LITCHFIELD PARK, Ariz. (AP) -Asked how long a drug cloud would hover over baseball, Joe Torre peered into the past.
“I don’t know how long the Black Sox scandal lasted,” the Los Angeles Dodgers manager said Friday. “It’s something we’re going to have to endure.
“To me, the most important thing is that we need to regain the trust and it’s not something that’s going to happen overnight, it’s not going to be fixed overnight. It’s going to take management, players, to do everything we can to recover from this. I think the healing process has to start now with all of us taking part.”
Torre spoke at a news conference on the eve of the Dodgers’ opening their new camp in Arizona, where they’ve moved from their longtime spring home in Vero Beach, Fla.
Few of the questions dealt with the Dodgers or their progress toward bringing Manny Ramirez back, with those negotiations still on hold. Most of the queries dealt with Alex Rodriguez, Torre’s time as the Yankees’ manager and the sport’s marred image.
t’s one of the few sports that really never changed, so the records always pretty much meant the same,” Torre said. “But now there are going to be a lot of questions involved. That’s the sad part about it, but we have to look forward and try to do something about it.”
He said the news about A-Rod, who played for him for four years in New York, was particularly difficult for him to take. Rodriguez said he stopped using any substances before he joined the Yankees.
“I was very saddened, knowing Alex personally and knowing how proud he is of everything he’s done, not only on the baseball field but preparing to go on the baseball field,” Torre said. “I don’t think I’ve ever been around anybody who works harder than him.
“I know it’s very important to him to continue to add to his numbers. He’s a young man and he has a special chance to do a lot of special things numbers-wise. But now they’re going to be tainted. People don’t forget.”
To Rodriguez’s claim that he had stopped using performance-enhancing drugs in 2003, before he came to New York, Torre replied: “I think anytime you open up that can of worms, to speak in absolutes, I think, is dangerous now.”
Torre said he was unaware of any drug use by players on his successful Yankees teams.
at did it. I know my club, in ’98, that seems to be the year that’s magnified at this point in time, I don’t think we had anybody hit 30 home runs,” he said.
Torre understands that fans may still be suspicious.
“It never goes away. Every time you hit a home run, it’s going to be connected to `I wonder if?’ That’s all part of getting the trust back,” he said.
Rodriguez faces an especially daunting task, Torre said.
“Hopefully he’s going to be able to play in spite of everything that’s going to go on, because I know what New York is going to be like, obviously, on a daily basis,” Torre said. “It’s going to be very difficult. (But) Alex has a knack to really block things out when he goes on the field.”
As for whether the other 103 names on the list of players who tested positive in 2003 should be revealed, Torre noted the results were supposed to be confidential.
“It’s just a matter of time when these little snippets of information stop coming out. When they’re all done, I think that’s when the healing will be accomplished.” he said.
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