Hall of Famers happy to see Bonds, Clemens denied

NEW YORK (AP) — Nobody was happier about the Hall of Fame shutout than the Hall of Famers themselves.
Goose Gossage, Al Kaline, Dennis Eckersley and others are in no rush to open the door to Cooperstown for anyone linked to steroids.
Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa: Keep 'em all out of our club.
"If they let these guys in ever — at any point — it's a big black eye for the Hall and for baseball," Gossage said in a phone interview with The Associated Press. "It's like telling our kids you can cheat, you can do whatever you want, and it's not going to matter."
For only the second time in 42 years, baseball writers failed to elect anyone to the Hall of Fame on Wednesday, sending a firm signal that stars of the Steroids Era will be held to a different standard.
All the awards and accomplishments collected over storied careers by Bonds, Clemens and Sosa — all eligible for the first time — could not offset suspicions those exploits were artificially boosted by performance-enhancing drugs.
"I'm kind of glad that nobody got in this year," Kaline said. "I feel honored to be in the Hall of Fame. And I would've felt a little uneasy sitting up there on the stage, listening to some of these new guys talk about how great they were."
Gossage went even further.
"I think the steroids guys that are under suspicion got too many votes," he said. "I don't know why they're making this such a question and why there's so much debate. To me, they cheated. Are we going to reward these guys?"
Not this year, at least.
Bonds received just 36.2 percent of the vote and Clemens 37.6 in totals announced by the Hall and the Baseball Writers' Association of America, both well short of the 75 percent needed for election — yet still too close for Gossage's taste. Sosa, eighth on the career home run list, got 12.5 percent.
"Wow! Baseball writers make a statement," Eckersley wrote on Twitter. "Feels right."
The results keep the sport's career home run leader (Bonds) and most decorated pitcher (Clemens) out of Cooperstown — for now. Bonds, Clemens and Sosa have up to 14 more years on the writers' ballot to gain baseball's highest honor.
"Even having just been considered for the first time is already great honor, and there's always a next time," Sosa said in a statement. "Baseball has been extremely good for me! Kiss to the heaven! It was an honor just to have been nominated. I'm happy about that."
Bonds, baseball's only seven-time MVP, hit 762 home runs — including a record 73 in 2001. He has denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs and was convicted of one count of obstruction of justice for giving an evasive answer in 2003 to a grand jury investigating PEDs.
Clemens, the game's lone seven-time Cy Young Award winner, is third in career strikeouts (4,672) and ninth in wins (354). He was acquitted of perjury charges stemming from congressional testimony during which he denied using PEDs.
"If you don't think Roger Clemens cheated, you're burying your head in the sand," Gossage said.
Sosa, who finished with 609 home runs, was among those who tested positive in MLB's 2003 anonymous survey, The New York Times reported in 2009. He told a congressional committee in 2005 that he never took illegal performance-enhancing drugs. He also was caught using a corked bat during his career.
"What really gets me is seeing how some of these players associated with drugs have jumped over many of the greats in our game," Kaline said. "Numbers mean a lot in baseball, maybe more so than in any other sport. And going back to Babe Ruth, and players like Harmon Killebrew and Frank Robinson and Willie Mays, seeing people jump over them with 600, 700 home runs, I don't like to see that.
"I don't know how great some of these players up for election would've been without drugs. But to me, it's cheating," he added. "Numbers are important, but so is integrity and character. Some of these guys might get in someday. But for a year or two, I'm glad they didn't."
Gossage, noting that cyclist Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles following allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs, believes baseball should go just as far. He thinks the record book should be overhauled, taking away the accomplishments of players like Bonds, Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro and Mark McGwire — who has admitted using steroids and human growth hormone during his playing days.
McGwire, 10th on the career home run chart, received 16.9 percent of the vote on his seventh Hall try, down from 19.5 last year.
"I don't know if baseball knows how to deal with this at all," Gossage said. "Why don't they strip these guys of all these numbers? You've got to suffer the consequences. You get caught cheating on a test, you get expelled from school."
Juan Marichal is one Hall of Famer who doesn't see it that way. The former pitcher believes Bonds, Clemens and Sosa belong in Cooperstown.
"I think that they have been unfair to guys who were never found guilty of anything," Marichal said. "Their stats define them as immortals. That's the reality and that cannot be denied."
The BBWAA election rules say "voting shall be based upon the player's record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played."
While much of the focus this year was on Bonds, Clemens and Sosa, every other player with Cooperstown credentials was denied, too.
Craig Biggio, 20th on the career list with 3,060 hits, came the closest. He was chosen on 68.2 percent of the 569 ballots, 39 shy of election. Among other first-year eligibles, Mike Piazza received 57.8 percent and Curt Schilling 38.8. Jack Morris topped holdovers with 67.7 percent.
None of those players have been publicly linked to PED use, so it's difficult to determine whether they fell short due to suspicion, their stats — or the overall stench of the era they played in.
"What we're witnessing here is innocent people paying for the sinners," Marichal said.
Hall of Fame slugger Mike Schmidt said that comes with the territory.
"It's not news that Bonds, Clemens, Sosa, Palmeiro, and McGwire didn't get in, but that they received hardly any consideration at all. The real news is that Biggio and Piazza were well under the 75 percent needed," Schmidt wrote in an email to the AP.
"Curt Schilling made a good point. Everyone was guilty. Either you used PEDs, or you did nothing to stop their use. This generation got rich. Seems there was a price to pay."
At ceremonies in Cooperstown on July 28, the only inductees will be three men who died more than 70 years ago: Yankees owner Jacob Ruppert, umpire Hank O'Day and barehanded catcher Deacon White. They were chosen last month by the 16-member panel considering individuals from the era before integration in 1947.

