Major League Baseball and Steroids: Don't Hate the Players, Hate the Game

Just a small article for all of you baseball fans out there who think that players, doctors, and trainers ruined your "National pastime" by introducing steroids or performance enhancing drugs into it. 

As a football fan, I never really got that interested in baseball.  I will admit that in 1998 when McGwire and Sosa were slugging it out for Maris' record, I was glued to the TV every time either one of their teams were playing.  And boy 'o boy what a spectacle and show of talent that unforgettable season was. 

Everyone in the country tuned in to see these historic events take place.  As I was sitting at the Cap City bar in Gahanna, Ohio, watching McGwire break the record and receive his cardinal red '72 vette I found myself high fiving total strangers and celebrating with free rounds from the bartender. 

All of us so happy to be witnessing history.  Little did we know...

Now it is 2009 and Alex Rodriguez, who was supposed to be the home run record's saving grace, has been caught using steroids.  All is lost in America's favorite game.  At least for this generation of baseball fans. 

As I listen to countless sports talk shows, and watch countless episodes of sports center I see the blame for this catastrophe placed squarely on the shoulders of the players who have been caught using the illegal drugs.  What everyone is failing to mention in the blame game is Major League Baseball itself. 

I keep hearing how hard baseball is working to rid their game of this disease.  I keep hearing how baseball has installed new drug testing policies that are the toughest in professional sports.

I keep hearing how baseball and it's Hall of Fame are shamed and embarrassed about how their athletes have hurt the great game of baseball.  Pardon the expression but this is nothing but a bunch of public relations B.S. 

I want to take you back to when the steroid era began.  As a matter of fact I can tell you the exact date that the steroid era began in baseball.  August 12, 1994, the day that the strike began.  From that date we had no baseball until April 2, 1995.  And when baseball came back the game, was not the same. 

Sure we still had strikes and balls, walks and singles.  On the field everything looked normal, at least to the few people who were watching.  So few people were watching that the game was not making money which is the only reason MLB or any professional sports league exists.

You can't blame them, it's a business, and a business has to make money.  The Majors suffered for a few seasons trying to win the fans back, which they could not do.

So imagine this if you can.  Major league owners and executives start thinking about what will bring the fans back?  What is the most exciting play in their sport?  What play in baseball is America personified?  The home run!!! 

Nothing will bring back fans faster than a new single season home run record.  When the fans tune in to see home runs, the money will come with them. Now, because we are baseball we know that there are outside forces offering enhanced performance drugs to our players. 

To a player more home runs means more money, so let's look the other way for a few years, let our players give in to temptation and start an era of enhanced performance for the ages.  That will bring the money back.

Now, I know that this may be a little over the top, and I am sure that it did not happen like this.  But when you think about it, it is not that far off.  How could baseball not notice the weight and performance explosion from the mid 1990's to the early 2000's?  The cold hard truth is that they did notice it, and they looked the other way.  As a matter of fact they looked in the direction of the cash register.

As I said earlier, here we are in 2009 and all of baseball's heroes are nothing more than overpaid cheaters waiting for the unknown, long term side effects of the drugs that they have put into their bodies.  Just remember that they are not completely at fault.

I think that we should be looking at Major League Baseball to punish itself.  This is not going to happen though because baseball is bigger than any one player or any generation of players.  The gamble did pay off for the majors. 

After all, we did come back to baseball, and even though the players aren't hitting 70 home runs a season any more they did for long enough to get back into America's wallets. 

Eventually, the steroid era will be gone and baseball will forget this dark chapter in its history.  Baseball will be blaming the players who were trying to get an edge, all the while placing no blame on itself.  

Major league Baseball should be embarrassed by the way that they let money taint the game that so many worked so hard to build up.  Like I said, I don't mind the business making money, but they should have played back in to the hearts of Americans instead of allowing cheating in their sport to bring us back faster. 

Major league Baseball has put a scar on American sportsmanship.  Not only for looking the other way as it's players gained weight and doubled production but for not stepping up and saying that they were just as much at fault as the players who took the drugs, the trainers that administered the drugs, and the doctors who prescribed the drugs.

One final note before I finish my rant.  If baseball disgraces itself any further and lets a single one of these enhanced players in its Hall of Fame than they should immediately lift the ban on Pete Rose.  I know what Pete did was wrong, but he never cheated this game or its fans. 

And if you think that any player be it Bonds, McGwire, Sosa, or A-Rod deserves to be in the hall of fame for their achievements on the field instead of Pete Rose who hustled out every single, than maybe you are the one on drugs.  Thanks for reading guys, and have a great day.