The End of the Innocence: A-Rod and Baseball’s Steroid Crisis
February 12, 2009 by Marc Lamont Hill
Earlier this week, reports revealed that Alex Rodriguez was one of 104 Major League Baseball players who tested positive for banned substances in 2003. A few days later, A-Rod performed the now-obligatory perp walk, offering 60 minutes of heavily scripted mea culpas to ESPN’s Peter Gammons and the American people. In doing so, Rodriguez not only destroyed his mythic image as baseball’s last “clean” superstar, but he further sullied the reputation of modern baseball.
I couldn’t be happier.
Ever since Barry Bonds surpassed Hank Aaron as the all-time homerun king, Rodriguez was marked by baseball executives (and many fans) as a savior. If only Rodriguez could wrest the most coveted record in sports from the steroid-abusing Bonds, they secretly calculated, the purity of the record books would be restored and the steroid era would finally be excised from our collective memory. With A-Rod finally exposed as a fraud, Major League Baseball must now do what it has demanded from its players: come clean.
With the outing of Alex Rodriguez, the baseball community has forfeited any lingering claims to innocence. No longer can it pretend that the steroid era was the product of a small cadre of unscrupulous trainers and mediocre players. No longer can superstars like Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, and Roger Clemens be viewed as evil outliers within an otherwise honorable community. No longer can perjurers like Barry Bonds be arbitrarily plucked from an entire league of liars and forced to die for the sins of everyone. Instead, baseball must publicly acknowledge that it created a monster that it could no longer control.
For more than a decade, league officials at every level ignored the clear signs that steroid abuse was rampant. As fans began returning to ballparks and television screens in 1998 to see the game’s sacred records get trounced, commissioner Bud Selig willfully ignored the loud whispers coming from the media and medical community. Individual teams began putting “special trainers” (read: dope pushers) on their teams. Clean players adhered to a “no snitching” policy that operated against their own competitive interests. Even we fans, desperate to see history made in our own time, chose not to ask how nearly middle aged men were transforming into record-bashing musclemen in the twilight of their careers. Now, rather than continuing the ridiculous ritual of selective revelation and feigned indignation, let’s just admit that everyone screwed up. Everyone. Then, and only then, can we truly move on.
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29 Comments
1. manchild wrote:
I am not expecting much action on the part of the the league
though. Afterall ,they have allowed it for so many years.
2. R.oB. wrote:
Marc, the nihilist. Happy at destruction! JK. Points well taken.
February 12, 2009 @ 12:17 pm3. Blaxx wrote:
If I find out Ken Griffey Jr. took steroids, I’m never watching baseball ever again.
February 12, 2009 @ 12:41 pm4. Tom Penn wrote:
Dr Hill wrote: “perjurers like Barry Bonds ”
What? Dr. Hill no longer is a follower of St. Barry Bonds ????
February 12, 2009 @ 12:49 pm5. DCI74 wrote:
A-Rod is being hosed.
February 12, 2009 @ 1:03 pm6. Marc Lamont Hill wrote:
Tom,
I never said Barry didn’t take performance enhancers. Read the article I wrote several years ago. I just think he’s being unfairly treated for it. And, for the record, I still believe that he’s the greatest of ALL TIME!!!!
February 12, 2009 @ 1:05 pm7. Blaxx wrote:
Griffey Jr > Willie Mays > Hank Aaron > Barry Bonds
February 12, 2009 @ 1:14 pm8. Marc Lamont Hill wrote:
I am now convinced that you get high, Blaxx.
February 12, 2009 @ 1:30 pm9. Garrett wrote:
Want to watch a real baseball game? Go watch a local little league game. I gave up watching MLB years ago.
Just add A-Fraud’s name next to Bonds.
Hank Aaron is still the home run king.
February 12, 2009 @ 2:40 pm10. Clifton Harrison wrote:
How can you say Griffey is above any of those players when he can’t even finish a damn season!!
February 12, 2009 @ 3:16 pm11. Blaxx wrote:
Mays better than Aaron because he was just as good with his glove as his bat. Griffey is better than Mays because he was even better with his glove and bat. The fact that Griffey has suffered the injury bug a lot has nothing to do with the fact that he’s the best player to ever suit up. If he hadn’t been hurt so much he’s probably had 900 home runs and we wouldn’t be having this conversation so eat a sack of baby dicks
February 12, 2009 @ 3:21 pm12. Clifton Harrison wrote:
smh…If Michael Jordan didn’t retire he could have had 8 or 9 rings, If Barry Sanders was traded and kept playing, he might have a rushing record that could never be broken. fuck outta here with coulda shoulda woulda’s. Griffey will always be a “coulda been the greatest” but fact is, HE’S NOT and he will NEVER BE the Greatest…
February 12, 2009 @ 3:30 pm13. Blaxx wrote:
MJ was the greatest. Barry Sanders wasn’t even close, doesn’t matter if he retired or not. Emmitt and Walter were always gonna be better than him.
