by Paul Coro - Sept. 19, 2012 08:54 PM
azcental sports
For the past year, Mike Jacobs was no longer known for his power-filled rookie call-up in 2005 with the Mets, his 32-home run season with the Marlins in 2008 or his four years as a regular major-league starter.
He was Mike Jacobs, the only athlete in North American professional sport leagues to test positive for human growth hormone.
Jacobs' price was a 50-game suspension, an immediate release from the Colorado Rockies organization and the worry of whether his admitted mistake would keep him from ever feeling the joy he had Wednesday when he returned to the majors with the Diamondbacks.
It was an emotional Tuesday night, when the 31-year-old celebrated a Triple-A championship with the Reno Aces in Raleigh, N.C., and blended his champagne soaked face with tears when Diamondbacks General Manager Kevin Towers told him and teammate A.J. Pollock that they would join the Diamondbacks on Wednesday.
Recounting the moment that he told his wife Vanessa, Jacobs bit his lip to stop his quivering chin and hold back more tears as he gathered himself for a few seconds in the Chase Field dugout Wednesday evening.
"She was proud of me," Jacob said with his voice cracking. "You know she's been there through everything. She's been there through all the ups and downs."
Jacobs was just trying to find his way back to the majors with the Colorado Sky Sox when he was suspended on Aug. 11, 2011, a year after minor-league baseball began blood testing. Jacobs issued a statement of admission at the time that said in part, " ... In an attempt to overcome knee and back problems, I made the terrible decisions to take HGH."
The three trades Jacobs had experienced would test any player's confidence but he was now shaken that the label of a positive drug test would keep him from another major-league chance. He already had not played in the majors since April 2010.
"It's been a long time fighting to be here," Jacobs said. "You always question it. It's obviously in the back of the mind. I think what makes a man is a guy that can face the things he's done wrong and own up to them and then try to move on. I think people are a lot more forgiving than what people get credit for. I'm grateful for the opportunity. Whether I got back to the big leagues with the Diamondbacks or not, I was just grateful for the opportunity to be able to play baseball again."
Jacobs said he has seen people run from their mistakes and have that response blow up in their face. He felt quickly owning up to his error was the right thing to do and would help him earn his way back.
The Diamondbacks gave him that chance by signing him in January and he hit .279 with 18 home runs for Reno while mentoring younger players like now-Diamondbacks Adam Eaton, Jake Elmore and Ryan Wheeler. With a need for left-handed power, the first baseman's chance with Arizona could extend to the spring.
"It's kind of a great story," Diamondbacks General Manager Kevin Towers said. "After having the 50-game suspension and having to start off in extended spring, he was a leader down there with those kids. Then Bugsy (Reno Manager Brett Butler) said he asked him to take on a leadership role and help guys like Pollock and Eaton in Triple-A. He did so and helped that club win a championship. It's pretty amazing. You see guys with five or six years and have hit 30 homers in the big leagues. To get the call that he's coming up to the big leagues and be as emotional as he was, it's great to see. We told A.J. Pollock and he was more happy for Jacobs than he was for himself."
Jacobs still admitted to being surprised when he got the word Tuesday night. The emotions never stopped as he and Pollock took connecting flights to arrive in the Diamondbacks clubhouse on Wednesday afternoon. He gets to join his pupils like Eaton, who he said calls him "Father."
He also had to own up to his mistake once again, "face forward" as he says, and talk about history but in a much better place -- Chase Field, a place he had once targeted to make home.
Major League Baseball added HGH testing in the newest collective bargaining agreement. And despite how it turned his life upside-down, Jacobs is an advocate.
"I think that is something that would've been bargained for either way, whether it would have happened or not," Jacobs said. "I think that is something that is actually really good for baseball. I think that it should even go further steps than where it's at."
20 Sep, 2012
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Source: http://www.azcentral.com/sports/diamondbacks/articles/2012/09/19/20120919arizona-diamondbacks-give-mike-jacobs-second-chance.html
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