Evan Longoria: Our Savior, the New Shining Light of Baseball

The steroid era has been a part of our national pastime for over a decade.

When players began getting caught with the performance-enhancing drugs, many believed that this stage in baseball was a fluke.

The NFL had the same issue years ago, an issue that the league was able to handle, and help stopped an era waiting to began.

Unfortunately, the era has shunned the sport of baseball. We have had thousands of our athletes continually test positive for steroids or HGH.

The darkness hit us years ago when Congress got involved and a court hearing was set.

Players such as Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, and Sammy Sosa all spoke. Well, at least Sosa did before forgetting to speak English.

One common theme?

All have cheated the game. On top of that they also still have to confess up to it. All of them said the past needs to be behind them and they must look to the future.

Then we have Barry Bonds. The all time home run king has made it obvious to the baseball universe that he took steroids, yet he still denies it to this day.

In the winter of 2007, the Mitchell Report was released. It was a report that was destined to help baseball revamp the sport and to reveal all the names on the list who did take the enhancers.The name we will always remember on the list will be Roger Clemens.

When his trainer, Brian McNamee, was asked by Congressman Mitchell regarding any knowledge he had of steroids, he confessed of injecting Clemens with HGH and anabolic steroids.

To this day their friendship was never the same and Clemens has lost all the dignity he had, which includes his legacy with the Yankees and across America.

We continue now to the present.

Alex Rodriguez, our savior of baseball, the richest man in sports, was put on his own pedestal; win the Home Run crown and end the era the sport has not been able to get out of.

Earlier this year however, that dream was tarnished and the news broke of Rodriguez's alleged steroid use, which he claims was only with his stint with the Texas Rangers.

Selana Roberts book "A-Rod" explains otherwise.

The book goes onto say how Rodriguez took steroids as early as high school and his entire career is an asterisk.

As A-Rod does return to the baseball diamond, one of the top sluggers of the decade in Manny Ramirez, was suspended 50 games by Major League Baseball for his use of HCG, a drug which he claims the doctor prescribed him.

The cloud has only gotten darker for baseball. Where do we turn now?

Who is the next chosen one we will count on to lead the sport?

Lets face it, this task was hard to find a few years ago. Now with everyone on the microscope, there are not many ways to turn.

It is a tough decision from a fans standpoint. I'm going to go with the best all-around player in the league. One that is known for his power numbers, is improving his slide contact, and is a future gold glove winner.

Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you Evan Longoria.

Yes, it is going to be a lot of pressure to set on this kid and the bar will surely be high, but who can we say is next in line besides Evan?

At age 23, he captured baseball last season by putting up a .272 avg, with 27 HR'S and 85 RBI.

He was in a class of his own last season from a rookie standpoint, winning the ROY, as well as making it to the All Star Game.

Longoria leads an up and coming Rays squad that did not have much success until he came around, having a losing season every year since their existence. He was apart of a special time, by helping the Rays to their first ever World Series appearance.

We are in the 2nd week of May, and Longoria is already putting up fantastic numbers, hitting for a .368 avg, 10 HR, and 38 RBI.

Longoria has also been flashy with the glove, making enough great plays to get the daily web gem award, and soon will have a gold glove award under his belt.

Evan Longoria must be the answer to baseball, he is continuing to improve his all around game and I will not be surprised if he could snag an MVP award already in his second year.

We have not seen this talented of a player since Alex Rodriguez.

He is our guiding light of showing the way of not needing performance-enhancers.

The quest will not be on his shoulders and even though they are big shoes to fill, right now he is the only one left who could make this dream a reality.