A-Rod, Roids, and Records: Where Does Baseball Go From Here?

First there was Mark McGwire.

He and Sammy Sosa brought baseball back from the self-induced brink with their home run chase in 1998. Before the chase could reach its conclusion, a bottle of Andro in McGwire's locker cast a shadow over the race.

It wasn't a banned substance at the time, not in baseball anyway, but to a public willing to believe these athletes are truly capable of anything, it represented a dose of reality.

Barry Bonds' run to 73 home runs bought baseball a little breathing room. If McGwire was truly tainted, it no longer mattered.

The feeling didn't last long. Less than a year after Bonds launched number 73 into the San Francisco night, the federal investigation of BALCO began. Bonds wasn't implicated until 2004, but the damage was well done by that point.

As Bonds neared an even more sacred record, Hank Aaron's career home run mark, rumblings about an asterisk could be heard in ballparks across the country. Bonds was tainted and the record was about to fall into his hands.

Even before the inevitable came to pass, Alex Rodriguez's future potential was being sized up.

Could he, baseball's best player, bring the record out of the shadow of steroids?

The answer now sadly appears to be no.

A-Rod's positive test in 2003 places him in the pantheon of great players who have been implicated in some form of illegal performance enhancement.

Rafael Palmero, Sammy Sosa, Roger Clemens, McGwire and Bonds are the most notable figures to get busted, but they are far from the only ones.

If Alex Rodriguez is smart, he'll learn from former teammate Andy Pettite.

Pettite didn't doggedly stick to his story and lie to save face, rather, he admitted his mistakes, explained his thinking, begged forgiveness and moved out of the media spotlight. 

There's a reason Pettite hasn't been demonized the way Clemens and Bonds have. He isn't as big a name, but he also was willing to show some humility and accept the responsibility for his actions.

A-Rod will have to make a statement about these allegations. He's too big a star to dodge the story forever. He'll be far better off if he addresses it head-on and acknowledges his mistake.

As far as the record is concerned, there isn't a clear heir apparent to the title "Savior of the Home Run Records".

Ryan Howard is probably the closest. He'll be just 29 this season and is consistently near 50 home runs per season.

A move to DH could prolong his career and give him a shot at it, but he'll need to keep hitting home runs at his current pace for several more years to give himself a good shot at the record.

A year of 70+ would make the task much easier.

Evan Longoria is young enough and has a strong power stroke, but he's currently all potential and no track record.

There are a number of good young hitters in the minors, but the transition from the minors to the majors has sundered many an interesting young prospect.

As disappointing as this news is, I can't say I'm all that surprised. It was an era where players felt they needed to cheat to get ahead, even players as talented as Clemens and Rodriguez.

Hopefully, baseball can move on from that time and ride players like Howard, Longoria, and others into a new era of huge home run numbers that weren't influenced by extralegal means.