MLB Players Using PEDs in Place of Hard Work

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So with another day, another giant falls. The giant this time, David "Big Papi" Ortiz, designated hitter for the Boston Red Sox.

How has he fallen? Like many other MLB stars, he was named as one of the many who took steroids.

Yes, say it ain't so, but it’s true. The big monster with the bat needed help.

Remember A-Rod? He never needed them; he was too good for that. And so, we thought, was Ortiz.

He's now to be forever linked to those who cheated. Those who needed help to become a star in their sport.

After watching all of our heroes fall—Big Mac, Slammin Sammy, A-Rod—they weren't the superstars we thought. They were at their great level by drugs.

That's it, plain and simple. They took drugs to make themselves better. Some say that at the time they weren't illegal, so its OK. But was it?

As a stellar athlete in three sports, I got that way because I worked at it. I had to work hard, and if I didn't, I didn't play.

If I missed a practice due to an injury, I would lose my spot, so I played with pain. I wasn't alone. I know hundreds of athletes like myself who worked hard to get what they got.

So when I see another star fall, not because of injury, but because they took drugs, it tears at my heart. It makes me sad.

I've never been a pro, so I don't know what they have to go through to get where they’re at. I have a friend who is a pro. I know what he did to get there.

My friend? Clint Barmes. He plays for the Colorado Rockies. He was a star at Indiana State under the great Hall of Fame coach Bob Warn.

I love to follow my friend. Every time I hear his name mentioned on ESPN's Baseball Tonight I perk up and smile.

I smile because I know that Clint got where he is today with hard work. I've watched as he's taken extra ground balls. I've watched as he's hit for what seemed like hours in the batting cage.

Clint probably won't make it to the MLB Hall of Fame. He's never made the All-Star team, yet. But he's made mine. To get in my HOF, you have to work.

You have to take decent talent and work it into very good talent. Clint's done that and more.

I've been lucky and have gotten to go to watch Clint play in “The Show.” I got to go to Chicago and go down on the field and see my friend.

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