How David Ortiz's Steriod Denial Begins to Shine a Positive Light on MLB

With every eye across the United States glued to the television, David Ortiz finally gave us just a piece of what we have been salivating for this past week.

David Ortiz finally told us that he has never taken steroids.

I still remain skeptical about MLB because of the continuing steroid allegation about not only Ortiz, but the countless others mentioned in the Mitchell Report.

But David Ortiz's rebuttal really struck me differently. And I remain quite impressed by not only his forseen honesty, but the complete aggressiveness he took with the media.

He took a stance of "no fear", and was very solid with all of his responses. I saw very few holes in his explanations, and really impressed everyone.

The MLB Players Association President, Michael Weiner, came out with some very solid facts in his response. Weiner stated first and foremost that MLB did not give away the names of the players who tested positive for steroids in 2003.

Weiner revealed that the government basically came in, took the records, and then later passed a bill that allows them to do things of that nature in the future.

So MLB had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Weiner also stated that of the 104 names that were on the list that was released, only 83 were confirmed tests. The other 19 that were on the list were tests that weren't mandatory, but were confirmed testings.

And of the 83, that number represents the number of "tests"—not necessarily positive testings, just tests—and of that number, a player could have tested more than once...so that number could be even smaller than what is seen now.

One reporter asked Ortiz, "why did it take you this long to just say that you didn't take any steroids or performance enhancing drugs?"

To that Ortiz whipped back and replied, "I have to get my facts straight and in order. I can't just go out and speak without getting everything in order."

This spoke miles for him, and all while without having a sheet to read off of or anything along those lines. That means this was all Papi.

But here is where I see a hope being seen.

Ortiz is one of the biggest advocates against steroids that the MLB has right now. He is now in the position to show the trust, to tell the stories, to truly be the view changer of every soul turned against baseball because of said allegations.

I have not even the slightest idea if Papi would go out and represent the game and want to take on that role, but with this admission, a door has been opened.

As a fan, I would love nothing more than to see this speculation be cleared up, but it is going to take more than one mans denial. It is going to require everyone to take a stand against this, and make a wave of change to save MLB.

So, if the MLB remains smart, they will back David Ortiz on this, and try to get this league back on the right track—away from steroids.

If they do, then this game could brought back to the way it was supposed to truly be.