Report over the past two weeks, Maddux wishes it were easier to get to the truth.

“A name is on a report and he's automatically guilty?” he says. “I have a problem with the uncertainty of whether or not what's being said is true.”

Roger Clemens, a seven-time Cy Young Award-winning pitcher, was the most prominent player the Mitchell Report named.

His credentials for Coopers-town have been called into question, but Clemens has denied the allegations and his lawyers are launching their own investigation.

“I think Roger has earned the right, innocent until proven guilty,” Maddux says. “At least, that's the way I think it should be. He says he didn't do it. Right now, I believe him.”

Of the 86 players the Mitchell Report alleges were involved with steroids or other illegal substances, many were linked to former New York Mets clubhouse employee Kirk Radomski.

Maddux has brushed up against only a few.

He was on the same pitching staff as Eric Gagne, in Los Angeles, at the end of the 2006 season. Matt Franco, Kent Mercker and John Rocker have also been Maddux teammates.

Maddux says he has never seen a teammate take steroids or another illegal performance-enhancing drug.

“If any of my teammates over the years have done it, I haven't had a clue about it,” he says. “I might have seen necks get bigger, but I've never seen that in a back room or training room.”

Steroids and other illegal performance enhancers have never been a topic of conversations Maddux has heard in clubhouses or on major league diamonds.

“If guys are doing it, I think, it's kept very quiet,” he says. “They're not telling guys they hang with.”

Mandatory random drug testing was instituted in baseball in 2004.

Maddux was tested seven to nine times over the past two seasons, and each result was negative.

“You make sure the numbers on your bottle match the numbers they give you, and you sign off on it,” he says. “Then, no news is good news.”

According to the Mitchell Report, some estimates show a recent decline, ranging from 3 percent to 6 percent, in steroid use by high school students.

But that means thousands of high school-aged people are still illegally using steroids.

“I feel bad, the way we've had an effect on younger kids who look up to us,” Maddux says. “We need to do a better job on that, obviously.”

Rob Miech can be reached at 259-4087 or at miech@lasvegassun.com.