Timothy McClelland, one of Major League Baseball’s most respected and senior umpires, defended baseball players who have used anabolic steroids and other performance enhancing drugs at a university fundraiser last night. McClelland was the headline guest speaker at the sixth annual Iowa Baseball Lead-Off Dinner hosted by the University of Iowa baseball team. McClelland’s comments on steroids in baseball came on the same day as Alex Rodriguez’s steroid confessional at a press conference in Tampa.
Tim McClelland has worked as an umpire in Major League Baseball for over 25 years. He has been around long enough to witness the beginning of the so-called steroid era in baseball. He acknowledged that rampant steroid use was obvious in the MLB for a period of at least 15 years and hopes that fans and probably also sports writers and grandstanding politicians move past the hysteria that has overtaken baseball. After all, how can you fault an athlete for seeking to improve himself as a player and maximize his performance? (“McClelland: Steroids part of era,” February 18).
“They used it to make themselves better,” McClelland said. “I can’t fault a player for doing that. It was not against the rules of baseball, so I can’t fault a player for trying to make himself better.”
Tim McClelland has established a strong reputation as being fair and consistent. The major league crew chief is always among the top-rated umpires in the league among players and managers. He explains that cheating has always been part of baseball.
“I’d like to see people kind of get over it. It was part of an era. In 2004 baseball instituted the ban on steroids, but you have to realize that there were a lot of people taking steroids. They used them to make themselves better and I can’t fault a player for doing that. If you chastised everybody that was doing something illegal in the game, there wouldn’t be anybody playing the game. You have to say 1990-2004 there were a lot of guys doing (steroids) and that’s the way it was and just move on and put it in the back of your mind.”
Anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs have not ruined Tim McClelland’s passion for the game of baseball.
About the author
Millard writes about anabolic steroids and performance enhancing drugs and their use and impact in sport and society. He discusses the medical and non-medical uses of anabolic-androgenic steroids while advocating a harm reduction approach to steroid education.
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