A few weeks ago I said in this space that I was a little saddened by the fact that Manny Ramirez was caught using steroids and consequently suspended. I wrote about the loss of innocence and baseball being more refined with more sophisticated fans, blah blah blah.
In the time since then I have gone completely the other direction on this issue. In case you haven't heard, David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez were on the list of players that tested positive for something in 2003.
What happened afterward made me nauseous. The sportswriting/blogging/commentary world went nuts once again. Who else is on the list? Should all of the names be released? Does this taint the 2004 World Series Championship won by the Boston Red Sox with Ortiz and Ramirez on the team? Where do we put the asterisks in the record books?
I am so over all of this, to the point where I am almost done with baseball. Steroids is not important enough to overshadow the game every time some name trickles out. Everyone is to blame for the steroids era. The players, the owners, baseball executives, even the fans....everyone. The players took the steroids, the owners and executives let it happen, and the fans stood by and cheered while homeruns were being launched.
No records should be expunged, or "asterisked", or anything of that nature. Baseball has always embraced cheating. The list is long: amphetamines ("greenies"), scuffed balls, corked bats, stealing signs. Steroids is just another way players have used to try and get ahead. This is all also part of the human element of the game that baseball accepts, along with phantom tags and different sized strike zones.
From now on I'll be indifferent every time someone mentions steroids. The steroid era happened. Everyone needs to get over it.
Baseball is a truly wonderful and glorious game. It is too bad that gets forgotten anytime anything about steroids is mentioned.
P.S. Really, the smartest person in all of this is the guy leaking the names. How much do you think he is getting paid for that?
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I am right there with you. I think the majority of people are starting to feel the same way. There hasn't been as much public backlash about Big Papi's appearance on this list then A-Rod's. I think people are dying to know the rest of those names (like me), but just for curiosity sake (like me). At this point, I think the only other player that would generate massive public outrage if he were on the list would be Junior.
ReplyDeleteHave to agree that baseball has always winked at cheaters. Gaylord Perry in the HOF? How about the 1951 Giants stealing signs during their big pennant run? No one is trying to get the Bobby Thomson bat out of the HOF. I'm almost all the way to not caring anymore about steroids but I still can't get past what a shit Bonds is. But, that's just me.
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