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Baseball-MLB, players agree to expand drug testing

Jan 10 (Reuters) - Major League Baseball and the players' union have agreed to expand their drug program to include random in-season blood testing for human growth hormone and a new test for testosterone, they said on Thursday.
The testing will start this season.
MLB has been conducting random blood testing for the detection of HGH among minor league players since July 2010.
Starting this season, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-accredited Montreal laboratory will establish a program in which a player's baseline testosterone/epitestosterone (T/E) ratio and other data will be maintained in order to enhance its ability to detect use of testosterone and other prohibited substances.

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RPT-Baseball-MLB, players agree to expand drug testing

(Repeats to widen distribution)
Jan 10 (Reuters) - Major League Baseball and the players' union have agreed to expand their drug program to include random in-season blood testing for human growth hormone and a new test for testosterone, they said on Thursday.
The testing will start this season.
MLB has been conducting random blood testing for the detection of HGH among minor league players since July 2010.
Starting this season, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)-accredited Montreal laboratory will establish a program in which a player's baseline testosterone/epitestosterone (T/E) ratio and other data will be maintained in order to enhance its ability to detect use of testosterone and other prohibited substances.

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Venezuela VP heading to Cuba see Chavez, family

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela's vice president flew to Cuba on Friday to visit the ailing Hugo Chavez and his family, while the leaders of Argentina and Peru also traveled to Havana saying they hoped to ask about the Venezuelan president's condition.
The 58-year-old president is fighting a severe respiratory infection a month after he underwent cancer surgery in Havana, his government says.
"I'm leaving for Havana to continue that work of visiting the family, meeting with his medical team, visiting our commander president," Vice President Nicolas Maduro said on television in Caracas.
Cuba's nightly TV news show reported that Maduro had arrived, but did not say whether he made any comments. The Venezuelan was met at the airport by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, the show said.
Chavez hasn't spoken publicly or been seen since before his Dec. 11 operation, his fourth cancer-related surgery since June 2011 for an undisclosed type of pelvic cancer.
The government revealed this week that Chavez is receiving treatment for "respiratory deficiency." Medical experts say that might mean he is breathing with the help of a ventilator.
Maduro was making his second trip to Cuba since Chavez's surgery. He said he would meet with Argentine President Cristina Fernandez, who also was visiting Havana, and hoped to meet with Peruvian President Ollanta Humala, who arrived Friday in the Cuban capital.
Fernandez arrived at the Hotel Nacional along Havana's waterfront on Friday morning. Authorities have characterized the Argentine leader's trip as a private visit and her foreign minister said Thursday that she intended to meet with Chavez.
She told The Associated Press in Friday afternoon that she would lunch with Cuban President Raul Castro and his retired brother Fidel. "And then surely I will meet with the family of my companion and dear friend Hugo Chavez," Fernandez said.
Arriving at the Havana airport, Humala did not say if had confirmed plans to meet with Chavez.
"Obviously I will ask, I will see, how is President Chavez's situation," Humala told reporters, saying he wishes Chavez a "quick recovery."
Presidents Rafael Correa of Ecuador and Evo Morales of Bolivia have also visited Havana during Chavez's current stay there.
Peruvian analyst Nelson Manrique said Humala's trip was a reflection of the president's personal friendship with Chavez, as well as political.
"There is a sector that would like Peru to be unconditionally aligned with the United States, but this is more prudent politically to develop a multilateral policy," Manrique said. "It doesn't seem probable that Hugo Chavez will continue governing, but in any of the scenarios 'Chavismo' will be a very strong force in Venezuela.
"It's convenient for the Peruvian government to maintain a relationship, leave the door open, and balance the geopolitical relationship with Venezuela as well," the analyst added.
Maduro was designated by Chavez last month as his chosen successor. Maduro said that while he is in Cuba, Electricity Minister Hector Navarro will remain in charge of affairs as acting vice president. The vice president didn't say when he would return.
Maduro's announcement came a day after the government gathered foreign allies and tens of thousands of exuberant supporters to celebrate the start of a new term for Chavez on Thursday, even as he was too ill to return home for a real inauguration.
Despite opposition claims that the constitution demands a Jan. 10 inauguration, the pro-Chavez congress approved delaying the inauguration and the Supreme Court on Wednesday endorsed the postponement, saying the president could be sworn in before the court at a later date.
