Avoiding the Death of Baseball

By Gary Armida

Baseball is in trouble. Alex Rodriguez didn’t start the trouble, but he may be the one who makes the damage permanent. When Alex Rodriguez was last mentioned on FCP, the closing line stated that if he is not telling the truth he would have cost himself every potential Hall of Fame vote. After trying to see things from his point of view and then giving him credit for at least admitting some use, the recent developments point to something all together. The news of alleged ties with a banned trainer, someone who was banned because of alleged steroids distribution, the fact that the supposedly legal drugs were not available over the counter in the Dominican Republic, and the fact that the banned trainer traveled with Rodriguez during the 2007 season, all point to one thing. Alex Rodriguez is a liar. While lying and cheating are similar crimes, the crime of dishonesty is the one most unforgivable. If Rodriguez had come clean with the entire story last week, there may have been a chance for redemption. In fact, the following morning, Rodriguez was greeted by cheers from Yankees fans as he walked into the clubhouse in Tampa, Florida. But, it seems that his hubris is too much to allow complete honesty. While one should strongly believe in the credo of “innocent until proven guilty”, the facts seem to be overwhelming. Because Rodriguez has lied, cheated, and has seemingly cheated for a significant period of time beyond his admission, he leaves Commissioner Bud Selig with few options. More significantly is the fact that Baseball is in deep trouble. Sure, it has survived many scandals in the past from the Black Sox to Pete Rose, but this one may permanently damage the great game. This is not hyperbole; it is a fact. All parties, the Commissioner, the owners, the players, and the media need to act quickly. Unlike the scandals of the past, the Steroids era has lingered far too long and is threatening to take down the sport.

The Derek Jeter Argument

While Derek Jeter is hardly a quote machine, he has perhaps said the most important words of the entire controversy surrounding his teammate. First, Jeter stated that he didn’t condone the actions (obvious, but Jeter rarely states his opinion this candidly). Secondly, and most importantly, he expressed his anger with the label of the “Steroids Era”. Jeter succinctly stated that not everybody is doing it and to label the era as such is a slap in the face to clean players. He is correct. While the jaded fan and writer will say that this statement is one made out of naiveté, the facts are that the 2003 testing was conducted with a pool of over 1,000 players. 104 tested positive. Sure, HGH makes for a difficult argument as there is currently a lack of an efficient test to detect the substance, but players like Jeter, Grady Sizemore, Ken Griffey Jr., and hundreds of others are clean. Can that last statement be said as a fact? Sadly, it cannot. That is why there must be immediate and drastic action. The faith of the fans must be restored.

A Call For Extreme Measures

In the past, I have remained on the conservative side of the performance enhancing drugs issue. It took far too long for testing, but the current system has seemingly worked to a degree. Homeruns are down; older players seem to actually be aging. But, the stranglehold that performance enhancing drugs and the past seem to have on Baseball is devastating. It is not hyperbole to say that the story of Alex Rodriguez and performance enhancing drugs is literally strangling the life out of baseball. Late night talk shows are joking about how everyone in baseball is cheating. Media outlets have bigger stories on steroids than position battles during Spring Training. To clearly illustrate the point consider that the Yankees spent over $400 million dollars on free agents and there hasn’t been one big story on anyone other than Rodriguez. Baseball, for the first time during this era, is in danger of losing all credibility with the public. It runs the risk of becoming a side show like Vince McMahon’s WWE. Sure, diehards will always follow baseball, but the general public will never come back. The need to clean up the game is paramount.

Bud Selig has taken the blame for the issue of performance enhancing drugs. He doesn’t deserve complete blame (the player’s association has to shoulder most of the blame here). But, he can be the man to clean it all up. Regardless of the current agreement, Commissioner Selig must use his “best interest of the game” clause to its fullest power. The idea of suspending a player for 50 games is no longer enough to restore the fans’ faith in the game of baseball. Even suspending a player for one season is no longer enough. The Commissioner must ban that player for life.

It may sound extreme, but that statement is not based on sensationalism. It is based on the sound logic that the only way to clean up the game is to take drastic measures. Much like when Kennesaw Mountain Landis banned the Chicago White Sox eight players for taking money to fix a World Series and Bart Giammatti banned Pete Rose for betting on baseball, Selig must ban players who are caught cheating. If the previous two hadn’t taken such extreme measures, where would the game have been? If the goal is to protect the integrity of the game, then this is the only option.

Where to Start

First, Baseball must get out from under the black cloud that is the 103 positive drug tests from 2003. That list must be revealed quickly. No player should face disciplinary action for being on this list, but the remaining active players should be monitored for the rest of their playing careers. Revealing the list takes the element of surprise and the negative impact that the list can have on the sport. Think about it-what if two names are leaked on Opening Day? What if five are revealed before game one of the 2009 World Series? Obviously, the game would be devastated and embarrassed.

