"I knew I had the mental attitude to be a closer, it was just a matter of doing it in the major leagues." That was Eric Gagne after he won the 2003 Cy Young Award, following a perfect season in which he converted all 55 save opportunities and struck out 100 more batters (137) than hits allowed (37). Of course, what's clouded that accomplishment is a fact that didn't admit until 2010, was that he was on a steady regimen of HGH for several years. (Gagne has always maintained that it was to help him recover from an injury, and it's unclear if he was on any PEDs during that '03 season.)
Gagne is back now with a book, Game Over: The Story of Eric Gagne, that supposedly details his extensive PED use over a three-year period. More interestingly is that he sheds light on what some of his Dodger teammates were up to back then regarding HGH and the like. Mark Saxon of ESPN LA has the details:
Former Cy Young closer Eric Gagne alleges in his new biography that 80 percent of his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates were using performance-enhancing drugs.
Gagne, who set a major league record while converting 84 consecutive save chances, admits that he used human growth hormone over five cycles in a three-year period toward the end of his career.
"It was sufficient to ruin my health, tarnish my reputation and throw a shadow over the extraordinary performances of my career," Gagne says in the French-language book, titled, "Game Over: The Story of Eric Gagne."
...
In the book, Gagne does not provide any names of players he says used PEDs. Baseball began stricter testing in the spring of 2006. Players are subject to HGH testing during spring training and in the offseason, but not during the season.
"I was intimately aware of the clubhouse in which I lived. I would say that 80 percent of the Dodgers players were consuming them," Gagne says in the book.
Sounds like it's going to a fun read, but in French only? Le boooooooooooo.
Eric Gagne details PED usage in book [ESPN LA]