Blood Sport: Alex Rodriguez, Biogenesis, and the Quest to End Baseball's Steroid Era

I love reading these books. Mainly because I'm a baseball fan, but also I like understanding human nature. You have public personas and players say things such as "I am not here to talk about the past", but what really happened? Like these players think we are stupid. Any kid behaves a certain way when being dishonest. ANY parent can spot it immediately. And yet these grown men think they are fooling us.This book in particular was very intriguing because of all of the behind the scenes shady character and investigation. Car breakins, stolen files, backstabbing. It was interesting to read about Bosch background and what makes him tick. Every person in this whole saga is so damn self centered.I was rolling with laughter at certain parts because of how immature Bosch is. He is a 2 bit con, hustler who has no intention of ever earning an honest living, yet not a hardened enough criminal. He was proud of himself for beating the system. His nicknames of players in his notebooks. Nelson Cruz is "Mohamed"? Lol. I can picture Bosch thinking himself clever. And referring to PEDS as "food"? Lol. Very clever. "Please distribute the food to the players and collect $$." And Braun claiming he hired Bosch for $30,000 instead of consulting a legit lab. Good one. We believe you Ryan. ;)And yet a multimillion $ athlete is willing to associate with him? Wow, what lack of character is in these professional ballplayers.

The first half of the book was a bit boring.First, the authors seem somewhat sympathetic to the PED using players, in particular, Alex Rodriguez. The authors also contradict themselves continuously on whom they blame for PED proliferation; at one point they seem to buy Canseco’s claim he was “patient zero” who got everyone else hooked as he moved from team to team. Then they seem to indicate A-Rod was probably using in high school, as so many kids were in South Florida at the time. In the next moment they are blaming known dealers like Wenzlaff and Radomski for getting players using. Then, it was Selig’s fault… because he caused the ‘94 strike (it was a strike not a lockout, so that doesn’t even make sense, and one of the reasons the union called a strike was because they refused to allow drug testing… the players had fought testing and still were and that was Selig’s fault?) and the authors create a story that the players go home during the strike, start working out in their gyms, get propositioned by dealers in those gyms, and get hooked on steroids because they weren’t protected as they would’ve been at team facilities… the insinuation being this was MLB’s fault?There are so many other tangents in this book like this where it feels like the authors really try to minimize blame for everyone involved. The book is really a biography of everyone involved as much as an expose on how it all went down. I get humanizing the individuals but its a bit much. We get the full life story of Biogenesis boss Tony Bosch, and the life story of his father, and his father’s cousin, an alleged Cuban terrorist who has nothing to do with the story… and every criminal Tony was assiciated and their life stories; A-Rod’s family then other tangental characters. On and on. Much of this cluld have been edited out, probably fifty pages worth of irrelevant fluff.About the halfway point the book comes alive.There was some new information revealed here and if you followed this in the news you probably forgot much of it or didn’t realize how much of it is linked; like Tiger Woods and his nefarious knee recovery team were directly tied to who A-Rod used and tied to Conte of the BALCO case. Or how much Univ of Miami baseball was involved. Melky Cabrera’s website scheme... Or how Rodriguez’s camp, possibly his famous lawyer and publicist themselves, bought the stolen Biogenesis records then leaked selected portions of them on Ryan Braun, Danny Valencia, and Yankee Francisco Cervelli to draw the heat off A-Rod and also hurt his enemies (the Yankees with Cervelli, Selig with Braun who was a Brewer). I’m sure this actually pleased Selig to no end given Braun’s previous behavior, but its shocking A-Rod can still work in baseball in any capacity after he threw other players under the bus just as a distraction to try to help himself. What a scumbag. Just like Braun, who had blamed the tester in his earlier failed test for being an antisemite and sabotaging his sample. Disgusting MLB teams rewarded any cheaters with new contracts, extensions, praise, etc… and that fans bought into it.The section on MLB’s Department of Investigation (DOI) was interesting. Frustrated to read they wasted so much of their time and resources on “age verification” matters, primarily in the DR. This is not MLB’s duty, it is that of teams to do due dillgence on prospects. Lying about your age doesn’t give you a competitive advantage in MLB where there are no age divisions, this isn’t little league. But not shocking the owners wanted to use DOI for this to save themselves money.DOI’s behavior in the Biogenesis case down in Miami was pretty appalling, but given they are not actually cops but the equivelent of PIs working for a private entity, ie like PIs who work for a defense attorney, why should we expect any different? Not shocking given they hired so many NYPD types. But this is MLB, an entity staffed by lawyers, basically a Fortune 500 company. You would think they would instead hire FBI types or other feds with white collar crime experience and use more legal channels. Seeing these guys acting like thugs is shocking, MLB clearly lost control of them.What I don’t get is where were actual state and federal law enforcement in all this? One state health investigator looking into Bosch impersonating a doctor? A detective investigating a car break in? How about FDLE, DEA, FBI, Postal, IRS? We have clear indications of sale, transport, use, possession of controlled substances, money laundering, wire fraud, etc… This book doesn’t mention anything regarding these agencies, perhaps those agencies had newer pending cases at the time the book went to print and weren’t commenting. But the book doesn’t even mention the authors’ seeking comment from them. Kind of a glaring ommision.Overall, I felt this book had a lot of information, some new to me, a little too much background on some participants, but I got what I wanted. Full details on Biogenesis, at least how it played out on the baseball side. So it served its purpose. I do not feel the writing was great; not as well done as the BALCO book “Game of Shadows”, probaly more of a 3.5 (but earned a round up rather than down) than that book’s 4 stars, but it well served its purpose for me. Going to check out “Baseball Cop” next written by one of its members briefely mentioned in this book, curious about his take on what DOI is reported to have done here.

