Baseball invited steroids to the home run chase, Hall of Fame debate, By: Veto F. Roley
Friday, December 15, 2006
Tony Gwinn, one of the best hitters to ever play Major League baseball, and Cal Ripken, Jr., who owns the longest consecutive-games played streak in the game, are both nominated to the Baseball Hall of Fame this year.
Most of the press, however, goes to Mark McGwire and the subject of did he or didn't he use steroids.
This year could have been magical for baseball. Barry Bonds is an average year away from breaking baseball's record for career homeruns, a record that has, really, been held by only two men.
Although there were hitters who held the mark before Babe Ruth, baseball was young and the ball was dead. It was Ruth and his 714 homers that made the career homerun record meaningful. It took four decades after Ruth for Hank Aaron to break the record.
Barry Bonds should break the record this year, if he is given a chance to play. But, when he slugs his 756th homer this year, the headlines won't be about his passing Aaron.
The headlines will be about questions lingering over Bonds having an artificial advantage over Aaron and Ruth, both who played in days when owners, managers and trainers discouraged their players from weight training.
After Yazoo, Miss., Tammy Thomas' indictment for perjury related to her testimony on the BALCO case, the same case that has entwined Bonds, the headlines might have a different count -- the amount of time that Bonds remains free until he appears in court.
I really wish Bonds' pursuit of Aaron's mark could be focused on baseball. However, that is not to be. And, baseball only has itself to blame.
Bonds did not do anything against the rules of baseball. Sport leagues don't ban substances like steroids just to protect the image of the sport. They ban the substances to protect the integrity of their top athletes.
Sport leagues realize there will always be folks like Bill Romanowski, who would use any advantage, even if it came in a pill. Those players find ways around the rules.
But, if you make substances like steroids illegal, the top athletes are not forced by competition to use the substances. They have the ability to say no.
Baseball purposely chose not to make steroids illegal. And, for their choice, baseball now has a Hall of Fame ballot and a home run chase that will be dominated by steriod talk.
It didn't have to be. It's not McGwire's fault, nor is it Bonds. It's baseball's fault for not stepping up to the plate and protecting its star athletes.
