Sports Arena
Asterisks
Applying the Aaron Rule to Hall of Fame pretenders.
News was made last week in the sleepy village of Cooperstown, N.Y., at the annual induction ceremonies at the Baseball Hall of Fame. As the former stars of the game made the interview rounds afterwards, Hammerin’ Hank Aaron — who was introduced as “everyone’s home run champion” — said that he would welcome players who used performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) into the Hall, only if their plaques had asterisks reading “they did it, but here’s why.”
Other Hall of Famers were not so gracious, like Goose Gossage who issued this threat to dopers who hope to breach Cooperstown’s hallowed threshold: “I think if you cheated, you shouldn’t be allowed in. I wouldn’t come.” No doubt about it; the issue of what to do with the accomplishments of steroid-era players has been a red hot topic in baseball.
With the revelation that Boston slugger David Ortiz may have tested positive for PEDs, sports-radio hotlines have been abuzz with various and sundry cries of cheating, especially from Yankee fans. Little right have they to accuse though, since some of the brightest stars in the Bronx have also come under the shadow of drugging doubt. As a result, many are clamoring for the total release of the infamous list of players who tested positive for PEDs in 2003.
It seems to me that this whole business has gotten out of hand. Since the first ball was pitched, players have been trying to get an edge; that physical or sometimes psychological advantage that would enable them to raise their game to the next level. And while anabolic steroids are currently banned from over-the-counter sale, this was not always so. I’m not saying that taking PEDs is right or wrong; but the fact is, that most of them were not illegal when they were used by some of the players whose records are in dispute.
And, if you were to assume that MLB bans these drugs for the same reason as the FDA — because they are potentially hazardous to one’s health — then it really has less to do with “cheating” than it does with the nanny state’s overreaching desire to protect us from ourselves. One wonders what effect modern puritanical views on alcohol and tobacco consumption would have had on the careers of baseball’s hard-drinking, hard-living stars of the past.
Yet, what bothers most fans is that steroids have given their users unfair advantages over those in the past. But even if we could somehow retro-test some of those suspects who are now out of the game, what can we say about the many other scientific and medical advances that have contributed to the conditioning of the modern ballplayers?
Is it unfair that today’s pitchers can return from serious arm injury fairly quickly with “Tommy John” surgery? What about cortisone shots? Are they not also steroids which are dangerous when improperly used? You can go on and on wondering how vitamin supplements, health regimens, laser surgery and other modern medical procedures might have improved the length and quality of the careers of old-timers.
Add to these the asterisk controversy about the 154-game schedule versus the 162-game slate, and mix in the age-old baseball arguments about changing strike zones, league expansion, pitching inside and the rest, and we are left with that which makes the game great; its enduring arguability. As we have seen above, even the game’s giants can’t agree on how to treat the records of alleged modern miscreants.
But one rule has been sacrosanct in baseball for nearly a century, ever since Judge Kenesaw “Mountain” Landis brought the gavel down on some of the greatest players of their time: gambling in baseball will not be tolerated. Since that day, all sorts of crimes and criminals have been visited on the game, but gamblers have been especially punished because their iniquities are not only of a personal nature; they are an attack on the game itself.
And so it is interesting that some self-avowed baseball purists who think that steroids have polluted the integrity of baseball records, have no trouble trumpeting the case for Pete Rose — confirmed baseball gambler and ultimate compiler — making it into the Hall. The same Mr. Rose who, as player-manager for the Reds, hung around far past his prime to “break” Ty Cobb’s all-time hit record; just for the sake of breaking it.
Who knows: maybe Rose may one day get his wish to get into Cooperstown. But his plaque may have a little asterisk along the lines of Mr. Aaron’s wishes; “he did it, but here’s why.”
Letter to the Editor View all comments (32) | Leave a comment
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Darin| 8.5.09 @ 6:47AM
Not mentioned is the fact that the referenced tests in 2003 were supposed to remain anonymous. Who leaken the info? Why isn't this being investigated?
JP| 8.5.09 @ 7:45AM
Darin,
You are correct in that the test or survey was done under the assumption that the results were to remain sealed (I'm sure the player's union demanded this pre-condition). If I am not mistkaen, reporters and federal prosecutors petitioned the courts to unseal the records. There is currently a grand jury investigation concerning one Roger Clemmons, and allegations of perjury. The Mitchell Report had some access to the results as well. That report was made public and got the ball rolling. Once some names were released, the clamour for more ensued.
