Baseball Cop

by Eddie Dominguez

Exposing trafficking, theft, fraud, and gambling in the major leagues, a founding member of the MLB's Department of Investigations reveals a news-breaking true story of power and corruption. In the wake of 2005's sometimes contentious, sometimes comical congressional hearings on performance-enhancing drugs in baseball and the subsequent Mitchell Report, Major League Baseball established the Department of Investigations (DOI). An internal and autonomous unit, it was created to not only eliminate the use of steroids, but also to rid baseball of any other illegal, unsavory, or unethical activities. The DOI would investigate the dark side of the national pastime--gambling, age and identity fraud, human trafficking, cover-ups, and more--with the singular purpose of cleaning up the game. Eduardo Dominguez Jr. was a founding member of that first DOI team, leaving a stellar career with the Boston Police Department to join four other "supercops"--a group that included a 9/11 hero, a mob-buster, and narcotics experts--keeping watch over Major League Baseball. A decorated detective as well as a member of an FBI task force, Dominguez was initially reluctant to leave his law-enforcement career to work full-time in baseball. He had already seen the game's underbelly when he worked as a resident security agent (RSA) for the Boston Red Sox in 1999 and become wary of the game's commitment to any kind of reform. Only at the persuasion a widely respected NYPD detective tapped to lead the DOI did Dominguez agree to join the unit, which was the first--and last--of its kind in major American sports. "We could clean up this game," his new boss promised. In Baseball Cop, Dominguez shares the shocking revelations he confronted every day for six years with the DOI and nine as an RSA. He shines a light on the inner workings of the commissioner's office and the complicity of baseball's bosses in dealing with the misdeeds compromising the integrity of the game. Dominguez details the investigations and the obstacles--from the Biogenesis scandal to the perilous trafficking of Cuban players now populating the game to the theft of prospects' signing bonuses by buscones, street agents, and even clubs' employees. He further reveals how the mandates of former senator George Mitchell's report were modified or ignored altogether. Bracing and eye-opening, Baseball Cop is a wake-up call for anyone concerned about America's national pastime.

Genres: Baseball, Sports, Nonfiction, History, Audiobook, Memoir, Biography

305 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 28, 2018

About the author

After a decorated career as a member of the Boston Police Department and an FBI task force, Eddie Dominguez joined MLB's newly formed Department of Investigations in 2008, where he went on to work for six years. —Amazon

Reviews

[HR-ML · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hardback.

Eddie Dominguez was a Boston City Policeman then
detective, for 29 years, & for 10 yrs he simultaneously
served on the FBI drug task force catching drug dealers.

At the same time he worked for Major League Baseball
(MLB) as a resident security agent (RSA) for the Red Sox.
MLB at times asked him to travel IE the All-star game.

MLB knew since the 1980s their players were using perform-
ance enhancing drugs (PED= steroids). US Senator George
Mitchell charged MLB with ending players from using these
dangerous drugs, usually "sold under the table" by MDs,
trainers, chemists, physical therapists, wholistic healers.

MLB promoted Eddie to new MLB Dept. of Investigations
(DOI) to investigate steroids. This Dept. ran from 2008 to
2014. All had a law enforcement background. Ed saw too
many 'friends' hanging with ballplayers in the dugout &
locker room. He was told no when he suggested criminal
background checks on all visitors.

Eddie discovered dishonest MLB tolerated/ knew about
with Latino country prospects, those involved 1) lowered
the player's age on official paperwork, 2) had a Cuban atty
arrange a Cuban prospect to be transported by traffickers to
Mexico (prospect 'claimed' as country of origin) then to US.
3) the lawyer or sports agent in Venezuela claimed 50% or
more of the MLB signer's bonus check. This process insured
a certain team claimed the prospect. This circumvented the
player entering the US legally on a visa & taking part in the
MLB draft, which took longer.

Eddie spoke about MLB gunning for A-Rod concerning his
steroid use. And MLB undermined the DOI investigation wk,
sometimes a jt effort w/ Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA ). Honest Eddie couldn't understand MLB's instructing
DOI to stop investigations. Or MLB insisting DOI tell DEA
to hurry up. Huh? Ed knew a federal indictment was harder
to obtain than a state one. So why did MLB slow-walk or
no-walk the solution to their steroid crisis? They wanted
DOI members for their expertise, but they ignored their
findings.

Revised.

[Socraticgadfly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gets 5 stars for two reasons.

First, within its genre, of sports books, and sports journalism books, it's at least a solid 4.

Second, a LOT of people are rating this way too low, primarily people who aren't big baseball fans, but perhaps a few who are.

