Players who violated Major League Baseball's ban on the use of performance-enhancing drugs should pay the piper, says former Atlanta Brave pitcher John Rocker.
"You've got to play by the rules. You have to take the medicine Major League Baseball gives you,'' Rocker told "The Steve Malzberg Show" on Newsmax TV.
MLB is currently interviewing players connected to Biogenesis, the Florida clinic that allegedly supplied performance-enhancing drugs to players.
It is expected to seek suspensions of several top stars including New York Yankees third baseman and shortstop Alex Rodriguez and Milwaukee Brewers left-fielder Ryan Braun, according to an ESPN report.
Rocker — who also played for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Texas Rangers and Cleveland Indians — admitted to using steroids in a 2011 interview with New York Baseball Digest.
He was quoted as saying, "Yeah, of course I was. I mean who wasn't? Let’s be honest here, who wasn't?"
Rocker told Steve Malzberg that during his years as a player, drugs "were definitely there."
Amphetamines, for example, "were simply a way to wake you up,'' he he said, adding that one over-the-counter medication he used was later banned by MLB.
Rocker, who released an autiobiography, "Scars and Stripes" in 2011, is currently director of public affairs for Save Homeless Veterans, a private, faith-based charity.
In 1999, he infuriated New York baseball fans when asked by Sports Illustrated if he would ever play for the Yankees or Mets, and replied, "I'd retire first. It's the most hectic, nerve-wracking city."
He went on to disparage gays, foreigners and moms — comments for which he later apologized.
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