David Ortiz Among 103 Who Tested Positive: What to Make of This News

Wake me when you have heard this before:

Baseball player is linked to performance enhancing drugs followed by media outrage at the player accompanied by no mention of those in power that allowed PED’s to play such a role in the sport. 

This time the player is David Ortiz.  The news hit many Red Sox fans, like myself, hard today.  We all love Ortiz and we love everything he has done for the Red Sox since arriving in 2003.  The Red Sox even gave him a plaque with the accolade “greatest clutch hitter in Red Sox history.”

Now, with the New York Times story that Ortiz’s name is one of the 103 on the positive list from the 2003 tests that were supposedly anonymous, some are asking if all of his accomplishments with the Sox are tainted?  Are the Sox accomplishments tainted?

As more and more players become linked to PED, I find it difficult to tear down the minority who are being outed.  But if that is how anyone feels, I can’t argue with them.

What I do have a problem with, and what continues to drive me crazy, is that those who cover the sport, will pull out the same old act of self righteousness, and call a player linked to PED a fraud and look at that player’s accomplishments in a completely different light.  They do this while many have never acknowledged the complicit role those who run the sport played.

This has gone on for years.  Bud Selig was recently on a sports radio program, and he was asked several questions about the first half of the season.  Selig was allowed to tick off what it is he liked about the first half of the season, with no questions being asked about Manny Ramirez or Alex Rodriguez or Sammy Soda all being outed as PED users.  I have to admit I wasn’t particularly surprised by this; it was really just par for the course. 

Earlier today, Tony Massarotti of the Boston Globe wrote an article under the headline, “’Big Papi’ revealed as a myth.”  Massarotti begins his article with a quote from Selig from 2006 about Ortiz.  Selig said, and Massarotti quotes:

You've often heard me say that we're in the Golden Era of baseball. David Ortiz—'Big Papi'—symbolizes that Golden Era. He's been such a great player on a grand stage, but it's his personality along with his ability that has made him an important part of this sport. I have enormous respect for David Ortiz. He's conducted himself so beautifully off the field as well as on the field. I'm very proud of David Ortiz for a myriad of reasons. It's everything about him. When you say `David Ortiz,' the first thing I think is 'Big Papi,' and that's a great compliment to him. He stands as a great symbol of the success of this sport—and a symbol for all the right reasons.

It is a telling quote from Selig, but in my opinion, not for the reasons Massarotti would go on to write about.  Let’s look at the first sentence out of Selig’s mouth when he refers to the current time as the “Golden Era of baseball.” 

This was said in 2006.  At this point, the cover had been pulled off the steroid era, no thanks to Selig of course.  Was he still so blind at that time not to realize the havoc rampant PED use had played on the sport of baseball under his watch?  This was three years after 103 players, who were aware they were going to be tested, still came up positive.  MLB knew this.

Selig claims he didn’t know the names, as if that should be a valid excuse for someone supposedly in charge. At the very least, he had to know the total number and anyone could then deduce that the 103 players who tested positive were merely the tip of the iceberg.  His repeated attempts to play dumb about the steroid era should not hold up.  And if he is really that dumb, is this then someone who should be at the helm of anything, let alone Major League Baseball?

It is 2009.  How long can baseball be dragged down by past performance enhancing drug use before those with the ability to reach a wide audience take a close look at anyone other than the players?

As a baseball fan, I am angry as hell at the players.  I don’t know what to think about anything I watched in the sport during the relevant time period.  Watching the game now, I still don’t know what I can believe. 

If a player accomplishes anything, do I allow myself to get attached and root for the player?  Do I want to be let down again?  I honestly don’t know.

What I do know is that those who ran the sport made a decision—to not test, to not make PED use against the rules.  They chose to turn a blind eye.  Absolutely the players still should not have cheated.  But it strikes me as completely phony when anyone is shocked or surprised that they did. 

Performance enhancing drugs did just that; they made the players better at their job.  Those in charge couldn’t be bothered to care who used what.

What we have done is simply ignore those who allowed PED use to occur in baseball and take the easy route of just demonizing the players caught.  It would be like the police arresting drug users and not bothering with those that allowed the drugs to be brought into our communities in the first place.

Many were responsible for allowing PED to take a hold of the sport of baseball. Yes that list includes Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, and now apparently David Ortiz.  It also includes many, many other players. 

In my opinion, however, that list should begin with Bud Selig whose combination of ignorance and indifference allowed PED use to run wild year after year, and whose incompetent guidance of the sport has allowed this topic to remain front and center. 

Selig isn’t the only one.  There were others overseeing the sport, running the teams, and covering the game that turned an equally blind eye.  But for today, let’s start with finally holding Selig accountable.  Maybe another day we’ll get to the others.