Steroids Family Tree: Bagwell Branch

Jeff Bagwell has never been connected to steroids. However, his offensive outburst during the 1994 season with the Astros would suggest he took something to enhance his performance. In his previous three seasons in the Major Leagues, Bagwell averaged 17 Home Runs, 88 RBI, and 259 Total Bases. During the strike-shortened 1994 season, Bagwell hit 39 Home Runs, second in the league to Matt Williams's 43, with league leading totals of 116 RBI and 300 Total Bases while playing in just 110 Games with 400 At Bats. Also that season, Bagwell posted a Batting Average of .368, second to Tony Gwynn's .394, a .451 On Base Percentage, again second to Gwynn, and a league leading .750 Slugging Percentage which at the time was seventh best in Baseball history. He was a unanimous choice for National League MVP, and at the end of the year Bagwell signed a seven year, $47 Million contract with the Astros.

That's right... Bagwell was a free agent at the end of 1994, which could explain his remarkable season. After signing his First Baseman to the lergest contract in team history, Astros owner Drayton McLane announced that payroll would have to be cut. By the end of 1994, seven of Bagwell's teammates were traded, including his friends Ken Caminiti and Steve Finley. At the trade deadline the next year, another friend of Bagwell's, Luis Gonzalez, was dealt away. The three would go on to have career years after leaving the Astros, and are all part of the Bagwell Branch.

With 21 Home Runs and 87 RBI in 1995, Bagwell surprisingly returned to his previous level of offense, however beginning in 1996, he would assault the box scores again until his last full season of 2004. Bagwell topped 30 Home Runs in a season nine times and finished with 449 for his career. Nine times he scored more than 100 Runs and eight times he drove in more than 100 runs, and ended with more than 1500 in each category during his 15 year career. Jeff Bagwell is a certain Hall of Famer, unless...

Bagwell begat Caminiti. The first Baseball player to admit to using steroids, Ken Caminiti was a teammate of Bagwell's during his magical year of 1994. After being traded to the Padres, Caminiti found steroids in nearby Mexico, and bulked up on his way to an MVP season in 1996. That year he had career high totals of 40 Home Runs, 130 RBI, and a .326 Average (in Houston his highs were 18/80/.294). Sadly, Caminiti died of a cocaine-induced heart attack at the age of 41 in 2004.

Caminiti begat Finley. A fleet-footed Centerfielder in his 20s with the Astros, Steve Finley became a power hitter at the age of 31 after being traded with Caminiti to the Padres. Finley's Home Run total tripled while he doubled his RBIs in 1996 hitting in front of Caminiti. In 1999, Finley joined Luis Gonzalez on the newly formed Arizona Diamondbacks. Together they would enjoy great seasons, as Finley had career bests in Home Runs and RBI. An interesting bit of trivia: Steve Finley and Brady Anderson, who played together for two years with the Orioles, are related through marriage. And... both had monster seasons in 1996. Hmmm

Caminiti begat Vaughn. 1996 was also a good year for Greg Vaughn. As a Brewer, Vaughn showed power potential, but did not break through until 1996. That season, he hit a career high 31 Home Runs before the trade deadline, and was sent to the Padres for whom he hit 10 more. Vaughn suffered through a disastrous 1997 season before suspiciously producing a 50 Home Run campaign in his free agent year of 1998. No one noticed Vaughn's achievement as the nation was caught up in the McGwire/Sosa lovefest, however Vaughn re-signed with the Padres, who then immediately traded him to the Reds. An interesting bit of trivia: Greg Vaughn and Mo Vaughn are cousins.

Finley begat Gonzalez. The last of the 'Bagwell Bunch' to be accused of using steroids, Luis Gonzalez had an interesting journey to stardom. He started his career with the Astros for whom he played five plus years in which he hit 59 total Home Runs and averaged 11 homers with 66 RBI. In 1995, Gonzalez was traded with Catcher Scott Servais to the Cubs where they became teammates of Sammy Sosa. After one season with the Cubs in which he hit just 15 Home Runs, Gonzalez returned to the Astros in 1997 and managed only 10 Home Runs. The Astros let him sign with the Tigers and the following season was his best power year as he hit a career high 23 Home Runs and 35 Doubles.
-The expansion Arizona Diamondbacks traded young Karim Garcia for Gonzalez prior to the 1999 season, and signed Steve Finley to reunite with Gonzalez in the Outfield. In a stunning season, Gonzalez added 28 Runs, 40 RBI, 40 Hits, and 69 points in Average to his 1998 totals. After an equally good 2000, Gonzalez went into the stratosphere in 2001. He hit a ridiculous 57 Home Runs, equalling his total from the previous two seasons combined, drove in 142 runs, and Slugged an amazing .688. Of course, he was overshadowed by Barry Bonds who broke the Home Run record that year. In 2002 and 2003, Gonzalez hit half as many Home Runs as 2001, and lost nearly 200 points in his Slugging Percentage. Another slugger who was 'injured' in 2004, the first year of mandatory drug testing in MLB, Gonzalez returned to his normal numbers for the remainder of his career.

