Despite not playing a game in the majors since 2009, scandal-plagued former ballplayer Elijah Dukes has found a way to stay in the headlines.
This time, the former elite prospect has has made news with two unsurprising bombshells. First, he is starting a rap career under the name "Fly Eli." Second, he has admitted to smoking marijuana prior to MLB games, citing peer pressure and widespread use of recreational drugs throughout the league.
"Sometimes I smoked before the home games or whatever, but only in the big leagues," he told Tampa Bay Online in an exclusive interview. "I was just going along with the motions, started being myself. I was going along with it. Peer pressure. You are looking up to guys and at the same time these guys are saying, 'Hit some of this.'"
"But guys smoke," he says. "That's why they don't test for marijuana.''
Dukes claims that not only has he seen many other players use marijuana and cocaine — and even smuggle the substances onto team planes — but that he has been blackballed from the MLB for threatening to blow the whistle on such activity.
"Most of the guys carried [their weed] in their little man purses. You know I never did. Most of the guys carried their little man purses. Louis Vuitton, Gucci, you know," he added.
An image of Dukes allegedly high on marijuana at the Washington Nationals 2009 January Open House can be seen here.
See Dukes' full interview below.
