Former MLB Pitcher Tanyon Sturtze Calls Out HOF Inductees for PED Use

Saturday, January 10, 2015
Patrick Sargent, GoLocal Worcester Contributor

Tanyon Sturtze

Former New York Yankees pitcher and Worcester native Tanyon Sturtze took to Facebook on Wednesday to air his grievances on the Baseball Hall of Fame inductees. According to Sturtze, "some" of these new inductees "took something" to during their career to "help their production."

Dan Shaugnessy, reporter for the Boston Globe said, "I have little memory of Sturtze other than that he was involved in one of the Sox-Yankees fights back in the day. This Hall of Fame class looks pretty clean to me."

The four inductees included first ballot HOF's Pedro Martinez, Randy Johnson, and John Smoltz. Former Houston Astro and member of the 3,000 hits group, Craig Biggio, was the fourth member elected on his second ballot.

Here's what Sturtze said in its entirety:

"The HOF inductees were exactly what everyone thought would be this year and all deserve it but we need to be careful. I think this group had some guys in it that def (inetly) took something along their career to help their production, and if that's the case we need to open it up to others who are suspected of the same. We want to be fair but their are guys with better numbers then these inductees and are getting snubbed because of the same accusations."

Sturtze's fellow Yankee, Roger Clemens, only received 37.5 percent of the needed 75% of votes. Clemens, along with other players famously tied to PEDs like Barry Bonds (36.8%), Mark McGwire (10) and Sammy Sosa (6.6), seem to be in limbo and may run out of time before ever being elected. 

"He's certainly entitled to his opinion," said Boston Globe Reporter Nick Cafardo. "As a former major league player he certainly saw and heard things that those of us outside the clubhouse didn't hear. When a former player says something like that I'm all ears."

Sturtze went to high school at Saint Peter-Marian in Worcester and attended Quinsigamond Community College before being drafted by the Oakland Athletics in 1990. In 2002, Sturtze led the league with 18 losses, 271 hits allowed, 89 walks allowed, and 129 earned runs. However, he was also seventh in innings pitched (224) and games started (33). Sturtze may be most prominently known in the area for his time with the Yankees as a relief pitcher. He was highly involved in the brawl between Jason Varitek and Alex Rodriguez at Fenway Park in 2004. Sturtze left the game in 2009.