Jason Giambi, 38, was released from the Oakland Athletics today. Although his power numbers were not lower than expected (11 HR/40 RBI), his batting average was an abysmal .183 after 83 games.
Jason, a former Most Valuable Player, became one of baseball’s premier slugger during the height of the Steroid Era. In Jose Canseco’s first book, ‘Juiced’, Jose called Jason the “poster child” for Steroid use. After a public apology in 2005, most fans forgave the fan friendly Giambi.
Jason’s numbers have been in a steady decline for a few seasons but in his final year in New York he did manage to hit 32 bombs while driving in close to 100 RBI. The Oakland Athletics brought him back to where he began his career in 1995 but clearly the magic was gone.
Jason hit his 400th career home run early in the 2009 season.
His career sure imploded in a hurry. Kids – this is what steroids will do to your body.
That is one of my favorite baseball cards. It looks like present day Jason Giambi ate the person pictured on this card.
yeah when his forehead grew 3 inches I gave up him.
Even though his public apology for being a drug cheat was weak–saying sorry, though not for what–I at least give him some credit for trying. However, I’m still not sure why he chickened out going all the way, and setting an example by doing so.
He said that he couldn’t say more because of “legal issues”. However, according to his reported BALCO grand jury testimony, he at least openly admitted to using illegal steroids before and after he joined the Yankees for the 2002 season.
I guess the legal issues back in ’05 might be the Yankees’ potential bitterness at paying top dollar (yet again) for drug-inflated performance. If he underperformed, that could have put his contract in jeopardy.
I liked Giambi–he even had his own personal Ozzie Canseco, in his brother Jeremy. You remember him; he’s the guy that made Derek Jeter look even more like a genius. Just type “jeter flip” into YouTube or Google to find out.
You can also go to
ShakedownSteiner Sports for a memento of Jeremy’s posterization.LOL, my little league baseball coach when I was 8 almost got into a fist-fight with this dude. My coach was a fireman, would have been a good fight, although I think my coach would have took the win because Giambi might have not been naturally strong. He was on roids all those years…
Honestly, what Yankee isn’t on roids anymore?
Good Luck G-Man!