==

Summary: Dominguez was a Boston PD cop who eventually became a "resident security agent" for the Red Sox. All MLB teams have them; other major team sports have similar, whether under this title or another. They're generally, like Dominguez, cops or detectives with the local metro or major suburban PDs who monitor team security in and around the clubhouse and stadium. They may go on selected road trips; Dominguez regularly went with the BoSox down to Yankee, and also on road postseason games, etc.

Well, a few years later, the Mitchell Report shit hit the MLB fan. And then-commissioner Bud Selig formed a "Department of Investigation." Thanks to connections with NY cops and other things, Dominguez was asked to join the initial team. He was hesitant, being near his 30 years or whatever with the Boston PD, but eventually signed on — if the DOI remained truly independent.

Well, by the time of the investigation of Biogenesis and Alex Rodriguez' roiding supplier Tony Bosch, that independent was being more and more eroded, by Selig and even more his left-hand man (he's not good enough to be a right-hand man), today's commish, Rob Manfred.

Manfred was in a hurry for MLB to finish busting A-Rod and otherwise polishing up Bud's image on roids before he retired, so that Manfred would be guaranteed the succession. He worked on getting DOI folks to stop cooperating with the federal DEA on Bosch so as to expedite baseball's case on A-Rod. If you're a baseball fan, you probably know the bare bones at least of how MLB set Bosch up, and not set him to fail, but set him up as in propped him up. Dominguez has more details, as well as further undercutting of the DOI after Manfred officially took over MLB.

MLB soon thereafter fired the original DOI team. They, in the spirit of Manfred and Bosch, were all offered sizable severances if they'd sign non-disclosures and hold up omerta.

Dominguez was the only one who did not.

(Note: I have ONLY focused on the PEDs part of Dominguez's DOI work; there were many other things he was investigating, such as the trafficking of Caribbean players, that Manfred also kneecapped to some degree.)

To resummarize: Rob Manfred is lower than slime mold because calling him slime mold would insult slime mold. That said, Dominguez also calls out NFL commish Goodell over the Ray Rice domestic violence and investigation. Presumably NBA head Adam Silver covers his tracks better, but I'm sure there are things in his skeleton closets too.

The last 1/6 or so is about his battle with prostate cancer.

For people who low-starred this book because they thought it was primarily about that, or low-starred it and said the only reason they didn't go lower was because of this? WTF book review or dust cover were you looking at? His prostate cancer isn't even mentioned on the dust cover of my library check-out.

Likewise, for people saying they were expecting more about baseball games? Huh?

Sadly, Goodreads doesn't have downvotes.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. I came close to putting it down a few times. I'm a huge baseball fan but this one was challenging to hold my interest.

The author is a cop-turned-steroids-investigator and very clearly is frustrated by what he sees as a conspiracy between MLB itself and its worst steroids abusers, to allow some measure of PED use because it makes players more exciting and puts fans int he seats. The author feels that the integrity of his team was compromised because of inherent conflicts of interest in the commissioners office. He cites examples, chiefly relating to A-Rod and Biogenesis, supporting this contention.

There. I did that in a paragraph. I didn't need a whole book. My interest improved considerably when I learned that Dominguez became stricken with pancreatic cancer. He writes about this with excellence and aplomb - it was for me the best part of the book and the reader cannot help but root for him.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Content-wise, this was an eye-opening account of the corruption that permeates the entirety Major League Baseball. The accounts of kidnapping and human trafficking were the most sobering and disconcerting sections of the book for me. The PEDs and gambling aspects were more well-known to me but still surprised me in how broad these problems still run. Based on the league's own accounts and the majority of big league media reporting, I knew only the surface gloss and assumed these issues were being properly handled and on-the-wane. This book shows how incorrect that is and how inaccurate a lot of the league's statements and the general reporting on baseball has been.

Sadly, as with most corruption, the investigation into these misdeeds is deemed more threatening to the game than the misdeeds themselves. That is how it comes about that the investigators into said corruption were all fired or transferred, replaced with more pliable agents and why the powerful all escaped either unscathed or only with token punishments. A-Rod, though dirty, was a scapegoat but it was mostly his (and other players) flunkies who went to prison or lost their livelihood. Today A-Rod is a well-paid media personality dating J-Lo, Rob Manfred and Bud Selig (who thwarted and obstructed the DEA investigation) both got elevated: Manfred to Commissioner and Selig to HOF.

Bottom line: there are too many teams playing too many games and as long as that is the case, players will use and prospects will be abused. Shortening the season and contracting teams is not on the table. And the maintaining of an independent investigatory unit within MLB has all but been dismantled. The corruption this book exposes is as rife as ever.

