Gwynn has strong words for steroid users

Gwynn's not guilty by association

Tony the Gwynn was always kind of wishy washy when it came time to condemn steroid users that he played with, his "friends" like Bonds and McGwire.  He even said he thought they both belonged in the Hall of Fame.  I could never understand why a guy who played the game the right way would defend those who took short cuts.  It's nice to hear him taking a tougher stance on the subject.

He thought A-Rod's confession was weak, like we all did.  Surprisingly he wanted to see the names of the 141 other players who failed their steroids test.  I thought Gwynn would always come down on the side of the players union.  Good for Gwynn.

“If you did it, you did it, so say you did it,” he says. “I didn't buy it. I don't think a lot of people bought it. Not knowing what he was taking? That his cousin helped him? He shouldn't have to write it up and read it to us. It left a bad taste in people's mouths. I just hope he can handle the heat now and be the player he's always been.”

Maybe he is becoming more vocal in order to convince his student athletes that they shouldn't go down that road.

“I tell 'em that, if they go down that road, there are going to be consequences. In my seven years coaching here, we've had a few guys do it and they've paid the price.”

When Gwynn started playing professionally in the 80's he thought amphetamines would be a bigger problem than steroids.  Gwynn admits that he was naive when Caminiti suddenly started doubling the number of home runs he hit in a season.  Gwynn thought that it was just a result of working with Merv Rettenmund.

He thinks that at sometime in the future people will look at his number and the era he played in and he'll get lumped in with the rest of 'roiders.  I don't think that will be the case unless he was using weight gain as a masking agent.