January 11th, 2010 will now be known in the sports world as the day that Mark McGwire finally discussed the past and admitted his past steroid use. McGwire now joins the list of seemingly every MLB superstar in the last 20 or so years to end up admitting using illegal substances (regardless of the MLB and MLBPA's policy at the time, one cannot argue that these drugs were being used for a lawful purpose), or at the least be implicated in doing so. Although the NFL is by far my favorite sport (and this fact in and of itself will put an air of hypocrisy over the next few paragraphs), I still do hold a spot in my sports heart for baseball, which is why, although I was not in the least surprised, it still made me a little sad to hear the confession today.
The two most important issues related to PEDs and baseball in my opinion is the validity of records set while using them, as well as whether Cooperstown should be closed down for PED users. While the popular opinion seems to be to asterisk every record set since the late 1980s, and shut down Cooperstown for players from the Steroid era (or at the least mention that they may have been on the juice), I don't think that either option is viable or correct. I'm sure that we will never know the true extent of the use of PEDs in baseball. How many pitchers that McGwire faced were juicing? What, exactly, constitutes a PED? Big leaguers were notorious users of amphetamines, and many still pop Ritalin because of their "ADD." Steroids clearly make one stronger, and do help the body recover from injury quicker than one would otherwise, but baseball at the professional level still requires an ungodly degree of hand-eye coordination. Steroids can help, but the raw skill needs to be there.
Baseball at the very least dragged its feet (and at the worst allowed this to go on knowingly); now it's time to sleep in that bed. Barry Bonds owns the single season home run record, which is set at 73. Not McGwire's 70. Not Maris' 61. Not Ruth's 60. Bonds also owns the career record, not Aaron. Like it or not, this is fact.
In regards to Cooperstown, my argument is closely aligned with the above. We can't play judge and jury of the past. Steroids are a blight on the game, and do cheapen numbers, but then again, many white players from the years pre-Robinson never had to face the best of the Negro Leagues, which cheapens their numbers as well. The above mentioned point about amphetamines is valid here as well. I'm not sure that speed isn't a more effective PED than many of the steroids on the market available to players today (HGH especially). Cooperstown should remember the best players and moments from the game of baseball (including the all time hits leader, Pete Rose, but that's another rant for later on down the road). Like it or not, both the best moments and players indisputably will involve steroids at some point in time. It's as clear to me as the "flaxseed oil" that Bonds used that he belongs in the Hall of Fame. Roger Clemens does as well. McGwire, Sosa, and Palmeiro don't, but that has nothing to do with their use of performance enhancing drugs.
My final thought on this is that we, the fans, deserve some of the blame. I can legitimately claim ignorance on the home run race of '98, because I was 13 at the time, but we as a collective whole should have known. Men don't increase in strength and muscle mass (especially the shredded look that the sluggers gained) naturally as they age into their late thirties. Heads don't grow past puberty. Neither do feet. All time power numbers shouldn't be set by players nearing twenty years in the big leagues. Shame on us, the fans, for putting our heads in the sand in the name of the long ball. Even more, shame on us now for acting self righteous about it when it was our almighty dollar that created the market for it in the first place. We chide baseball for allowing drugs in the game, while at the same time we clap our hands every fall Sunday as men get bigger and bigger, yet faster and faster.
I just hope that Albert Pujols really is as real as he claims to be, but don't judge me for being skeptical.
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