Alex Rodriguez Juiced

(Photo by Al Messerschmidt/Getty Images)

As pitchers and catchers were about to report for spring training, the media was in a frenzy about something that will be talked about for years after Selena Roberts from Sports Illustrated reported that Alex Rodriguez had done the unthinkable.

He had tested positive for steroids in 2003.  Rodriguez, the starting third baseman for the New York Yankees, was one of 104 players who tested positive during baseball’s 2003 survey, checking how bad of a problem steroids really were in the sport of baseball. 

The report was supposed to remain confidential, and while only one name has came out, it was the guy who was supposed to take over the reins of the home run crown, from tainted suspected-steroid-user Barry Bonds.

What really makes this is a travesty for the game of baseball is that Rodriguez was supposed to be the clean guy, and help give baseball back the reputation that a player can put up Hall of Fame numbers without the use of performance enhancers.

Alex Rodriguez was someone many people just could not see taking the low measures of taking steroids. He seemed like the type of person who worked as hard as anyone possibly could and would never take shortcuts.

Rodriguez seemed to be living the life that many people wish they could experience for just one day. The Yankees third baseman said he started to use steroids due to the pressure of being the highest paid player in sports history by the age of 25, when he signed a contract with the Rangers in 2001 worth $252 million for 10 years.  

He opted out of the contract in 2007, and signed an even more lucrative contract of $275 million for 10 years guaranteed. The Yankees also made the home run ball a big part of the incentives in the contract, by giving him the possibility to receive $6 million every time he reaches some of the biggest milestones in baseball history.

Tying Willie Mays, Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, and Barry Bonds will earn him a total of $24 million. Then, if he passes Bonds for the home run king, he would receive the final six million of the home run bonus.

The Yankees did this in part because they thought they would receive a lot of revenue by having a player in pinstripes chasing after history and milestones that fans feel would be almost impossible to do clean.

With Alex Rodriguez's admittance to using steroids, the atmosphere during his home run chase just will not be the same, as it just will not feel any different then when Barry Bonds took the record away from Henry Aaron, who broke the record that was held by Babe Ruth and is known to this day having played clean.

Hank Aaron even had to deal with the adversity of race and unfair treatment a great deal, as he received a lot of hate mail that threatened his life.

He got through it and ended up hitting 755 home runs in a respectable manner, and a way that the great majority of people thought Rodriguez would do it.

This, we thought, would finally bring the beginning to the end to what people were calling the steroid era, with some of the top players, such as Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Rafael Palmeiro, Gary Sheffield, Mark McGwire, and even a few of his Yankee teammates, Andy Pettitte and Jason Giambi, have been either accused or admitted to taking performance enhancers.

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