Big Move of May 6th

Gregg Zaun calling his first game as a colour commentator for the fan 590. Zaun has been working alongside Jamie Campbell as an analyst in between innings for sportsnet during the mlb playoffs over the last few years. During that time Zaun showed some talent and an awesome slicked backed hair style that is quite suitable for the gig, which prompted sportsnet to utilize him as a regular analyst during Jay’s games this season. On Friday sportsnet took things further and put Zaun in the booth next to legendary Jerry Howarth (best in baseball in my opinion) to be a colour commentator for their radio station, the fan 590. Zaun said it was a proud day for him and he later celebrated it with the rest of the Zaunby nation who were instrumental in getting him to this point.


Who is the Zaunby nation you might ask? It's the small but loyal group of fans who clung on to this borderline major leaguer during his time in Toronto. This group of fans are quite powerful despite their small numbers and love athletes who have little skill but hustle or appear to have a non stop motor because the game is obviously too fast for them and beyond their skill level. Previous Toronto athletes propelled to stardom by the Zaunby nation include Tie Domi and the Junkyard dog Jerome Williams. At the moment this group of fans are rallying behind John McDonald and have made him the most popular Toronto Blue Jay ahead of Jose Bautista and even Ricky Romero. Above all, this group of fans love honest, every day men who they can relate to but in Zaun's case the Zaunby nation has sadly clung on to a fraud and propelled him to undeserved heights.


Why do I make this claim you ask? Well what do you think of Barry Bonds or Roger Clemens? Rafael Palmeiro? Alex Rodriguez? Miguel Tejada? Jose Canseco? Mark McGwire? Sammy Sosa? When their names are mentioned fans generally cringe and call them a name generally preceded by an expletive. The main reason for this is because they appear to have cheated the game by getting heavy into the muscle yayo (steroids) during baseball's dark juice ball years. They were all listed in the Mitchell report, which named major leaguers who used performance enhancing drugs in the two decades leading up to 2007 (when the report was made). So far there hasn't been one player to exonerate themselves after being named in the Mitchell report.  Gregg Zaun just so happens to be another name that appeared on this list.


Players such as Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez and Roger Clemens would have been stars no matter what and only increased their numbers further from the use of steroids. However, in Zaun's case he needed to take steroids just to crack the big leagues. After batting 188 in 1998 with Florida Zaun went to the Texas Rangers in 1999 where he would post a paltry 244 average in only 43 games. From there he would go to the Royals and hook up with Kirk Radomski who allegedly sold him steroids (this means it happened if you're listed in the Mitchell report). This helped revive Zaun's career and his average would climb to 274 and 320 in 2000 and 2001. Following his stint with the Royals he would go to Houston and Colorado before hooking up with the Jays for five seasons where he would enjoy great success and become a fan favourite. However, if not for Radomski you really have to wonder if Toronto would ever become acquainted with the name Gregg Zaun?


When questioned by the National Post in 2007 Zaun said "if you want to investigate what is going on in the game of baseball right now, fine, but what happened years ago, who cares?" He'd also add 'I have never violated mlb's drug policy or failed any drug tests', which is true but drug tests weren't implemented until 2003. Finally, Zaun would say "For me to be able to recall things that happened six or seven years ago is asking a lot. You're talking about one cheque among thousands that I've written over the last seven years. And I'm supposed to recall why or when, to whom and where. That was nearly impossible for me to figure out." These aren't exactly compelling answers that prove Zaun is innocent and the Mitchell report has been extremely accurate in labelling steroid users in baseball. Where I come from if it smells and walks like a duck then it probably is a duck.


Zaun was a fringe player who needed to take steroids in order to stay in the big leagues. He stuck around long enough to gain enough credibility to be used as an analyst and colour commentator after he retired. I'll admit he's not bad at this job but quite frankly he doesn't deserve it. By taking steroids he took away jobs from honest, hard working minor league players who played the game clean and didn't cheat. I have a serious problem with this and can't understand why so many people, including Rogers Sportsnet have turned a blind eye. He became a fan favourite here because he seemed like a legitimate hard working, honest ball player but the complete opposite appears to be true. In the end he's just minor leaguer who used steroids to propel himself to the next level. Remember this and make sure you chirp him when you walk by his booth in left field at Jays games this summer.