Blogger Buys Card of PED User

2013 Topps Tier One Jhonny Peralta Autograph 

Raleigh (AP) -- Sources have confirmed that The Snorting Bull Baseball Card Blog bought an autographed card of known steroid user Jhonny Peralta last week off of Ebay.  While Peralta recently signed a brand new four year contract with The Snorting Bull's beloved St. Louis Cardinals, many critics of PED use in baseball pointed out that the purchase represented a low point in the brief history of the blog.

During the 2013 season Peralta played for the American League Central Champion Detroit Tigers, but was suspended after the All-Star break for his involvement in the BioGenesis scandal for 50 games.  After serving his 50 game suspension the shortstop was signed early into Major League Baseball's free agent signing period by the St. Louis Cardinals at four years and 52 million dollars.

The signing outraged a group of Major League Players including Diamondbacks relief pitcher, patrol officer for MLB Police Department, and Kansas Jayhawks fan Brad Ziegler.  After hearing of the Peralta signing Ziegler issued the following well thought out statement via Twitter:

When reached for comment The Snorting Bull gave a few reasons for the purchase of the Peralta card:

"First, I already owned two Peralta cards, but they were both pretty low rate sticker autographs.  One was from an early 2000s Donruss Team Heroes set, while the other card came from a Leaf release from the same era.  If Peralta is going to be on the Cardinals for the next four years, then I feel like I should have a nice autograph of his in my collection.  Second, the card cost me a whole $3.  Add in the fact that I also picked up a Jon Jay Tier One autograph from the same seller cheap and you've got a pretty sweet deal on two nice autographed cards"

The Associated Press was able to obtain a nice picture of the the Jon Jay Tier One Autograph which is
also serial numbered out of 299 and features a nice on card autograph of the Cardinals outfielder.

While Jay has avoided negative press during his brief career with the Cardinals, it should be noted that Jay did attend the University of Miami.  While attending the ACC school, Jay played his home games in the university's baseball stadium which is named for known steroid user Alex Rodriguez.

Critics of PED users in baseball are alarmed and disappointed that card collectors are still spending money on known steroid users.  The Associated Press was able to a baseball card collector who describes himself as a big collector of Brian McCann and Brad Ziegler.  Here's what they had to say:

"I cannot believe that someone would spend good money on a Jhonny Peralta autograph.  You know he was suspended for using steroids.  What are we doing to punish users if owners keep trying to sign good players to win games.  A blogger spent $3 on a Peralta card?  He could have bought a lot of 100 to 200 Brad Ziegler commons for that much.  Completely disappointed." 

The AP tried to contact Brad Ziegler for comment on the story, but he was busy try to sell off spots in a baseball card break touting the autographs of Josh Hamilton, Matt Williams, Paul Molitor, and Ryan Braun.  Good thing he's not profiting off of others drug use.