Jailed former defense minister Raul Baduel urged his countrymen, especially the military, to resist what he called a "new constitutional coup" by Chavez's allies. The former military chief, who is in prison after being convicted of embezzlement and abuse of power, made the remarks in a vaguely worded letter that was released Friday.
Baduel has insisted he is innocent and dismissed the case against him as a politically motivated reprisal for his opposition to Chavez.
Though he didn't give details about what action he hoped the military would take, Baduel appeared to echo the argument by opposition politicians that Maduro and other Chavez allies are violating the constitution by remaining in office beyond the formal swearing-in date.
The Supreme Court has dismissed that argument, saying the date in the constitution isn't binding if an inauguration is performed before the court rather than the congress, where presidents usually take the oath of office.
Baduel also urged the governments of other countries "not to validate the constitutional coup d'etat that has been set in motion."
A high-ranking military chief, Maj. Gen. Wilmer Barrientos, said the military will respect and obey the Supreme Court's decision. He told the station Union Radio that those who question the court's decision should make their case through legal channels.
National Assembly President Diosdado Cabello, a former military officer who is thought to have close ties to the armed forces, warned in a message on Twitter that Chavez's supporters should be "on alert for actions of violence" similar to bloodshed that preceded a failed 2002 coup against Chavez.
Chavez was briefly ousted in that coup, then was restored to power within two days with the help of military loyalists amid large protests in the streets by his supporters.

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In Venezuela, humor not stymied by Chavez's crisis

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The monthlong absence of ailing President Hugo Chavez has elicited prayers, an emotional street rally and heated political debate. Amid the tense wait for news from Chavez's hospital in Cuba, Venezuelans are also turning to one of their most prized national attributes: a biting, irreverent sense of humor.
A flurry of jokes and political cartoons have taken aim at the government's postponement of Chavez's inauguration. When the president's followers took to the streets to symbolically take the oath in Chavez's place, some critics said the outlandishness hit a new, surreal high.
"What's happening is so absurd that people don't know whether to laugh or cry," said Claudio Nazoa, a Venezuelan comedian.
One cartoon by Rayma Suprani in the newspaper El Universal turned its gallows humor to the Supreme Court, which approved putting off Chavez's swearing-in. It showed a woman who appeared to be a judge using a guillotine to slice up the constitution.
The popular satirical website "El Chiguire Bipolar," named after a giant rodent that is common on the plains of Venezuela, took aim at the government's slogan "We're all Chavez," with a particularly caustic spoof article.
The site alluded to Venezuela's high murder rate, saying in the headline: "21,000 Chavezes who died at the hands of criminals can't attend the inauguration."
"Jokes play a role of social catharsis, and that's why there is acid wit and irony," said Tulio Hernandez, a sociology professor at Central University of Venezuela. "It's a way of letting off steam."
Dark humor about Chavez's condition and Venezuela's unsettled situation has popped up in various parts of Latin America.
One cartoon by Brazilian political cartoonist Sinfronio de Sousa Lima Neto circulated widely online. It depicted the grim reaper entering a hospital room where Fidel Castro was with Chavez. The grim reaper asks "Who is Fidel?" and Fidel points to Chavez saying: "He's the one right here."
Another Brazilian humorist, Jose Simao, cracked jokes on Twitter and in his newspaper column.
"I think Chavez isn't on the island of Cuba. He's on the island of Lost," Simao said on Twitter, referring to the popular television series.
While political cartoons in some other countries toyed with the concept of Chavez possibly being at death's door, in Venezuela the cartoonists mainly seemed to steer clear of Chavez's condition.
Hernandez said Venezuelans may be avoiding jokes that directly focus on Chavez or his cancer due to fears of retribution from the government or Chavez's supporters. He noted that the government has slapped fines and other penalties on some critical broadcasters.
Last weekend, intelligence agents also raided a home in Carabobo state in a case that Venezuelan media reported was part of an investigation into messages on Twitter about Chavez's health.
In the past, many Venezuelan humorists have targeted the socialist president. The Venezuelan cartoonist Pedro Leon Zapata has depicted the president previously as a toad or at times a military boot, in reference to his years as an army paratroop commander.
Cartoonist Roberto Weil focused a recent cartoon on what critics call a blatant violation of the constitution in putting off the inauguration, depicting a hyena tearing up the charter in its teeth.
Nazoa said in a telephone interview that he found the alternative street inauguration for Chavez especially bizarre.
"It's a sort of Roman circus in which the spectators who applaud are going to soon be eaten by the lions and they don't know it," he said. He said the oddities don't stop there, and he compared the situation to Lewis Carroll's "Alice In Wonderland."
"Look at the absurdity: Those of us against Chavez, who were desperate to get rid of him, now we're desperate for him to appear," Nazoa added.

