Curt Schilling: 'There isn't a team in the last 20 years that has won clean'
Curt Schilling told a Philadelphia radio station on Wednesday that offense is down across the major leagues because steroids are almost gone from baseball.
?There?s a lot of good young pitchers in the game right now, but far fewer players are cheating,? Schilling said during an interview with the station. ?One of the bigger reasons they all did (steroids) was it allowed them to be April fresh in September and that helped you hit home runs. Anybody who ever says performance-enhancing drugs didn?t help players produce offensive numbers is full of crap.?
Curt Schilling told a Philadelphia radio station on Wednesday that offense is down across the major leagues because steroids are almost gone from baseball. (AP Photo)
And with those numbers came championships that Schilling claims were tainted.
?There isn?t a team in the last 20 years that has won clean,? he said.
Schilling, who last played in 2007, thinks steroids have, for the most part, been filtered out of the game, but he says his generation of players will always have the stigma attached to them of playing in the so-called steroid era.
?The unfortunate part for me, when I look back on this, and the changes on the game, that?s what?s going to carry through my generation. The best hitter of my generation [Barry Bonds] and, arguably, the best pitcher of my generation [Roger Clemens] are cheaters and trying to stay out of jail,? Schilling said.
Bonds was convicted of obstruction of justice in April in connection with grand jury testimony he gave regarding alleged steroids use. He says he took them unwittingly. Clemens went on trial for perjury and other charges on Wednesday. He testified before a congressional committee in 2008 that he never used steroids or human growth hormone. He continues to deny that he used PEDs.
Schilling says players are responsible for how they're now perceived.
?We as players let it happened. We all had an idea, we knew to some degree, but I keep telling people if you put my hand on the Bible in the court of law, I never saw them, I couldn?t tell you I ever saw anybody inject or take them, but that doesn?t mean players weren?t doing it.?
When asked if he ever suspected any of his 1993 Phillies teammates of using steroids, Schilling replied, ?Oh, absolutely. It wasn?t something you would walk up to someone to talk about or ask them. You had your ideas. When guys showed up with 25 extra pounds on them after three months after you had seen them during the winter, you had an idea.?
Schilling continues to maintain that, while PEDs were all over baseball when he was active, he abstained. ?I played during the steroids and HGH era and I never did either,? he said.
Curt Schilling told a Philadelphia radio station on Wednesday that offense is down across the major leagues because steroids are almost gone from baseball.
?There?s a lot of good young pitchers in the game right now, but far fewer players are cheating,? Schilling said during an interview with the station. ?One of the bigger reasons they all did (steroids) was it allowed them to be April fresh in September and that helped you hit home runs. Anybody who ever says performance-enhancing drugs didn?t help players produce offensive numbers is full of crap.?
Curt Schilling told a Philadelphia radio station on Wednesday that offense is down across the major leagues because steroids are almost gone from baseball. (AP Photo)
And with those numbers came championships that Schilling claims were tainted.
?There isn?t a team in the last 20 years that has won clean,? he said.
Schilling, who last played in 2007, thinks steroids have, for the most part, been filtered out of the game, but he says his generation of players will always have the stigma attached to them of playing in the so-called steroid era.
?The unfortunate part for me, when I look back on this, and the changes on the game, that?s what?s going to carry through my generation. The best hitter of my generation [Barry Bonds] and, arguably, the best pitcher of my generation [Roger Clemens] are cheaters and trying to stay out of jail,? Schilling said.
Bonds was convicted of obstruction of justice in April in connection with grand jury testimony he gave regarding alleged steroids use. He says he took them unwittingly. Clemens went on trial for perjury and other charges on Wednesday. He testified before a congressional committee in 2008 that he never used steroids or human growth hormone. He continues to deny that he used PEDs.
Schilling says players are responsible for how they're now perceived.
?We as players let it happened. We all had an idea, we knew to some degree, but I keep telling people if you put my hand on the Bible in the court of law, I never saw them, I couldn?t tell you I ever saw anybody inject or take them, but that doesn?t mean players weren?t doing it.?
When asked if he ever suspected any of his 1993 Phillies teammates of using steroids, Schilling replied, ?Oh, absolutely. It wasn?t something you would walk up to someone to talk about or ask them. You had your ideas. When guys showed up with 25 extra pounds on them after three months after you had seen them during the winter, you had an idea.?
Schilling continues to maintain that, while PEDs were all over baseball when he was active, he abstained. ?I played during the steroids and HGH era and I never did either,? he said.