I'm reviewing this while only halfway through with the book. I already know that I love it. It's a factual tale that reads like a spy novel, and is as down and dirty as any detective thriller. The sad part is that it is about known and often beloved baseball players; Melky Cabrera, Ryan Braun, Alex Rodriquez. That star athletes would try to get an "edge" isn't surprising, it's been happening since sports began; what is horrendous about this tale is the lengths they would go to, the people they would "throw under the bridge", and the lies they would tell once caught, in order to maintain a fiction. This isn't a pitcher tarring a baseball, it's players risking their bodies in order to play one more season, or, in some cases, to get into the majors.The authors also manage to add asides that really make the narrative fascinating. Who would have thought a book about Biogenesis would cover the kidnapping of Wilson Ramos, the catcher for the Washington Nationals? It's in there, and it really holds the readers interest. I've not been a huge fan of the Commissioner, but once he decided to rid the league of steroids (finally), he went after them with a squad determined to find the culprits. You can't make some of this up, nor some of the characters involved. They're larger than life, and stranger than fiction.

This is an excellent piece of investigative work. Tim Elfrink did yeoman work on the Biogenesis case, and he should be proud. This book details everything you need to know about the scandal. Elfrink and Garcia-Roberts give fair treatment to both A-Rod's side and MLB's side. You'll see just what lengths both sides went through to win their case.The book contains some blunders, though. The section about Rod Scurry contains two errors. It said he overdosed on cocaine "after a terrible spring training outing." By April 7, the date of his overdose, the regular season had begun. Also, the book says Scurry "washed out of the league in 1986." Not true, although not entirely false. While he didn't pitch in the majors in 1987, he did return in 1988. There are some editing mistakes too, like repeated words and spelling mistakes (Example: Aaron Rodgers' last name is misspelled "Rogers"). Had it not been for these errors, I would give this book five stars. Still, it's a very good read. Recommended to baseball fans.

Another compelling expose of a tarnished period in MLB history. The author provides a startling narrative of what transpired and who is to blame, in all its gory detail. I never would have guessed that the steroids era was so blatant and corrupt. If you are an Alex Rodriquez fan, you won't be after reading "Blood Sport."Thoroughly enjoyed this book from the first page to the last. I highly recommend baseball fans partake!