Griffey > *
FIN.
February 12, 2009 @ 3:34 pm14. DCI74 wrote:
Griffey has the smoothest, sweetest swing I have ever seen. If injuries didn’t slow down his career this would be a non-story.
The fact that there were 103 other names on the list yet the only one name unethically released was A-Rod clearly indicates this was personal. Where is the outrage for the rest on the list? They are just as guilty as he is yet no one seems to care. More pitchers have been guilty of using PEDs than any other position but most people only want to talk about the big hitters when its the big throwers that are the most egregious offenders. I don’t care whether or not he used PEDs but I don’t think it’s fair that A-Rod is being thrown under the bus while the other 103 players get a pass. The results were supposed to remain anonymous and breaching confidentially is just flat-out wrong IMO. I can’t support that from a research perspective because ethics and confidentiality is at the very core of the field and you lose all credibility when that is breached. If I were a Major Leaguer whether or not I was tested I would file a lawsuit again the MLBPA to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again. You can’t just conveniently decide when to remain ethical and when to throw ethics out of the window.
February 12, 2009 @ 3:40 pm15. Blaxx wrote:
Maybe the rest of the players on the list suck and MLB doesn’t want to put em out. The villainy of PEDs isn’t as big when you find out that Christian Guzman tested positive for steroids 8 times in ‘05 and only batted .219 LOL.
February 12, 2009 @ 4:00 pm16. Clifton Harrison wrote:
smh…stans…never can accept the truth
February 12, 2009 @ 4:05 pm17. Frederick Senkeeto wrote:
Hey Marc,
I bet if the entire Phillies team was on the Roids last year you would not care, if that mean winning a World Series. They were all on roids last year by the way, Go Mets.
18. DCI74 wrote:
I hear what you’re saying Blaxx but it doesn’t surprise me that people still continue to only focus on everyday players. The data speaks for itself, more pitchers (mostly relievers) have tested positive for PEDs, more than any other position. But “chicks dig the long ball” and fans have always been more infatuated with a homeruns flying than a dominate closer pitching. You can’t just tie PED usage to W-L records, homeruns and batting averages when the usage is more about recovering quickly from injuries, not 400-foot homeruns.
February 12, 2009 @ 4:44 pm19. Marc Lamont Hill wrote:
EVERYONE
PLEASE DO NOT ARGUE SPORTS OR HIP-HOP WITH BLAXX. HE IS CANADIAN AND GETS HIGH!!!!
THE MANAGEMENT
February 12, 2009 @ 4:58 pm20. Marc Lamont Hill wrote:
did this negro really say that ken griffey is better than willie mays? because he WOULD’VE put up better numbers if he stayed healthy? if that ain’t the dumbest canadian logic i done ever heard? last i checked, staying healthy is part of being a good player!
February 12, 2009 @ 5:00 pm21. Blaxx wrote:
No, it’s not. Health can be determined by a lot of things. What about the players with degenerative diseases that still tear shit up? And stop ripping on me for being Canadian. You just hating cuz Ken Griffey Jr. be getting that Arab Money LOL.
(Inside joke: Dr. Hill really hates Arab Money, almost as much as I hate the word swag or swagger 
)
WE GET ARAB MONEY IN CANADA TOO (we don’t do the dance tho cuz it’s just stupid. Busta, you’re damn near 40, you don’t need a dance to push your single)
February 12, 2009 @ 5:10 pm22. DCI74 wrote:
lol @ Marc
February 12, 2009 @ 6:33 pm23. Clifton Harrison wrote:
Thanks for that tip Marc….I started to come to that conclusion on my own though…haha
February 12, 2009 @ 6:40 pm24. anita wrote:
A-Rod is being hosed.
Comment by DCI74
DC- didn’t you say that on the last A-Rod story? um, yep.
Why would you guys care if he’s using steroids anyway? That just means y’alls penis is bigger then his… Isn’t that all y’all care about anyway?
25. Tom Penn wrote:
NBL needs to establish a new position … The DU.
The “Designated User.” Peeps would get extra excited When AROD, Barry Bonds, or Sammy Sosa step up to the plate to hit one outta da park for the drug usin’ fans!
February 13, 2009 @ 3:40 am26. anita wrote:
Tom- I like it!
February 13, 2009 @ 8:52 am27. ~JJG~ wrote:
Hmmm, ummm…watching baseball is like watching paint dry…BORING!
February 13, 2009 @ 8:13 pm28. wouldn't you like to know? wrote:
agreed JJG. i just can’t get into it for the life of me!
i guess it’s because i don’t understand the rules to the bullshit. (thanx Blaxx)
February 14, 2009 @ 12:00 am29. Mario wrote:
I really don’t care who is taking steroids as long as Ken Griffey Jr. didn’t.
February 14, 2009 @ 8:54 pmLeave a Reply
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