Anyone who has followed Tony LaRussa over the years knows that he prides himself on being accepted in elite MLB circles as a "Baseball Man".  It's at the heart of everything LaRussa does in the dugout and off the field - the centerpiece of his methodology, if you will.  In Buzz Bissinger's book 3 Nights in August, you really get a first hand account of just how obsessive Tony LaRussa can be.  Nothing means more to him than baseball, so being a true baseball man is a high honor.   

Part of that is playing baseball "the right way".  I guess that's why I find it odd that LaRussa constantly involves himself and his team with steroids users.  The latest example came yesterday when the Cardinals invited 38 year old Juan Gonzalez as a non-roster player to spring training. 

It's never been confirmed that Gonzalez was a roids user, but the court of public opinion found him guilty as a result of his body completely breaking down before the age of 33, and Jose Canseco acknowledged him as a steroids user, which unfortunately, carries some weight these days. 

In addition, Rangers owner Tom Hicks said his biggest regret as Rangers owner was giving a post-roids Juan Gonzalez a hefty contract: 

"Juan Gonzalez for $24 million after he came off steroids, probably, we just gave that money away."

It's more or less understood that Juan Gone was a product of the mid 90s steroid boom, and at least it worked out for him.  For nearly a decade, Gonzalez was one of the most dominant hitters in the game.  From 1991 through '99, he hit 35 or more home runs 6 times and drove in 100+ runs 7 times (he failed to accomplish either feat during the strike shortened '94 and '95 seasons).  At the time, I was ecstatic because I had a 1991 Leaf Juan Gonzalez that continuously had the up arrow next to it in Beckett Magazine.  Throw in the fact that I owned his Donruss and Fleer rookies and I was destined to become a thousandaire.



















What was this post about?  Oh yeah, Tony LaRussa.  Joining Gonzalez in spring training will be new Cards starting 3B Troy Glaus, acquired in a mid-January trade for Scott Rolen.  Glaus, of course, was listed on the Mitchell Report. 

All told, the following players have played under LaRussa at one point or another, and all of them have been associated with steroids:

Rick Ankiel
David Bell
Gary Bennett
Larry Bigbie
Ryan Franklin
Cody Mckay
Kent Merker
Fernando Vina
Mark Mcgwire
Jose Canseco
Troy Glaus
Juan Gonzalez

At the 2006 baseball winter meetings a little over a year ago, LaRussa requested a personal meeting with Barry Bonds and later admitted in the spring that he had interest in adding the free agent to the club, cementing the fact that Tony LaRussa doesn't give a damn about public perception in regards to his coaching of a player using steroids and other ped's. 

This isn't to indict LaRussa of any wrongdoing, or to say that other managers as tenured as he don't have a trail of steroids users under their umbrella; it's just interesting that for a guy who eats, sleeps and breathes baseball and strives to be respected as a great "baseball man", he's completely immune to the idea that an alleged steroids user could compromise the integrity of "his game".

With last year's interest in Bonds and this year's interest in Juan Gonzalez, I hope that doesn't mean Roger Clemens is lurking around the corner.  That guy's a serious douchebag.