’Roid rage grows bigger: After ruling, baseball in line for toughest hit yet, By: Steve Buckley
December 28, 2006, Boston Herald General Sports
Fasten your seat belts, baseball fans, because you’re in for a bumpy, steroid-enhanced ride.
What, you thought this steroid mess was going away? Fat chance. Or, for the purposes of this discussion, bulked-up chance.
With yesterday’s news - a court ruled that government investigators are entitled to know the names of about 100 major leaguers who tested positive for illegal drugs in 2003 - it’s only a matter of time before these names are leaked to the media.
A whisper will turn into a quote. A quote will turn into a headline. A headline will turn into round-the-clock coverage on ESPN and CNN.
The worst part is that this group won’t be limited to only utility infielders, backup catchers and mop-up men. Some will be names you know, names that make a difference, names that sell tickets.
Let’s say, for the purposes of this discussion, that one of the players is a future Hall of Famer, someone who has put up big numbers throughout the years, someone who has enjoyed widespread popularity.
Until now, we have tended to identify the usual suspects in any discussion of steroid use in baseball: a Barry Bonds here, a Sammy Sosa there.
Rafael Palmeiro boldly and defiantly stared down a collection of Congressional suits and said he never used steroids . . . and then, colossal fool that he is, he tested positive for steroids.
Oh, and don’t forget about Mark McGwire. He decided not to be bold and defiant. In his appearance before Congress, the big and tough Big Mac simply crawled under the table. As best as can be determined, he’s still down there, cowering.
And don’t forget Jose Canseco, either. He started all this. He admitted to steroid use. Compared with these other lying lowlifes, Canseco looks like Mother Teresa.
Yes, we read about the occasional scrubeenie who gets caught with a needle sticking out of his backside. But always it comes back to the big boys. Bonds. Sosa. Palmeiro. McGwire. Canseco. And so on.
But if it’s true that these hardball pumpkin heads are in the Steroid Club, then the club better start planning for a new wing. And what’s very, very scary about all this is that some of these new names will shock us.
Sure, some of them, once leaked to the media, will inspire us to say, “Ohhhh, him. I always figured he was on steroids.” But what if it’s a guy we never suspected, a guy we love?
Back in 1998, when McGwire and Sosa were busting fences in pursuit of Roger Maris’ single-season home run record, we all buried our heads in the press releases and went along for the ride. And by “we,” I mean the commissioner’s office, the owners, the fans and, of course, the media. We bought all of it and we agreed that McGwire and Sosa were “saving” baseball.
Yet here we are, eight-plus years later, bracing for the inevitability that more names will be linked to performance-enhancing drugs. If it’s true that steroid-enhanced athletes helped “save” baseball in 1998, now the bill has arrived for services rendered. Now the steroid-enhanced athletes are poised to hurt baseball.
Whenever the sport seems to fix what’s broken, when it cleans up its act and poises for a popularity explosion, something goes wrong. It used to be silly fights at the bargaining table and cries of “collusion,” so much so that in 1994 an impasse of such magnitude prevented a World Series.
Now it’s steroids. And a growing list of named abusers.
If Major League Baseball is smart, it will celebrate the release of the names, even if, in the process, some of those named players see their chances of making it to Cooperstown damaged.
Ultimately, the game is more important than any one player.
And for the players who use steroids, it’s really quite simple: Screw ’em.
