The Case Against an Asterisk in Baseball

With Mark McGwire's recent admission to taking Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) has come a vociferous appeal from areas of the public to stamp an asterisks on "tainted" records. Failing to do so, they claim, degrades all who have played, followed or loved the game.

However, tacking on an asterisk next to the offending figure, whilst a clear and obvious quick-fix, would not be the real and lasting remedy that baseball needs if it is to ever escape the long shadow of the Steroids Era.

The record books show fact — nothing else. It is a fact that Barry Bonds hit 762 home runs in his career. It is a fact that Bonds and Mark McGwire hit 73 and 70 home runs respectively in a season.

The tragedy is that we are all to blame for these facts and thus, the present state of the record books. On the players is the obvious crime of actually taking PEDs. On Bud Selig and the staff of the MLB is the shame of turning a blind eye to dangerous and clear signals. On the fans rests the blood-thirsty desire for performance.

Now I am in no way saying that fans should not desire nor demand the best from our sports stars. Nor am I speculating on where the majority of the blame lies. What I am saying is that we must recognise that both individually and holistically, these factors made the records this way.

Let the facts stand in the books and be a reminder of how bad things happen and of how we can all send the game down the wrong path — the path of shame, mistrust and guilt.

The record book, thus, unites us in a different way. The players look at it and say, "This is what we did." The MLB looks at it and says, "This is what we let happen." The fans look at it and say, "This is what we wanted."

By leaving "tainted" records there, we take a collective responsibility for them. We don't cast them from our conscience with a simple asterisk.

We are all in this together. Let the records stay — as a reminder, as a responsibility and as a redemptive tool. Their presence should inspire the younger generations toward achieving greatness and in the same breath, caution those around the game from allowing to become "inhuman."

We also must always be aware of where the record books stop — at the facts. They don't, and will never, show the intangibles — the opinion, the emotion and the context within which these facts occurred. These factors can't be neatly compartmentalised into a numerical figure.

Because of this, Hank Aaron was right. Baseball really is not about the records. It is about the intangibles that accompany them — it is more about how they were broken than the actuality of it occurring.

And, at the end of the day, it is these that rule the collective baseball conscience. What is the first thing you think when I now say Mark McGwire? My guess is that it is not the number 70.

To place an asterisk next to each of these records is to insult the fans' intelligence. Fans and followers of the game will not forget these intangibles. They will not allow them to be divorced of the facts that represent them.

Putting an asterisks by a record is a way of sweeping it under the rug. Leaving it there for all to see is a way of saying 'We will overcome'.