Writing-wise, this book is a bit of a mess and needed another strong editorial pass. The prose itself is strong and engaging but repetitive with lots of time skips and long tangents. It could've been punchier, more direct and succinct.

[Renee Roberts · Rating 2 out of 5]

Love baseball, hate the scandals. Unfortunately, there are more scandals than I knew, and it was disappointing to find out how tarnished MLB is as a whole. Especially the commissioner's office! There's a lot more than the juicing; the processes to get foreign players into the country are also filled with corruption. Those parts were eye-opening, and I prefer my blinders.

That said, the writing is tedious, and while I sympathize with the author's frustrations about being a hired whistleblower, then having all his whistles ignored, and ultimately fired for doing his job, it came across as alternately self-pitying and self-aggrandizing, neither of which played on my sympathies. Too many acronyms, also.

[Reid Mccormick · Rating 4 out of 5]

In late 2007, former United State Senator George Mitchell published Report to the Commissioner of Baseball of an Independent Investigation into the Illegal Use of Steroids and Other Performance Enhancing Substances by Players in Major League Baseball. Commonly it is known as the “Mitchell Report.”

Almost 90 players were named in the report, including big names like Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, and Eric Gagne. The fallout was almost immediate. Major League Baseball intensified their drug testing program by increasing testing and penalties. Additionally, MLB created its Department of Investigations in 2008 to protect “the integrity of our sport” as stated by then Commissioner Bud Selig.

Enter Eddie Dominguez.

Dominguez worked for the Boston Police Department, was a member of an FBI task force, and a Resident Security Agent for the Boston Red Sox. He was recruited to join the newly formed Department of Investigations to help clean up baseball. And from the moment Dominguez took the job, he knew something was not right.

Though the Mitchell Report sent shockwaves throughout the nation and the professional sports world, there was still a lot of resistance. From the poor areas of Cuba where young boys dreamed of a life of baseball to the ritzy high rises of MLB headquarters in New York, the DOI faced challenges every step of the way.

Dominguez is a man of honor and integrity. Being told to stand down my MLB Executive Vice President and now Commissioner Rob Manfred, did not sit well Dominguez. Yet, Dominguez kept head down and he worked hard. Under his tenure, he was able to make positive changes in international dealings as well as help take down Anthony Bosch’s PED clinical call Biogenesis which in the end took down Alex Rodriguez among others.

Dominguez took the Mitchell Report and its recommendations as sacred. Dominguez saw the ugly underbelly of steroids and drugs while the rest of the world saw home runs and strikeouts. He saw problems in morality and society. In this book, he is brutal towards Selig and Manfred and I don’t really blame him.

This not the best written book. At times I was simply lost. There are long storylines and multiple characters that is was not easy to follow. However, this book does open your eyes to professional sports. I think we all believe things have gotten better since the relaxed PED days of Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa, but in reality the cheaters have become more cunning and clever.

As the saying goes, “If you’re not cheating, you’re not trying.”

[David Baer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would say the book was enlightening but really for me it was not. You have to respect the author’s decades of law enforcement and his culminating stint as an officer of internal security for MLB. However, as one who was not already familiar with the circumstances of the Mitchell Report (beyond I recall hearing about it), I felt the narrative was hard to follow because of its trees-in-the-forest quality. In other words, we get a lot of intimate details about the people and events that the author was involved with, to the point that it can sometimes come off as office gossip: who was mad at who, what they said, and so on. (And not to mention the one-sided story of how and why he was fired by MLB). Meanwhile, I for one completely lost the sense of where these events sat within the barely-remembered public narrative. There were a lot of names and events to keep track of, and I rather gave up on that effort since I could not connect these small dots with the overall. I did take away the impression that MLB is systematically turning a blind eye and/or covering up drug usage, fraud, and even human trafficking. You would think that such a shocking message would be more compelling reading. I’m sure the more passionate and informed baseball fans would appreciate this book more than I did.

[Scott Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

(Audiobook) Surprisingly, a book that MLB is not trying to actively promote, with good reason. The author worked as a sort of part security/part investigator for MLB, a job that seemed too good to be true, and for him, it was. The coverups for doping and illegal signing of forgiven players took up much of his time, but MLB proved very intolerant of his efforts. In particular, Rob Manfred comes off more as a villain than previously thought. Between he and Bud Selieg, the commissioners come off like high level execs in shady dealings or quasi-incompetent mob bosses.

Probably this book won’t be enough to turn a baseball fan away from the game, but it probably wouldn’t, or shouldn’t shock said individual. Whether you buy MLB’s argument that this guy had an axe to grind and was not all that credible is up to you. However, it is worth noting that the author has long credibility as a cop/detective, and wouldn’t make these assertions lightly. Still follow baseball, but it has its seedy underbelly like everything else.

