Death of Major League Baseball and The Hall of Fame

"Every time I try to get out, they keep pulling me back in," says Michael Corleone, from The Godfather Part III.

Just when most of us believed we had turned the page on the "Steroid Era," Sports Illustrated.com broke the story yesterday, naming the games best player, Alex Rodriguez as having his name appear on a voluntary list of steroid users in 2003 while still playing for the Texas Rangers.

That year, Alex played in 161 games. His line looked like this:

Whatever path A-Rod chooses to take now will have little bearing on his damage to the game. Whether he continues at his current pace and breaks Barry Bond's already tainted home run record, all of his accomplishments will now get dumped into the "Steroid Era."

According to SI.com, over 100 other players were also tested for steroids. It is imperative, just as we learned in the Mitchell Report, to name these cheaters. Nothing or anybody's name would now surprise me.

A-Rod, in 2007, looked right into the reporter's eye on 60 Minutes when asked if he ever used steroids, hesitated about a half a second for effect, like he was thinking, "what should I say?", and then said "NO."

This morning, Bob Costas has suggested that when someone gets into the Hall of Fame during this "Steriod Era" that his plaque should record his accomplishments by recognizing that he played during this time.

I totally agree.

The fallout could not have come at a worse time with the new season starting. Pitchers and catchers are only days away from reporting to Spring Training.

Could this event be a death blow to Major League Baseball? Perhaps, but one thing I know for sure and that is Major League Baseball and its illustrious commissioner knew of the steroid use while it was happening and swept it under the rug, so as to have the interest in baseball recover from the disastrous strike that caused the cancelling of a sacred baseball tradition, The World Series.

No better example was the home run race with Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa in 1988. These two juiced up and brought the baseball world back to the excitement that season, only now to have to pay the price of those events.

Bud Selig, you need to resign immediately and take personal responsibilty for this outrage. Your tenure will go down in history as the " Fall of Major League Baseball." You are as disgraceful as the cheaters who have ruined this sport for today's and tomorrow's youth.

This is more than A-Rod, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, and Roger Clemons. It's a turning point in history that will kill the greatest sport in the world.

I, for one, am crushed.