Johnny Damon: Baseball ‘booted’ me for being clean
By Mike Dyce
Stop if you’ve heard this before but former Major League Baseball player Johnny Damon says he played his entire 18-year career without ever using performance-enhancing drugs. The only difference between this and other players is that Damon hasn’t been accused of using PEDs.
“I played it clean,” Damon said during an appearance Thursday on 810 CBS Sports in Orlando. “That’s what everybody’s going to be looking at. I think I’m one of the only players to come out and say, ‘I guarantee you there is nothing I’ve done that enhanced my baseball career.’”
Damon also went on to say you can’t blame PED users for pursuing the riches that come with the risk, but he maintains guys are flying under the radar and still being used as role models. In fact, Damon says playing clean is the reason he was booted out of baseball.
“You can’t fault someone who has a chance to make $20 million, $50 million, $100 million for going against the system to get to where they are. You can’t fault them, but I’m as clean as they came and I got booted out of the game because I’m clean,” Damon said. “I sound a little bitter, but I’m not. I have six great kids and I get to be around them every day now. But there are certain guys who cheated the system and they’re still being patted on the back. That’s not great for our kids.”
Hard to claim you were booted out of the baseball when your final season came at the age of 38. In that 2012 season with the Cleveland Indians, Damon hit .222 with a .281 on-base percentage in 207 at-bats.