[Skip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Baseball Cop certainly shows MLB in a terrible light. Stifling the “independent” Dept of Investigations in order to allow various shady practices to continue under the radar or delay punishment: PEDs, taking advantage of families in poverty in the DR and other places, supporting human traffickers who manage to get Cuban players out of the country.

It’s not a particularly well-written book. Not much of a coherent narrative, lots of bouncing around in time, too many details in some places and not enough in others. But if you’re reading it, you probably don’t care a whole lot about that. The book exists to blow the whistle on shady practices in baseball and how MLB prevents cleaning it up.

I doubt the book alone will make any kind of difference. Someone with power would have to believe it and follow up. But at least it puts some information out there that will hopefully make it more difficult to hide these kind of activities in the future.

[Burning Thoughts · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was disappointed, because there wasn't much baseball in it.
It's obvious that pro baseball has shirked its duties on drug enforcement. Blithely I expected discussion of performance boost by usage, but the author is a detective, not a statistician. He stuck to the nuts-and-bolts of the detecting and the power struggles between his group, the players union, and the baseball executive branch.
The failure on an organization level for baseball to deal with the problem - with that failure on the fan experience and the players lives - was sad to read.
In fact, this would have been better as a magazine article, but it appeared that the author suffered financially from his transfer into the baseball cop position, with sales of the books to help him out, which is why I bought the hard cover version.

[Eric Parsons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting and very quick read regarding the formation of the DOI for Major League Baseball immediately following the Mitchell Report and the steroid scandal that covers player trafficking, more steroids, cheating, bonus skimming and the like. While not tremendously deep on any one topic--though I had forgotten about the fake website when Melky Cabrera tested positive--the overall theme of the book seemed to be how Rob Manfred and MLB really interfered with an agency that was supposed to be an independent "police force" of sorts. I had wondered, since I have a hard time believing that MLB has stayed relatively problem free for so long, especially with some declining attendance and the commissioner interfering with rules of the game to promote only the wealthiest teams. A good read for the baseball fan.

[John Korsmo III · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn’t all that impressed by this book. I never felt the need to pick it back up and continue reading. It was very inconsistent at times, jumping into tangents that felt like they didn’t relate to the topic of the chapter and never really coming back to it.
While it was very insightful and informational about the inside of MLB during the steroid and biogenesis eras, it felt more like a memoir-autobiography of personal experience and opinions with MLBs DOI.
This book did not change my perspective of baseball, maybe my perspective of players and people within it, but rather gave more insider information of what we already knew.

[Matt · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is a great baseball book hidden somewhere in here. Written in the first person, Baseball Cop suffers most from the heavy-handed tough but fair cop narration.

But there are some insightful and significant points to be made, especially around how MLB structures international signing and bonuses. It paints an unflattering picture of MLB leadership under Selig and Manfred that forces the question: is America’s national pastime in good hands? What can we expect of future scandals?

More than anything else I wish this subject could be revisited by a relentless journalist with writing chops to boot. As it stands, Baseball Cop is an important baseball book but it is not a good one.

[Tim Timberly · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was an interesting read. The reader learns some about Dominguez himself, fleeing from Cuba for Boston, joining the Boston PD, and, from there, working with Major League Baseball. The book centered around two main pillars- 1) there is (still) massive corruption in MLB; and 2) those in charge do not care to do much about it, in part because of egos. Mark Kurlansky's book Eastern Stars prepared me for the corruption, and Bill Veeck's Veeck as in Wreck and Hustler's Handbook is rife with overblown egos that hurt professional baseball to save themselves.

[Beachpig · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good read for those interested in baseball and behind the scenes, backdoor, back alley handling of the post-Mitchell investigation steroid situation. No surprise that overly powerful, attorney driven company covers up stuff that would either be bad publicity or prolonged indecisive publicity. Book writing could be better and more consistent with the flow of details. On the whole, informative and offers a different perspective. For a long time fan of baseball or a fan of investigative style writing, this book will be an interesting read.

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of this book read like a term paper or master's thesis, with lots of facts and footnotes. The overall stories are interesting, but it makes for a very dry read. Definitely not a book you can't put down. The author seems likable and competent and I didn't get the feeling that he had an ax to grind. The conduct of MLB is deplorable. Why did they have it out for A-Rod so bad? Definitely confirmed my opinion of Selig.

[Nick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eddie Dominguez tells the tales of his time working for Major League Baseball's Department of Investigations. His book details the dark side of the MLB and how several figures, including the current baseball commissioner, were trying to sweep serious issues under the rug; namely steriod use in baseball. It was an interesting read but it moved slowly at times. The timeline was slightly disorganized and confusing. Overall it was worth checking out if you're a die-hard student of the game.

