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Former MVP rips Bonds as a drug cheat

Murphy says ‘without a doubt’ slugger took performance-enhancers

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SALT LAKE CITY - Two-time NL MVP Dale Murphy thinks Barry Bonds is a “terrible example for our kids” and that the San Francisco Giants used performance-enhancing drugs “without a doubt.”

“Barry’s a great player, there’s no question about it, but he put an asterisk by his name on his own,” Murphy said Monday on AM radio 1280 The Show. “He’s deserved all the negative publicity that he’s getting. I mean, people are calling up and complaining, I’ve heard the last few weeks, that that he’s being treated unfairly. You know, life just usually isn’t like that. You don’t usually get treated unfairly. You usually get what you deserve. This is what Barry deserves. He’s a hard guy to like. He’s a hard teammate to have and, you know, he’s set a terrible example for our kids.”

Murphy, who hit 398 homers in 18 major league seasons before retiring in 1993, said he refuses to watch Bonds’ games.

“That’s what you say to your kids. You say, ’This is what happens when you take steroids. Your dad doesn’t want to watch this, because this is stuff that’s drug abuse, basically, as we know,” he said.

Bonds, who broke Hank Aaron’s record Tuesday night by hitting his 756th home run, has denied knowingly using performance-enhancing drugs. A federal grand jury in California has been investigating Bonds on possible perjury and tax charges.

“Even in a court of law you can have ... a preponderance of circumstantial evidence to convict somebody,” Murphy said. “Now, maybe I’m wrong, but when you get enough stuff on a guy, you can make a decision and it’s just really a no-brainer. The guy would have become one of the great ones, anyway. ... But now, he sucked the fun and the life right out of it. I mean, there is enough evidence to me to say without a doubt he used performance-enhancing drugs. He hit 73 home runs when he was 37. I mean, Hank would have hit 855 if he had the same advantage.”

© 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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