Finley begat the 1999 Diamondbacks. The expansion Diamondbacks featured 2B Jay Bell and 3B Matt Williams, who both hit 20 Home Runs. In 1999, Finley and Gonzalez joined them, and all four players would enjoy a resurgence in offense. Bell and Williams were both 33 years old in 1999, and both would hit more than 35 Home runs and drive in more than 100 runs. Bell had career highs with 38 Home Runs, 112 RBI, 132 Runs, and a .557 Slugging Percentage. Williams had career highs with 190 Hits, 142 RBI, and 336 Total Bases. The Diamondbacks won 100 games in 1999, becoming the fastest expansion team to win 100 games.

The Bonds Branch:

Barry Bonds may have taken PEDs beginning in 1999 at the age of 34, following the Home Run Chase by McGwire and Sosa. Playing in just 102 Games that season, Bonds hit 34 Home Runs in just 355 At Bats. In 2000, teammate Jeff Kent won the MVP Award with a stellar season even though Bonds hit 49 Home Runs. Not to be outdone again, Bonds would win his fourth of seven MVP Awards in 2001 when he hit a record 73 Home Runs in just 476 At Bats. He ended the season with 567 Home Runs at 37 years old, an age when other stars are winding down their careers and are lucky to hit 30 Home Runs in a season, never mind 73. But Bonds was not done, as he posted three more seasons of 45 plus Home Runs and won his final three MVP Awards. Bonds joined the 'injured' stars in 2005 before returning for two 'normal' seasons, during which he passed Hank Aaron for the most career Home Runs with 762. It would later be revealed that Bonds was involved in steroids and a number of other Giants players, and Bonds's teammates, were involved as well. He also is associated with Gary Sheffield, who he worked out with occasionally.

The Sheffield Branch:

Gary Sheffield is the most confusing player in the steroids family tree. He is the nephew of Dwight Gooden, a drug user and abuser who Sheffield lived with as a youth, which may explain some of the mystery. The first four years of his career were as a light-hitting Infielder for the Brewers, for whom he hit .259 with 21 Home Runs and 133 RBI in 1110 At Bats. Sheffield forced a trade out of Milwaukee, and the Brewers obliged by sending him to the Padres prior to the 1992 season. In San Diego, Sheffield found his power stroke, nearly winning the Triple Crown that year with 33 Home Runs, 100 RBI and a league leading .330 Average. Perhaps Sheffield found his way to nearby Mexico, as Caminiti would a few years later?
-The Padres traded Sheffield the following season to the expansion Marlins for a few young players including Trevor Hoffman. After two half seasons, Sheffield would have a tremendous 1996 campaign. The Marlins would go on to buy a nice roster to surround Sheffield with and they eventually won the World Series in 1997. The team then traded nearly every star player they had and Sheffield ended up with the Dodgers in early 1998, for whom he had three and a half successful seasons. For some reason he was traded to the Braves prior to 2002, joining the Jones boys, and had a monster year in 2003 which not coincidentally was also Javy Lopez's record-setting year. The Braves did not re-sign either Sheffield or Lopez in the off-season, and Sheffield joined the Yankees with Alex Rodriguez. Sheffield enjoyed two more brilliant seasons before joining the 'injured' stars in 2006. He admitted to using a steroid cream in 2001 while working out with Bonds, and has shown signs similar to 'roids rage.

The Sosa Branch:

Sammy Sosa was a talented skinny kid with the White Sox and Cubs who averaged 15 Home Runs and 28 Stolen Bases per 162 Games through the 1992 season. In 1993 he doubled his Home Run average, as he hit 33, possibly due to weightlifting in the offseason using creatine. From 1993 to 1997, Sosa averaged 34 Home Runs, 100 RBI, 278 Total Bases, and 26 steals. With the help of new hitting coach Jeff Pentland, and possibly because of anabolic steroids, Sosa would make a mockery of the Home Run record beginning in 1998. From 1998 to 2003, which was the last year Baseball did not have a mandatory drug testing policy, Sosa averaged 55 Home Runs, 134 RBI, 372 Total Bases, and just five steals. He hit more than 61 Home Runs a record three times on his way to over 600 in his career.