Well it wouldn’t be a sports blog without a discussion of the steroid issue in sports, and more notably in baseball. With the upcoming release of Selena Roberts’ book about Alex Rodriguez’s steroid use, and Manny Ramirez, once thought of as the best pure hitter in all of baseball, being suspended for “a drug violation,” this issue has once again come to the forefront.
Over the course of the last decade the best players in baseball from this era have all been found to have used illegal steroids; Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Alex Rodriguez, Mark McGuire, Sammy Sosa, Miguel Tejada, Gregg Zaun and Jose Canseco. There are many opinions on this issue and all have been exhaustively expressed by both the media and fans of baseball alike. Some don’t mind the use of steroids while others are steadfastly against the use of steroids in sports. Everyone has their opinions regarding this matter, and I will not rehash the same old arguments against steroid use that have been discussed over and over again recently. I will say however that I am totally against steroids in sports, anyone caught using should be banned from the game for life, and anyone who has been found to have used steroids should be banned from the hall of fame and kicked out if they are already in. What this article will discuss however is some of the more intriguing and obscure residual issues of steroid use in baseball.
The first issue I would like to discuss is the perverse positive outcome to teams associated with suspensions. Steve Philips on the ESPN Sunday Night Baseball broadcast just raised an interesting point. He said that the L.A. Dodgers could benefit from this suspension because they will not have to pay Manny Ramirez 7.7 million dollars over the course of his suspension which could free up money for them to get another pitcher they may need. To me this seems completely ridiculous. If a person is suspended and their contract is withheld, the suspending team should be barred from using that money to benefit their team. Now I realize losing Manny for 50 games is a somewhat major penalty to pay, but nothing positive should result of this to the team an offending player plays for. If the Dodgers had to pay that $7.7 million to the league it would sure make teams next year think twice about offering up a big contract to Ramirez.
The second issue, which falls into the category of “exhaustively discussed,” is the nature of a suspension or penalty incurred to an offending player or team, but one that is quite interesting and unique. Jim Kelly on the Fan 590’s Prime Time Sports mentioned this interesting idea for a suspension last week. At the time of suspension, the team of the offending player must forfeit every game that was won with said player in the lineup, or at least forfeit every game where the offending player played a role in the victory, whether it be an RBI or a run scored. This is an extremely outrageous idea, one that would never be implemented, but it is something to ponder and to me a very good idea.
Another issue I’ve often wondered about is why none of these players have been legally punished. Steroids are an illegal drug classified as a schedule III substance under the Steroid Control Act of 1990, with possession consisting of a felony offense punishable by a minimum fine of $1000 and up to 1 year in prison with a second offense resulting in a minimum of 15 days in jail and up to 2 years in jail, and a minimum fine of $2,500. If the U.S. Congress truly cared about curbing this problem, as they tried to demonstrate last year by holding a series of “hearings,” they would raid MLB clubhouses and federally prosecute offending players.
As it stands, baseball is content to allow players to continue to use steroids, and feign an interest in caring about this matter by handing out miniscule 50 game suspensions, but until some stiffer penalties are implemented this problem will persist, albeit at a lower rate. This latest incident involving Manny Ramirez demonstrates that players are not concerned about their reputations or being punished. If a player feels like he can potentially get away with it and earn a huge contract they will continue to try to use steroids. I bet if you asked Manny Ramirez if he regrets using, if he were to give a truthful answer, he would say absolutely not. His steroid use has made him one of the best players in the league and has allowed him to earn over $160 million in his career. I don’t think he’s crying about losing $7.7 million of that.
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