For years, Chad Curtis has been outspoken about steroid use in baseball. He has been one of the few willing to speak about the problem in the sport and the need to clean it up.
But when the Mitchell Report came out last week, he heard a name he never thought he would – Andy Pettitte, who later admitted he used HGH on two occasions. Curtis and Pettitte became very close as Yankees teammates in 1998 and 1999. Both shared a deep belief in Christianity, and the two have remained close.
“I was definitely very shocked,” Curtis said. “I guess my initial reaction was I didn’t believe it. How did he get wrapped up in it? When I read the report and it said he felt like he needed to be out there for team, I think I would have been tempted with that motivation. To get the big contract, to prolong my career or to enhance my career I wouldn’t have been tempted. But to be out there battling with guys to make the playoffs, that’s a better motive. It’s still wrong but I can understand that a little more.”
Curtis is now the athletic director at NorthPointe Christian High School in Michigan. He teaches a weight-training class there and a few local TV stations came to the school after former Sen. George Mitchell issued his report Thursday, putting Curtis in a difficult position.
“I was standing in our weight room answering questions about Andy Pettitte and he was one of the guys who donated money to build our weight room,” Curtis said. “I pointed out that I think Andy’s a great guy. Just like me and everybody else, we’ve all made some poor choices. It’s just that Andy’s are now in the media.”
There are 14 of Curtis’ former teammates named in the Mitchell Report. He spoke with Mitchell’s investigators last year, but did not name names. Mitchell wanted to speak with players who had been open about their opposition to steroid use, and Curtis certainly had been.
The testimony of Long Island residents Kirk Radomski and former Yankees strength coach Brian McNamee led to many current and former Yankees being included in Mitchell’s report. But Curtis, who played 10 seasons with six teams, said the Yankees were no different than any other team.
“I think New York was the best place I ever played from that standpoint,” Curtis said. “I felt our guys were as professional, more ethical and a more honest group of guys than any other team I played on.”
Curtis wonders how much steroid use prevented clean players from getting jobs.
“Decisions that were made hurt other guys,” Curtis said. “How did that affect pay structure and who got what job? To me, a guy that was clean . . . I was going to be a starting outfielder on an average team and a backup outfielder on a good team. If everything was level, maybe I would have been a starter on a good team.
“How many times did that play out over the course of the years?”