I do disagree with Lisa Fabrizo. My main beef is against Bud Selig. He, his office, and the owners and the Player's Union tolerated for a decade the use of PEDs. Selig, the former owner of the Brewers, had one thing in mind during the 1990s: make MLB profitable again. In this regard, he has to be considered the most effective Commisioners of all time. The 1994 strike was a disaster for the game. But instead of working on long term solutions, Selig et als turned to gimmicks (The All Star game as deciding home field advantage for the World Series), ball park expansion (in order to attract wealthy fans), and the "juice" (PEDs). Selig, the owners, and the union knew what was going on, as did the Press. But the home-run competition between players like McGuire, Sosa, and later Bonds brought in big bucks and created super stars. It was all a huge cynical ploy to cash in. In my opinion, even the Umps tolerated this, as strike zones became horribly erratic, and aces like Greg Maddox saw thier ERAs sky rocket from the mid 2s to the mid and upper 3s. In a period of just one or 2 years, the umps refused to give the pitchers the corners; thus forcing them to throw over the heart of the plate. Juiced batters had a field day. By 2002, the word was out -breaking balls were in, fast balls were out. Before you knew it, even pitchers were being juiced.
Today, MLB just ignores the juiced era. MLB has evolved into an arena of highly paid specialists who under achieve. The game has become quite boring. The small, wierd shaped parks encourage the long ball (See Minute Maid Park, where the left field wall is only 380 feet, but center field is a deep upslope). All managers are now followers of Earl Weaver's dictum of "playing for the big inning". The game is over-managed, one dimensional, and quite perdictable.
There is one thing that has come out. The big market, big bucks teams have not been winning the World Series as often as they use to. Occaisonally teams like Philly, Tampa Bay, and St Louis make a run. Free agency has given owners the ability to buy talent on the short term. The Marlins and Diamondbacks each won World Series in this manner.
McBain| 8.5.09 @ 7:56AM
Not sure why you pick on Pete Rose for "hung around far past his prime to "break" Ty Cobb's all-time hit record; just for the sake of breaking it." (also, why is break in parenthesis?). The year he broke Cobb's record he batted 264 but had 86 walks in 405 at bats. He only had more walks 4 times in his 23 year career, when nearly half of those years he had over 650 at bats. This is because pitchers were pitching away from him and not giving him anything to hit because he was nearing the record. Compare that to the year Aaron broke Ruth's record, he had 20 homers and hit 268, followed by 12 and 234 and finally 10 and 229 in 1976. One could argue that Aaron was more passed his prime than Rose, but the larger point is that it is the rare player that retires after an All Star year, most are far below their career averages at the end of their careers, that is why they wind up leaving. To single out Rose shows the authors lack of research or an anti Rose bias.
Andrew B| 8.5.09 @ 8:38AM
The controversy over performance enhancing drugs in sports is of little interest to me, as I am no longer a fan of any professional teams. I know that Ty Cobb was a racist and Babe Ruth was a philandering drunk, but I could still love the game. Not anymore.
My feeling on drugs and other performance enhancers is this--ban them totally, or lift any and all restrictions. This silly midpoint we are in, where top players can do anything short of murder as long as the fans keep coming, yet they get a stern talking-to, is ridiculous. Either players should be clean, or let them be dirty to their hearts' content. Let them go whole hog--steroids, amphetamines, corked bats, spitballs. Who knows, it might boost attendance.
Sean| 8.5.09 @ 8:47AM
I have no problem with people taking steroids to improve their performance. Ballplayers were taking amphetamines since at least the 1950s. Lets put some asterisks by their names too.
Eric Damon| 8.5.09 @ 9:55AM
As a casual baseball fan, all the talk about PEDs don't really bother me that much. I can't say that everyone did it, but I can be pretty sure that more than the 103 people on the supposedly anonymous list were involved. Whay irks me about this is how many of the former players act as though taking HgH, testosterone, or anabolic steroids is the worst thing ever, but never have a thing to say about the prevalence of amphetimines during their eras. I know that greenies don't make you stronger, but they do make you more alert, better able to focuse, and give players a needed energy boost in the dog days of summer.
No era in baseball is spotless and "the good old days" are never as good in reality as they are in our minds. The idea that using PEDs now is any worse than Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Lou Gherig, and Tris Speaker playing in a strictly segregated league or players taking greenies like they were M&M's is crazy. History will judge the players known or suspected of using PEDs when their time comes, so we can skip having old timers trying to do it for us.