First, if a player actually tests positive for performance enhancing drugs with the simple urine test, he should be immediately banned. This is “cut and dry” as players know the substances they are being tested for and should have the wherewithal not to take them. Of course, there should be an appeals process in case of a false positive. But, the onus will be on the player to prove the positive test wrong. The lifetime ban has two effects. One, it should deter players from taking the substances. Two, it gives fans the peace of mind of knowing that players who are caught cheating will be gone from the game.

The issue of HGH complicates matters. Currently, Baseball players are not required to take blood tests. Therefore, there is no accurate measure for determining if a player is using HGH. This is where Baseball will have to prove that it is truly committed to cleaning up the game. It will take some work, a big battle with the Players Union, and perhaps some negative publicity. But, all of those obstacles are not greater than the need to regain the confidence of the fans.

Baseball already has an investigative committee on performance enhancing drugs. In fact, Alex Rodriguez will be meeting with them in the very near future. Major League Baseball needs to expand that committee in order to have the resources to investigate players with connections to steroids dealers. Alex Rodriguez has a connection to one such person. The committee should have the ability to make the connection and then present the evidence to Bud Selig. If Selig deems the evidence worthy, he would then ban that player. Again, an appeals process would be in place. The impact of such an investigative committee would be positive. Fans will know that Baseball is truly policing the sport. The need for investigative journalists to discover evidence and then use the evidence as a form of sensationalism will no longer have the same huge impact. Imagine if Baseball controlled the flow of news regarding Alex Rodriguez. If done correctly, all of the information is given in one report rather than the dribs and drabs Rodriguez’s current situation has been reported in. In other words, it minimizes the impact, tells the truth, and then has a decisive ending.

The Players’ Part

If “the clean” players are truly serious about cleaning up the game, then they must prove it. The importance of Unions in America has been well documented and should not be disregarded. The importance of the union is not lost on this writer. In this case, the Union is exacerbating this situation. The Union has fought Baseball all along about having an appropriate testing program. It is now time for the players who are criticizing Rodriguez and other drug users to take a stand. There is no barrier in front of any of these million dollar athletes to step outside of the union and to take a blood test. If Derek Jeter (or insert any other angry player) is so upset about being labeled as a player in the steroids era, he must take the bold action. After the bold action, he and the other clean players must pressure the union to cooperate with the Commissioner’s Office. The players have the power to end this era of corruption, cheating, and lying. The Commissioner can try, but as long as the players don’t have to submit blood, there is little reason for any player to stop using drugs. It’s that simple.

Recently, Union chief Donald Fehr stated that steroids are not a huge problem as he referenced the fact that only 104 tested positive. To paraphrase, he stated that the majority of players are clean, therefore no action is needed. Fehr is correct in the sense that the majority of players are clean. But, he is blind to the significance of the 104 of 2003 and the number of players still using these drugs today. That minority is ruining the sport; they are moving fans away from the game. Future fans, young kids, will not be exposed to the sport (which is already a problem that Baseball faces). Think about it-would you want your child following Alex Rodriguez or a sport where cheating is accepted to get ahead?

The logic of “not everyone is doing it” is non-existent. Only eight players conspired to throw a World Series, but they were still, correctly, banned from the game. Pete Rose was the only manager betting on the game, yet he was banned. They were banned because their actions were severe enough to potentially damage the credibility of the game. Players using performance enhancing drugs are damaging the credibility of the game. Because the owners and the players failed to deal with this problem for so long, it now must be met with a drastic action. There simply is no other way.

Closing Thoughts

The need is simple: Baseball must get back to playing baseball. The daily headlines are sickening to true baseball fans. The one true thing that Alex Rodriguez uttered was the following: “Baseball is bigger than Alex Rodriguez”. No truer words can be spoken. If it is proven that Rodriguez has been using a performance enhancing drug since 2003, even with circumstantial evidence, he must be shown the door much like Pete Rose. The game will survive; actually, it will more than just survive. It will thrive as fans will have confidence in the game they are seeing. Players will be less likely to use considering one of the biggest stars was banned. Yes, there would be legal proceedings and many appeals. But, that is a better alternative than the current state of affairs with newspapers competing for any little piece of information. Instead of another black eye on the game, the game must take control of the situation. Detractors of this extreme measure will correctly point out that not all cheaters will be caught. No plan will be 100 percent effective, but the ones who do get caught must be dealt with. A strong message will be sent to both the players and the fans. That will restore order.

The time has come for this drastic measure. If the players and the Commissioner can’t see that this issue has gotten worse instead of better, the sport is truly in trouble. It can start and end with Alex Rodriguez. Because of his continued cover-ups and lies, he must serve as the example to fans and other players. If one cheats, one forfeits the privilege to play professional baseball. If that practice is put into place, the game will be clean. As the past two years have proven, there is no other alternative.

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