Update: The Smoking Gun has a legal affidavit.
Who is this Kirk Radomski who emerged 27-Apr-07 as a key witness in the ongoing BALCO scandal? (really BALCO, the Bay Area Laboratory Cooperative Operation has probably ceased describing the on-going steroids and anabolic investigation, apparently headed by IRS Agent Jeff Novitzky, and whomever is the Head DA in the San Francisco DA's office now) The Washington Post says:
Kirk J. Radomski was known as "Murdock" in the clubhouses at Shea Stadium, under the mysterious, seemingly random system by which nicknames are doled out in baseball. But Radomski, at least by the early 1990s, looked different than most of the other New York Mets clubhouse assistants, or "clubbies" -- the collection of teenagers and young men in every big league locker room who scrape mud from cleats, set up the postgame spread and run errands for the players.
"He was the guy who was in better physical condition than the others," said left-handed pitcher Pete Schourek, who pitched for the Mets from 1991 to '93. "He looked like he worked out."
Documents list Radomski as 37. Listed a Met from 1985 to 1995, means he was 15 to 25 years of age when he apparently roamed the Met's clubhouse. However, many of the Mets can't remember 'Murdock'.
Although Radomski, as part of his plea deal with prosecutors, said he had worked as a bat boy, clubhouse assistant and equipment manager for the Mets, a team spokesman said yesterday afternoon at RFK Stadium -- where the team opened a three-game series against the Washington Nationals -- that Radomski had never been an equipment manager and, in fact, never had a titled position.
According to the New York Times Dave Magadan remembers Murdock:
Dave Magadan did not remember Kirk Radomski. But as soon as Magadan, the batting coach for the Boston Red Sox, learned that Radomski’s nickname was “Murdoch,” he immediately recalled the former Mets clubhouse attendant and bat boy. “He was huge,” Magadan said. “I mean, huge.”
Other Mets, not so much:
Al Leiter, who played for the Mets after Radomski left the organization and now works as a broadcaster for the Yankees, said he had a vague recollection of a burly individual with the “Murdoch” nickname. Leiter said that he found out about Radomski’s guilty plea in a call from Gene Orza, who is the chief operating officer of the Players Association.
“I think he was calling some former Mets to tell them about it,” Leiter said. “Not to tell them that they have been implicated, but just to make them aware of it.”
Howard Johnson, the Mets’ first base coach, and Ron Darling, one of their announcers, played for the Mets while Radomski worked in the clubhouse. Johnson called him a “nice kid” who he did not know much about. Darling did not recall him.
Former Met, and now Cub outfielder Ciff Floyd doesn't remember Radomski:
Cubs outfielder Cliff Floyd worked the phones Saturday to find out whether he or any of his former New York Mets teammates knew the former Mets clubhouse worker who pleaded guilty Friday to providing ''dozens'' of major-leaguers with performance-enhancing drugs since 1995.
''No idea who he is,'' said Floyd, who indicated he got similar responses from former teammates.
Buster Olney says Radomski worked as a personal trainer:
As a clubhouse employee for the Mets for 11 years, and then in his later work as a personal trainer, Radomski would have had contact with literally hundreds and hundreds of players. A source said Friday evening that the federal case involved "dozens" of players, and someone who has seen an investigation affidavit indicated that Radomski told investigators -- to paraphrase -- that if they thought the allegations in Jose Canseco's book were explosive, they would be blown away by what Radomski could report.
SI.Com gives the folowing inside info:
According to court documents, Radomski became a major source of drugs for baseball players after federal investigators shut down the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative in Burlingame, the center of a massive drug distribution ring shut down by federal authorities in 2003. And SI.com reported cell phone numbers belonging to current and former MLB players already have been identified.
Radomski used the money to pay the mortgage on his home, which served as his base of operations for the steroids business. He made the deposits to a New York-based bank and sold steroids in person, over the phone and by mail, according to the agreement.
An FBI informant told federal agents about Radomski, the documents show. And on Dec. 7, 2005, the documents show, he received an order for steroids from someone in San Jose he believed was a friend of an earlier customer. He shipped two vials of deca-durabolin, an anabolic steroid, and testosterone to that address.
A week later, on Dec. 14, federal agents raided his house on Long Island and his dealing operation came to an end, the court documents say.
"A review of the deposits made into the accounts indicate numerous significant deposits from current and former Major League Baseball players, as well as some individuals affiliated with Major League Baseball players," reads the search warrant affidavit, according to a person familiar with the affidavit who spoke on condition of anonymity because it had not been made public.
Although Radomski's steroids-distribution business apparently began after he left the Mets in 1995 -- the federal search-warrant affidavit filed in December 2005 listed 23 personal checks allegedly from players or other baseball figures that were deposited into Radomski's personal banking account from May 2003 to March 2005 -- he built it using contacts he had made in the clubhouses at Shea Stadium.
Update: The New York Times on 29-Apr-07 wrote this:
Novitzky signed an affidavit on Dec. 13, 2005, filed in conjunction with a search the next day on Radomski’s Long Island home. After that raid, Radomski immediately began helping federal investigators look into drug use in baseball. In that affidavit, Novitzky wrote that he had written affidavits in support of search warrants “on 35 different locations” during his 13 years with the I.R.S. Criminal Investigation Unit.
Appears that Radomski's role goes back to 2005; it also appears to be extensive.
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