Have Steroids Ruined Baseball?

For much of the decade, steroids have been the most common topic of discussion in regards to the sport of baseball. Whenever a new player gets added into the record books, instead of discussing the milestone for the game of baseball, we discuss whether or not steroids have affected the validity of the record. No longer are fans concerned with short left fields or "juiced" baseballs. Today's fans are concerned with the record books being tainted by the use of performance enhancing drugs such as steroids.

Many fans say that there problems with steroids in baseball have more to do with the players lying than they do with the actual usage of the drugs, but that is just a smokescreen. The fact of the matter is that baseball players are paid based upon their performance, not their ethics.

Steroids in baseball upset fans because they taint performance. At the end of the day, we were more forgiving of guys like Doc Gooden and Steve Howe when they came back to the game from substance abuse problems than we were of Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez after we learned of their alleged steroid use. This is because we are not upset that are heroes are not perfect; we are disappointed that the sanctity of the game of baseball has been compromised. We are upset that baseball icons such as Mickey Mantle, Hank Aaron, and Joe DiMaggio are being knocked out of the record books by alleged steroid-using cheaters such as Barry Bonds and Mark McGuire.

Call me a baseball purist, but I believe that a young man has the right to fairly chase his dream of playing in a Major League Baseball All-Star Game without risking the jaundice, cancer, or heart-problems that are associated with performance enhancing drugs such as steroids. One may have to wonder if players such as Gary Carter and Paul O'Neil would have had notable baseball careers had they played in today's steroid-filled era of baseball.

This afternoon, while speaking with Andy Gresh of Mad Dog Radio on Sirius Satellite Radio, I was reminded that steroids cannot enhance one's ability to take a round bat and make it meet a round baseball that is traveling at 100 miles per hour and place it where desired. While I agree with Andy on that point, I believe that like many other fans, he is failing to acknowledge that steroids may help one hit that same baseball forty feet further. That's why hitting fifteen to twenty homeruns in a season is no longer considered the solid baseball performance that it was prior to the steroid era.

Baseball fans believe that the game can survive anything, including steroids, but I beg to differ. In the 1930's, the three biggest sports in America were baseball, horse racing, and boxing. Horse racing and boxing took a giant step back after gambling lead to fixed competitions that tainted the competition. At one point, baseball understood this, and that's why Pete Rose was banned from baseball for life. In today's union-powered game, Major League Baseball appears to have been forced to forget about what legitimate competition means to fans. Although steroid use may not be "fixing" games, steroid use is tainting the game by creating a situation where we are forcing mere mortals to compete against genetically-engineered, steroid-enhanced baseball machines.

The game of baseball is at a crossroads as far as steroids are concerned. Baseball can either right it's path like the NFL did in the 1980's, or it can continue to allow the situation to get out of control, let baseball become a freak show like professional wrestling (which while entertaining is not legitimate competition), and lose its credibility.

It is time for the Player's Association to realize that what they think is siding with the players of today may ruin the game for the players of tomorrow. The Player's Association needs to side with the game of baseball in order to preserve baseball for the players of tomorrow. Steroids have not ruined baseball yet, but it this ship is not put back on course soon, steroids will taint the game of baseball forever