Alex Rodriguez came out of the closet. On Monday, Feb. 9, in an interview with ESPN's Peter Gammons, Alex Rodriguez admitted to knowingly and willingly taking performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) during his tenure with the Texas Rangers from 2001 to 2003. This confirms what was already known through a leaked positive steroids test from 2003. This also comes in the wake of a leaked result from Barry Bonds, whose urine tested positive for PEDs. The two are now inextricably linked with Mark McGwire through the amorphous cloud that is steroids.
Barry Bonds, on the one hand, continues to deny his PED use. Bonds currently faces perjury charges in a trial on March 2 of this year. Alex Rodriguez admitted to using steroids and faces what is sure to be a chorus of boos on his first trip to Fenway this year. Rodriguez's use is far more revealing than Bonds', as Rodriguez did not bulk up nearly as much as Barry Bonds did, nor did his home run total ever exceed 60. (His highest was 57 in 2002 with the Texas Rangers.) For taking PEDs, Bonds' penalties are the perjury charges he is facing, along with being virtually blacklisted from most MLB teams. Rodriguez's penalty is far more severe.
When Bonds hit the 756 career home-run mark in August of 2007, part of the baseball world (outside of San Francisco) wept. They wept for the loss of one of the most hallowed records in baseball history (and for the lack of sportsmanship ethic which helped achieve it) to one of the most hated people in professional sports. However, there was a hope in the distance — it was Alex Rodriguez, the youngest player to hit 500 home runs. He would be about nine seasons away from breaking the record and saving it. He was supposed to be everything Barry Bonds was not: He did not take steroids, and he wasn't a prima donna who had an adversarial relationship with the media. Since this positive test and his admission, he no longer can be cast in the role of the savior of the record. He's just another name whose career is tarnished by steroids, alongside Rafael Palmeiro, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire and the other 103 names in the 2003 report yet to be released.
Rodriguez's future is in doubt. He went from one of the game's pristine players to another candidate for the Mitchell Report. His Hall of Fame eligibility is now in question as well. The achievement of 500 home runs has lost its luster, and it is no longer an automatic pass for the Hall of Fame. As of this writing, there are 24 members of the 500 Home Run Club. Of those 24, 15 are in the Hall of Fame, five are active, three are retired, standing in the wings for their chance for induction (the earliest is Rafael Palmeiro in the 2010 vote). Only one is eligible, Mark McGwire, who has not exceeded 25 percent of the vote in his three years of eligibility. (He needs to get 75 percent in one of the next 12 years.) Needless to say, Rodriguez probably has a lot to worry about when he gets put on the ballot.
The "amorphous steroids" cloud first came to prominence in 2002, when Sports Illustrated released an issue whose exposé cover story discussed at length what might have been one of sports' biggest open secrets, the use of steroids in baseball. The question is: Who must claim responsibility for this? To properly reflect on the answer, one need only look in the mirror.
Yes, it is the fans who are responsible for this. The fans of baseball turned away from the game after the 1994 strike. These fans lowered revenue from MLB games. And then came that magic year that was 1998, "The Year that Saved Baseball." This refers to, of course, the home run race between Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Ken Griffey Jr. Fans became interested once more in baseball; the phrase "Chicks dig the long ball" became a commercial saying. Fans and the MLB turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to an obvious problem for the sheer enjoyment of seeing grown men hit a ball over 500 feet and for the revenue that it generated, respectively. Pitchers' duels lost favor to slugfests. Players saw this and took full advantage, and why wouldn't they? We know of two MVPs (Ken Caminiti in 1996 and Alex Rodriguez in 2003) who took steroids during their MVP seasons. Additionally, baseball conveniently did not have a policy for punishing those who took steroids until late 2003/early 2004. To have a policy would have been to admit to the problem. Bud Selig, that Inspector Clouseau of a commissioner, turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to it all.
Since then, the public opinion and the DEA have turned against the use of steroids. Fans now boo players who are in the "amorphous cloud," and rightfully so. Baseball punishes those who test positive the first time by suspending them for 50 games, a greater percentage of their season than the four games an NFL player would lose. No longer do steroids improve performance; they tarnish a legacy. Those who use steroids or are suspected of using steroids will face their punishment by not getting their ticket to Cooperstown punched.
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Chris McKay is a sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering.
