Howard Bryant: Steroid Past Brings Down Future King

ESPN.com ^ | February 7, 2009 | Howard Bryant

[kellynla]

The house of cards, once and for all, has collapsed on Major League Baseball and its steroids era. On Saturday, the past took down the future king.

Take a real good look across the devastated terrain that commissioner Bud Selig once commonly referred to as a renaissance.

• Barry Bonds, 762 home runs, seven-time MVP, goes on trial for perjury beginning March 2.

• Roger Clemens, 354 wins, seven-time Cy Young winner, is being investigated for perjury by the FBI, which is also investigating former MVP Miguel Tejada.

• Rafael Palmeiro, 569 home runs, 3,000 hits, has already been investigated by a House of Representatives subcommittee.

• Mark McGwire, 583 home runs, undid his every act of goodwill with a dishonorable performance in front of the same subcommittee that will not be forgotten.

And now, three-time MVP Alex Rodriguez, purported by fans and baseball -- and, most especially, its commissioner -- to be the clean savior who would soon restore honor to baseball's dirty home run record by eventually surpassing Bonds, reportedly tested positive for the steroid Primobolan and testosterone in 2003, according to a Sports Illustrated report Saturday.

All of those greats have fallen during the same era, for the same reason.

[kellynla]

"The possession, sale or use of any illegal drug or controlled substance by Major League players and personnel is strictly prohibited ... [and those players involved] are subject to discipline by the Commissioner and risk permanent expulsion from the game.... This prohibition applies to all illegal drugs and controlled substances, including steroids…"
Fay Vincent, Commissioner of Baseball 1991

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/writers/tom_verducci/04/05/week1.mailbag/1.html

Unfortunately, the memo was not enforced.

[Da Coyote]

Sports reminds me of the old space joke, “We beat the Russians to the moon because our German scientists were better than their German scientists.”

With sports, it’s, “We beat you because we take more and better drugs.”

[YankeeMagic]

To me, Maris and Hank still are the real record holders...
Look at the decline in HR’s since testing started..
Just wondering when the other 100+ names that tested positive in 03 will come out..and what other big names will be on that list

[Venturer]

And still they keep Pete Rose out of the Hall of Fame.

[Hildy]

Sorry, but until they enforced it, I don’t see the big deal. It’s like saying actresses who get plastic surgery are cheating. They’ll be 100 posts now explaining to me why I’m wrong...go head..I know all the arguments..I believe what I believe.

[RGSpincich]

Guess all the experts here missed A-Rod while they were expressing their proficiency in spotting steroid aided athletes. They hailed A-Rod as the cleansing answer to Bonds’ home run record. Even predicted the year in which A-Rod would restore the record to an asterisk free status.

[MuttTheHoople]

If one of these guys had said the truth, “We took steroids beccause we wanted to lengthen our career, break records, and get into the Hall of Fame”, then the American public wouldn’t have a problem with them.

[Tax-chick]

I agree. Athletes are entertainers, just like TV and movie actors are. I don’t care what they do to themselves.

[poindexter]

Sorry, but until they enforced it, I don’t see the big deal.

I agree with you.

[Erik Latranyi]

If this activity took place in a business, the media and politicians would be howling about cheating to get money....how the public was deceived by these drug users....how illicit gains were made by owners who looked the other way.

Since this is entertainment, we are supposed to glaze over and just know more about the the Yankee team stats than we do about what Congress is doing.

Bread and Circuses.

[raptor29]

No, you don’t ‘know all the arguments’. The Uniform Player Contract specifically prohibits a player from using illegal drugs and there’s not a player in professional baseball who didn’t/doesn’t know that steroids are illegal to possess and use without a legitimate doctor’s prescription and supervision. And frankly, the types of juice these guys were taking and the doses involved would never be used in any legitimate medical condition. To say these players were doing nothing wrong and violating no rules or regulations is simply incorrect.

[LimaLimaMikeFoxtrot]

Selig should have three leagues: American, National and JUICE. Let athletes who want to destroy their bodies do so in a league of their own. With their own set of records.

A-ROID and the rest will be right at home.

[freebilly]

BFD....

[big'ol_freeper]

Alex Roidriguez = A-Roid

[hinckley buzzard]

>*yawn*<

[raptor29]

Yeah, BFD. The same mindset that just accepts Bill Clinton’s perjury, shrugs its shoulders about illegal immigration, sees ACORN’s voter fraud activity as just ‘unpreventable so why do anything about it’, and on and on.

When even our side has dooshers like this, there really isn’t much hope for the country. “BFD, somebody broke the law, big deal.” Nice call, genius.

[Hildy]

I didn’t say that..I was implying that when the league wasn’t enforcing the rules, they were tacitly encouraging it.

[freebilly]

I've got two sons in college playing baseball. I love my sons, I enjoy the games, but do I actually give a s*** about baseball or players using steroids. No. The country faces bigger problems.

BFD....

[freekitty]

Yep. I guess he was their fall guy.

[raptor29]

Tell you what, you’ll ‘give a s***’ if one of your sons decides to take them. An ex-big league guy I know pretty well is currently waiting on the liver donor list, almost died twice over the past 3 years. All of 35 years old right now. But hey, no BFD.