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Mexicans protest dog detentions, tests negative

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Dozens of protesters chanting "Free the dogs, arrest the criminals!" demonstrated outside Mexico City police headquarters Friday, demanding the release of 57 stray dogs seized over five suspected mauling deaths in recent weeks.
The protesters said the dogs are innocent, and many claimed the victims were probably killed by humans. They acknowledged the famished dogs that live in a hilltop park in an east-side slum where the bodies were found may have bitten the corpses after they were already dead.
"Dog friends, the people are with you!" the protesters chanted, as well as, "The dogs aren't criminals, the police are inept!"
"We are completely certain ... the dogs are innocent," said Nominis de Esparza, an animal activist who has adopted 30 cats.
Autopsies determined that the three women, a teenage boy and a baby found in the park since mid-December died of loss of blood due to bites from multiple dogs.
But those findings have been met with widespread skepticism in a country where drug gangs frequently dump bodies of their victims in public spaces, and prosecutors seldom thoroughly investigate such crimes. The idea has taken hold among many that killers dumped the bodies in the park, hoping that packs of stray dogs would destroy the evidence.
"This was a crime committed by humans, for a settling of accounts or who knows what," said De Esparza, using the Spanish word "ajuste" frequently employed to describe drug gang killings.
Tests on the dogs have so far been inconclusive.
The city prosecutor's office said initial tests on the first 25 strays gave no indication they ate human flesh. An employee of the city prosecutors' office, who was not authorized to be quoted by name, said almost no food of any kind was found in the dogs' stomachs, much less human flesh. But he said officials were still awaiting results from tests on the dogs' fur and paws to see if any human DNA was present.
Jose Luis Carranza, of the Citizens Front for Animal Rights, criticized city authorities for ordering round-ups of strays in the aftermath of the killings. Carranza said protesters want the raids stopped because only animal control officers are allowed to seize dogs in Mexico City, and only on specific complaints involving individual animals.
"If the authorities really want to crack down on the overpopulation of dogs, then they should go after the clandestine puppy sellers," Carranza said. "Every day there are people selling dogs on the streets, and the police don't do anything."
The 57 mutts rounded up at the Cerro de la Estrella park, where the attacks occurred, include a few about the size of a Labrador, but many are small or mid-size dogs, including beagle and border-collie mixes. Twenty-three are puppies or very young dogs.
Many look like the discarded pets they are. Residents near the 353-acre (143-hectare) park in the poor Iztapalapa neighborhood say people regularly drop off unwanted pets there, but say the dogs have never caused problems before.
Moises Heiblum, professor of animal behavior at the school of veterinary medicine at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, said feral dogs as individuals "probably could not carry out a ferocious attack of this type" and normally avoid human contact.
But the dynamics change when a pack is formed, Heiblum said. "When a group comes together, they are capable of an extremely intense and even fatal attack. That is possible."
Animal control warden Armando Garcia, who was patrolling with an assault rifle this week, said there was no question that strays had formed a pack in at least one part of the park.
"You can tell when there's a pack: There's an alpha dogs and his followers, and they've marked out territory and they challenge you when you enter it, with growls and barking," Garcia said.
On Friday, authorities in Iztapalapa announced that the dogs taken into custody would be put up for adoption. They had earlier promised animal rights groups that the dogs would not be killed.
The dogs will get shots, special baths and medical treatment before being given away.

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