Have you seen the movie Angels in the Outfield? If you haven’t, let me give you a brief premise. Basically, the California Angels (now called the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim) are a horrible team. To help a boy in foster care, angels come and help the team win, including ace pitcher Tony Danza. When all is said and done, the Angels make it to the playoffs. However, the boy finds out real angels don’t help out in the playoffs; the team has to do it themselves.
Anyway, that’s a brief premise. Sounds hokey, but it brings a tear to my eye.
Today, I wonder if Yankees fans must know what the boy felt like when he found out angels don’t help out in the playoffs. But in this instance, Yankees fans aren’t wondering about angels, they’re wondering about steroids. During the playoff collapses of the Yanks, why didn’t the steroids seem to show up in Giambi, Clemens, and A-Rod.
If you’re a baseball fan, you’ve probably heard the news by now: Alex Rodriguez, 3rd basemen for the New York Yankees, has admitted to steroid use during the 2001-2003 seasons. These 3 seasons were spent with the Texas Rangers, during the time when A-Rod became the highest paid player in baseball.
On Saturday, news first broke that A-Rod had tested positive for performance enhancing drugs in 2003. At the time, the drugs were not banned in baseball, but they were illegal in the US unless prescribed by a doctor. The 2003 test was supposed to be anonymous and the results were supposed to be destroyed, and yet somehow the results leaked to the media this past weekend.
Two days after the news broke, Alex Rodriquez spoke with ESPN and came clean about the whole ordeal.
Let me tell you what I’m thinking and then I want to hear your thoughts.
- First, I applaud A-Rod for finally coming forward and not hiding behind lies anymore. This is a step in the right direction for baseball and hopefully other players will follow suit, most notably Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, and Sammy Sosa.
- I am dismayed that the only reason this came out was because a report was leaked this weekend. This leads me to believe Rodriguez was willing to go to the grave with this secret as long as it didn’t come out from another source. In turn, I wonder if he’s truly sorry for taking steroids, or just sorry he got caught. I believe he feels remorse, but would that remorse be as strong if no one ever knew. Don’t forget, A-Rod lied to Katie Couric about his steroid use in 2007 on 60 Minutes.
- Even if A-Rod is sincerely sorry for his actions, he still used an illegal substance to try to get ahead of others. Yes, many others were using ‘roids as well, but that doesn’t make it any more acceptable. He will have to be held accountable for his actions. I truly hope he only used PEDs from 2001-2003 and is not sugarcoating the story to get by with less public shame.
- America will be quick to forgive Rodriguez. Look at the examples of Andy Pettite and Jason Giambi. Both men were found guilty of using PEDs (Pettite with HGH and Giambi with steroids). However, both men came clean and baseball fans have forgiven them. Many people think even more highly of Pettite now since his admission. He handled it very well and did not hide from it. He was honest. We appreciate that.
- Rodriguez has put himself above guys like McGwire, Sosa, Bonds, and Palmeiro. Baseball fans are pretty good at spotting a liar when they see one. We can’t forgive the other guys because they’ve given us no reason to forgive them. With A-Rod, wounds will eventually heal.
- Barring any other startling revelations, Alex Rodriguez belongs in the Hall of Fame. His numbers since 2003 prove his is a great baseball player and perhaps one of the greatest of all time. However, there may need to be an asterisk put on his plaque. He should be voted in over Bonds, McGwire, and Clemens with no second thoughts.
- Currently Barry Bonds holds the all-time HR record. Some think A-Rod will break that by the time he retires. Despite A-Rod’s honesty, the record would be tainted. Bonds’ has already tainted it as well. In my mind, Hank Aaron should still be noted as the all-time HR leader, and perhaps Roger Maris should be considered the single season HR champion.
Your thoughts?
Tags: 2003, 60 Minutes, A-Fraud, A-Rod, Alex Rodriguez, Bonds, Clemens, ESPN, Giambi, Katie Couric, McGwire, PEDs, Pettite, SI, Sosa, steroids
February 9th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
A professional baseball player’s use of performance enhancing drugs is no more ridiculous to me than the culture in which people waste away entire afternoons, watching grown men play children’s games for millions of dollars.
But is it dirty? Of course. That’s like questioning whether or not a millionaire has the right to his money after he’s been caught doing insider-trading.
February 9th, 2009 at 4:22 pm
I can’t even begin to imagine the kind of treatment he’s going to get when he goes to Boston now. As brutal as it was before, I’m sure it’s going to be virtually unbearable now that these revelations have been made public.
February 10th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
wow, that last notion is a tough one for a Cards fan to put forward. That was very brave of you. A-Rod was one of my last hopes of untainted greatness in baseball, and now he is off my list. I now wonder if we could look at all the greats, like Maris and the Babe before him, Mantle and his longest homerun ever, Bob Gibson, Hank Aaron, Nolan Ryan, etc. and have suspicion into their careers? It was never a tested issue before the last ten years or so, and we’ll never know if those great players used performance enhancing drugs. And if they did, should we care? It wasn’t banned, and they weren’t asked about it.
There’s just a lot of disturbing “what if’s” to digest. whatya think?
February 10th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
VIncent, I don’t know if you can compare watching baseball to using illegal drugs. While they weren’t illegal in baseball, they still were legal in the US. Waste of time? Yes, you can argue that. But legality is a different story.
Tyrone, great point. The Yanks start their first 8 or 9 games on the road this year. I gotta think Michael Phelps is the happiest guy in the world right now. No one even remembers what he did a few days ago.
Alan, guys like Ruth, Aaron, Mays, etc didn’t have access to these types of things. The guys didn’t even really have access to protein, creatine, or state of the art workout systems. Although I did hear Gibson say once if he would have had the opportunity to gain an edge through steroids during his days, he definitely would have done it. Btw, one look at Ruth shows he wasn’t on anything other than beer and hot dogs.