One thing’s for sure—Jason Grimsley, a lifetime journeyman pitcher in the major and minor leagues, has never been a stranger to controversy and colorful stories.

The 38-year-old was released from the Arizona Diamondbacks earlier this month, bringing down the curtain on a 15-year MLB career with seven different teams, and numerous trips to the minors.

All this came one day after Grimsley’s home in Scottsdale, Arizona was raided by agents of the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service. Grimsley had accepted a package in the mail containing $3,200 worth of Human Growth Hormone (HGH) back in April. He then cooperated with the authorities, admitting to using performance enhancing substances and giving names of current and former MLB players who allegedly were also juiced.

Bonds? Caminiti? Sosa? McGwire? Palmeiro? Step aside, guys, because the feds have now caught the big fish…freakin’ JASON GRIMSLEY!

Grimsley is no longer talking, and surely this story will have more twists and turns. But looking back, one remembers that Grimsley’s well-traveled career took him through Buffalo, not once but twice, and Grimsley was an essential and dramatic part of the Bison’s run to the Governors’ Cup in 1998.

First we go back to Comiskey Park in July 1994, where the Cleveland Indians were visiting the Chicago White Sox. Cleveland slugger Albert Belle’s bat was confiscated and secured by the umpires in the first inning, on the suspicion that it was corked. It was Indians pitcher Grimsley, then a slim 180 pounds, who took on the mission of shimmying through the ceiling ducts, navigating with a flashlight in his teeth, into the umpire’s locker room, swiping the suspect bat and replacing it with a clean one.

Following the game the umpires immediately suspected foul play, knowing the bat had been switched, and the league even considered calling in the FBI. The Indians eventually surrendered the suspect bat, Belle received a seven-game suspension and the matter was closed.

Five years later Grimsley finally admitted his misdeeds. “That was one of the biggest adrenaline rushes I’ve ever experienced,” Grimsley said of his escapade, which was widely known around baseball but never previously admitted to by the pitcher. “I went skydiving once, and I can compare it to that,” Grimsley added.

Grimsley’s time in Buffalo is best remembered for the 1998 season, when his moribund career got jump-started as he posted a 6-3 record in the regular season and became the team’s closer in the Governors’ Cup final against Durham. “He had a great outlook on life and the game,” said Manager Torey Lovullo. “He was a no-nonsense player who took his job very seriously.”

Grimsley earned saves in games one and two of that series, but his meltdown in game four cost the Bisons that game, and several eyebrows were raised in the deciding game five, when Bisons Manager Jeff Datz opted to go with pitcher Jeff Sexton to finish and clinch the championship for Buffalo.

Nonetheless, Grimsley’s improving pitch speed and velocity restarted his major league career, and he signed a big contract with the New York Yankees the following season. Buffalo in 1998 was Grimsley’s last whiff of a minor league clubhouse.

Lovullo expressed concern for his former teammate, saying, “Whatever is going on, I feel for him and his family…I support him as a friend.” Lovullo remembered “Grimmer” as a guy who would watch the backs of his fellow players. “He was a 16-time black belt, so when the guys went out after games, we could let go a bit knowing Grimmer would back us up if anyone got into trouble.”

Did Jason Grimsley’s chemistry project start right in the tunnels and basement back rooms of Dunn Tire Park? His statistics certainly seem to point that way. If the answer is yes, then Grimsley pocketed a little more than $9 million in major league salary since departing the Bisons, thanks in part to his use of anabolic steroids (he tested positive in 2003), amphetamines and HGH. And while not speculating as to Grimsley’s actions and personal circumstances, Lovullo expressed sympathy for fans who are demanding explanations. “Fans are trying to get a feel for what has happened to baseball,” Lovullo said. “We need to give them those answers.”

Make no mistake: The government’s heavyhanded handling of this matter—the home raids, the attempted wiretaps and public castigation of Grimsley—has raised the stakes. There have been no arrests. Yet. But for the other players who may yet be implicated, now comes the waiting and uncertainty. For Grimsley, we wish him a long and healthy life, although with all that goop in his system, one wonders how healthy that life will actually be. For his sake, we hope it was all worth it

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