The Hot Stone League

Larry Stone gives his take on a wide array of baseball issues and weighs in about the Mariners too.

July 23, 2009 at 6:38 AM

Jim Parque: Why I juiced

I want to call your attention to this illuminating article that former White Sox (and, briefly in the Mariners' organization) Jim Parque wrote for the Chicago Sun-Times, in which he laid out his motivation for using HGH.

It's a fascinating account, and really sheds some light on what makes ballplayers turn to performance-enhancing drugs. I commend Paque for finally coming clean like this, because he denied everything when contacted by Geoff Baker after being named in the Mitchell Report. Those indignant denials in Geoff's story, and his subsequent confession, should reinforce that steroids denials are not always iron-clad. Here's what Parque told Geoff, from the Dec. 14, 2007 story:

Parque was told that on Pages 223 and 224 of the 409-page document, it states that he twice acquired human growth hormone from a former New York Mets clubhouse attendant, Kirk Radomski, in 2003. The report also mentions Radomski's claims that Parque sent him a bottle of the anabolic steroid Winstrol to "check out."

"That is totally and utterly incorrect and false," Parque said. "I don't even know what Winstrol is."

Parque also denied having ever used human growth hormone or knowing Radomski. When told that photocopies of two checks he reportedly gave Radomski, for $3,200 and $1,600, were in the report, he said he remembered writing checks to buy creatine and other supplements through a third party.

Parque now lives in the Seattle/Tacoma area, where he runs a baseball training facility in Auburn.

Parque pinpoints his road to HGH beginning with an arm injury he suffered pitching for the White Sox against the Mariners in the 2000 Division Series.

He went to camp with the Mariners in 2007, at age 31, after two years out of baseball. He began the year at Tacoma, but retired after 11 games in which he had a 7.80 ERA.

Parque was named in the Mitchell Report as having made two purchases of HGH from former Mets clubhouse attendent-turned-informer Kirk Radomski.

The Hot Stone League

Jim Parque: Why I juiced

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