[Craig · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not what I expected. The author takes through some confusing mazes of wrongdoing involving drugs and player-smuggling. The cast of characters is endless and the writing is not as clear as it could be to help the reader understand things. One thing is made clear: Major League Baseball is a huge corporate entity and will do anything to allow anything to sully its American Pastime myth or, as a result, impact its bottom line.

[Du · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't what the main focus would be. I just liked the title, topic, and general vibe I got from the back and inside jacket. Three is a sense of revenge in the writing, but you move beyond that easily. I enjoyed the bitterness o f2f the bo ok and the overall flavor of desperation and contempt. Ki wish they're was more.

[Patrick · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wildly interesting if you're a baseball fan. Dives deep into MLB secrets that have not come to light before. The chapters that go into the Biogenesis scandal get a little convoluted, but I believe that's because of the complexity of the story. Baseball is big business and has had its fair share of a shady past. Also, if you think the Mitchell Report "fixed" baseball, you're wrong.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wow! What an eye opener!

This book has really changed my thoughts and attitudes about the game of Baseball and particularly the ethics of MLB. A lifelong fan (Boston Red Sox), my interest in the game has been slowly diminishing, beginning with PED abuse, too long games and too much strategy based on analytics (e.g. boring games), MLBTV blackouts, teams loosing on purpose for the purpose of rebuilding, and crazy high player contracts. After reading this, I'm now rapidly loosing interest.

The book certainly tarnishes the game. It wasn't particularly well-written, and as such I struggled to read it a bit. Having grown up in Boston it was interesting to learn of the author's experiences there as well. I hadn't heard of this book until it was mentioned on Boston sports radio station WEEI during discussion of the David Ortiz shooting, and I immediately got a copy and read it. While it certainly had a big impact on me, I do wonder why it hasn't had a big impact on the game itself. As I understand it, MLB tried to prevent this book from being published.

With the spotlight on A-Rod, his PED abuse, and his dishonest behavior covered in this book as well as in the press, how in the hell has he become ESPN's baseball analyst darling???

[Mike Priest · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good book, but I thought it would be more interesting. The vast majority of the book covers the steroid scandals, but it doesn’t exactly tell many insider details. The first couple chapters talk about his time working specifically for the Red Sox and are more interesting. As it goes on it feels less like “his” story and more like a general telling of the steroid era in baseball.

[Daniel Suhajda · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. I thought it would be about the PEDs in baseball but it dealt with other illegal activities too and how MLB tries to keep it hidden instead of trying to clean up the game according to the author, a former police detective and Red Sox employee. Both interesting and boring with details. It did show me a side I had not considered.

[Gabriel · Rating 2 out of 5]

(It’s really more like 2.25 just because I love baseball.)

I REALLY wanted to enjoy this and I did, occasionally, but this is one of the worst edited books I’ve ever read. Clunky at times, very repetitive at others. It feels like a wasted opportunity.

It’s such a cool idea. Baseball police?!? Full of potential. Sigh. There’s like 3 good anecdotes in here and the rest? Meh.

[Ann Armstrong · Rating 4 out of 5]

I learned a lot about the dark side of the MLB. I found the discussion about the trafficking of baseball players shocking. I was dismayed but not surprised by the apparent complicity of some senior officials of MLB in various untoward activities. A quick read.

[Michael · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book was 1/2 about Dominguez and 1/2 about baseball. I wanted more about baseball, even if it would have made me detest, more than I do now, the men (and it's all men) who run and play the sport. :(

No wonder I just like to look at the numbers.

[Randy Perez · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average as it can get, there's too much about Eddie's life here and so little about the actual baseball scandals. Also, the author, Cuban born, seems to hate Dominicans!! You can tell how sad the narrative gets the moment a Dominican player/person comes into play.

[Jim Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very interesting look at and behind the scenes of baseball's war on drugs and the invasion of Cuban and other Caribbean players. A good insight from a cop on the inside as to how the MLB was mostly pretending to address these problems. Just like the NFL it's protect the shield at all times

[Mark McFarland · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thought it was a pretty decent book but didn’t keep my attention enough for me to read it quickly. Was an easy book to pick up, put down and pick up again. The stories were interesting and I will never look at the MLB the same again.

[Matthew Roberts · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a bad read, but wouldn't rank as my favorite read on baseball events or issues. The depth it goes into the shady underworld of the beloved sport is very interesting and keeps you reading, but it is very back and forth at times on the subjects.