07.30.2009 Whatever you do, don't put the blame on you
David Ortiz, April 3 2005:
Ortiz, who like many players would welcome stricter testing if it would clear the air, said again the other day he has never used steroids.
"I just work hard, man," said Ortiz, who said that as a kid in the Dominican he used to hate lifting weights but grew from 190 pounds when he signed to 230 pounds when he broke into the big leagues, and has added another 20 pounds of muscle since.
"If you look at my numbers from way back, you could tell I would put up the kinds of numbers I've put up lately. Each year I played with the Twins, I went from 18 home runs in 300 or so at-bats, to 20 home runs the following year, even though I wasn't playing every day. The following year I had more at-bats and hit 30 home runs, and the following year with 580 at-bats, I hit 41 home runs."
"That tells you something. It's not like I'm a guy, you look at him, you don't see power. I work my butt off, brother."
There is a very basic reason, Ortiz says, that he stays away from steroids.
"I'm one guy," he said, "who knows that if something might do something bad to my body, I'd be afraid to use it. Any kind of stuff. I don't want to die in 10 years. That's what it is.
"I feel bad for people getting into that stuff, because it's bad stuff. You may want to do well, but you need a little help, but you know what? The consequences are going to be tough."
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