He is C.J. Nitkowski, now hurling in Japan after a half dozen years or more in the big leagues. We have our own connection. He hails from Suffern, N.Y., up in my neck of the woods, and when I wrote my book "Joy in Mudville," about coaching my son in Little League almost ten years ago, we corresponded -- back in 1998 he was one of the first ballplayers to "blog" (as it later became known).
We never met but, for my book, he recalled his years in Little League and some of the horrible things coaches and parents subject their kids to. I just dug out one of his emails and see that he advised me over and over to just let kids have "fun" and "learn the game the right way." He was about to get married and I see in the Times article that he now has a couple of nippers of his own.
A few years after our correspondence, teams I coached always seemed to run up against Suffern in the county finals. It was quite a rivalry.
Nitkowski told the Times that in the 2001 season he was briefly interested in taking steroids, and he asked his friend Brian McNamee -- the trainer who now says he shot up Roger Clemens -- for his opinion.
McNamee did not advise it but clearly gave Nitkowski that option. ?The guy knows what he?s doing; he?s dedicated his life to this, and he?s good at what he does,? Nitkowski said today. ?But you can?t stop your guys. You have athletes you care about, and if they want to do it, you?re not going to talk them out of it.?
Nitkowski decided not to use steroids, he said, "because he was worried he would get caught committing a crime by purchasing or possessing them," the Times blog entry continues. "He was not as concerned about the possible health effects when compared to the potential for greater glory and wealth that steroids could help achieve. 'If you know what?s available if you succeed in the major leagues, the health risks don?t scare you at all,' Nitkowski said."
The front page story on Saturday has Nitkowski saying of McNamee, ?There?s no doubt in my mind that he was telling the truth." Nitkowski said he had never seen Clemens or Andy Pettitte take performance-enhancing drugs, but said of McNamee, ?He?s got no reason to lie.?
Nitkowski spoke with McNamee on Friday, and tells the Times, ?This is killing him to have to do this. I know it is. But when it comes down to going to jail, that?s when you stop protecting friends and start thinking about your family.?
Of course, the larger problem now is that many kids, just past Little League, have gotten hooked on 'roids and other such substances, with three possibly catastrophic results: getting caught cheating, getting caught holding, or suffer longterm health defects.
Looking at my final email from C.J. many years ago, I see that the last thing he told me was to teach the kids real "sportsmanship." I responded positively, of course, and the last thing I ever told him was, "Good luck on the coming season, I hope you're not headed to Toronto in any Clemens deal."
Of course, a "Clemens deal" means something quite different today.
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