Cpm| 8.5.09 @ 10:02AM
I'm not worried that steroids give players advantage over those in the past, it bugs me that steroids give players a decided advantage over their non-user peers. That's cheating.
Glen Leinbach| 8.5.09 @ 11:44AM
Well written article put 'em all in and use the asterisk.
A minor error: "Mountain" was not a nickname for Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis. His name comes from a variant spelling of Kennesaw Mountain in Georgia, where his father, a physician, fought on the Union side and lost a leg during the American Civil War at the Battle of Kennesaw Mountain. Kind of a cool middle name, don't you think?
Dodger Charlie| 8.5.09 @ 12:56PM
Thank you Cpm. The BIG DIFFERENCE with steroid use and the other examples cited is that the clean players are penalized and hurt both in the record book and in the pocket book!
Eric Paddon| 8.5.09 @ 2:45PM
Ortiz "may have"? There's no qualification needed here, he DID use them. And Yankee fans like me, who had to endure endless taunts and cackles of "Tainted Championships!" from Red Sox fans after the revelations of the now revealed to be worthless Mitchell Report (he, the Red Sox Board member with the giant conflict of interest who seemingly went out of his way to whitewash all connections between his team and steroids) are not "accusing" anyone, we're just enjoying a moment's satisfaction that every aspect of the previously beatified 2004 Championship can now be called into question even more than the 96-00 Yankee run could have been.
PCP Smoker| 8.5.09 @ 5:35PM
They should definitely let the dopers in. As a matter of fact the game should embrace dope as much as it has embraced big salaries, ESPN, and the thug attitude.
Bottom line, who would you rather watch after paying a gazillion bucks for prime seats: the old Barry Bonds (small head) or the dopped Barry Bonds (large head)?
Dave Rodolff| 8.5.09 @ 7:20PM
I don’t have a problem with professional athletes taking performance enhancing drugs.
For as much money as they make, they should be as juiced as possible. I want players that can hit 500 ft. home runs on a regular basis.
As far as high school through college, no drugs should be allowed. But as soon as they go professional, the sky’s the limit.
David Govett| 8.6.09 @ 3:56AM
Loved baseball when I was a kid. Now I'm more interested in asterisks. Baseball's no longer the same game.
james wilson| 8.6.09 @ 10:28AM
Since over half the players used, it is automatic that this factor will not disqualify by itself from the HOF. Many of the players who uses, BTW, were marginal players just hanging on.
Pedro is going to the Hall. Period. So, therefore, are others.
There is not one Dominican who did not use. Major or minor league.
Conseco knew what he was talking about. What a great way to hide the truth.
somnolence| 8.6.09 @ 7:05PM
Baseball has not been the same game it once was for a very long time now. Aside from steroid use, most starting pitchers fail to pitch a complete game these days, unlike Koufax, Gibson, Marichal and Lolich, and there actually used to be good-hitting pitchers, like Wes Farrell, Red Ruffing, Warren Spahn, Bob Gibson and Don Drysdale. The designated hitter has also ruined the game from my standpoint.
Mark Tinder| 8.7.09 @ 2:01AM
Of course, we should remember that baseball has never bothered to address the ultimate "asterisk:" how so many of those illustrious careers that took place during the time of the "Gentleman's Agreement" might never have happened at all, or might have been a bit less illustrious. We can never know, of course, just how many homers Ruth would have had, how many hits Cobb would have had, etc. if they had had to play against ALL of the best players, and not just the white ones.
Pingback| 8.7.09 @ 2:58PM
Indicative of Socialism | The Secret To Wellness.com links to this page. Here’s an excerpt:
Richard Baker| 8.7.09 @ 7:44PM
Ah, druggies. To justify being stoned all the time we must laud the steroid generation in sports, especially baseball. My suggestion is this: Legalize ALL drugs, now. Within 18 months we'll have so many overdoses and deaths that we'll be rid of these weak sisters, finally. What a stimulus to the funeral industry. I'm with Hank Aaron!
Shumaher| 3.29.10 @ 10:12AM
Kajaanilainen, pankissa työskentelevä Raila Enroth sai ensimmäiset silmälasinsa jo 5-vuotiaana. 11 vuoden iästä lähtien hän oli omien sanojensa mukaan ilman erittäin voimakkaita (-15.O) silmälaseja lähes "lepakkona". Marraskuussa 2002 hänen elämänsä muuttui kerralla. Raila Enrothille tehtiin Eiran sairaalassa ICL-silmäleikkaus, jossa molempiin silmiin asennettiin silmänsisäiset piilolinssit.