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By: Keith Dobkowski, MLB News Writer
January 13, 2005
Major League Baseball and the Baseball Players’ Union came to
an agreement early today on a new steroid policy. There are two
major changes from the last year’s policy. First, the penalty
attached to the first time a player is caught is substantially
harsher. And second, instead of one test per year to occur
during the season, there will be multiple random tests given
throughout the year.
Under the previous policy a player that tested positive for
steroids for the first time was forced to take a rehab course. The
player’s test results and name remained confidential. The new
agreement reached today states that a positive first test results
in a mandatory suspension without pay for up to ten days. While
the penalty may be set for just one day, the player will be
named. After four positive tests the player will be suspended for
one year, as opposed to the fifth time required by the previous
agreement.
While many are calling this new policy soft, especially in light of
track and fields tough performance enhancing policy that requires
a two-year ban after a first positive test and a lifetime ban after a
second, it gets the job done. Now a look at how the policy
prevails, where it fails and how the players can put an end to the
juiced era…
HOW THE POLICY PREVAILS
Fixing the problem in baseball does not require much and the
new policy does enough to fix the steroid problem. For now that
is. Cheaters will be named and will be blacklisted. There will no
longer be a reason to take someone’s word for it as we all saw
what Jason Giambi’s word was worth when his grand jury
testimony was leaked.
The blacklisting will come in many forms. First the media will
crucify any player found guilty of cheating. The player will be
vilified in the newspapers, on the radio and on television. The
player’s stats will be reduced in the minds of everyone.
Second, the fans will be relentless towards those who cheat. As
the media crucifies, the fans will be the one vocalizing it to the
players. Imagine how much harder it will be for a Giambi to play
at Fenway this season. It will surely be nine innings of torment.
The same will hold true in every visitor’s ballpark and even truer
in a rival’s ballpark. If Barry Bonds tests positive imagine the
abuse he will face in both Pittsburgh and Los Angeles.
Third, teammates will abandon those who do not play by the
rules. There will always be respect for the better player, but that
only remains true when the field is level. Will an opposing pitcher
be more likely to throw at a cheating batter?
And fourth, the Team’s Management will be affected by all three
above and create the ultimate blacklist. No team is going to want
a cheater on their squad. It will create problems in the dugout,
problems with the fans, problems with the media and therefore
problems with the sponsors.
Those four reasons all spell out why the new policy is enough
and as always here is WHERE IT FAILS.
The new policy fails on three accounts. First the policy will be
incredibly hard to run during the off-season because so many
players do not live in the United States. Around one-third of all
Major League Baseball players reside in another nation. Now
while Sidney Ponson may be moving up here for good, chances
are Ichiro is staying in Japan and Pedro Martinez will be in the
Dominican.
Second, the policy only includes steroids and not other
performance enhancers. Painkillers, which are used in all sports,
are not tested for and are actually given out by the teams. Look
no further than Curt Schilling who pitched so well against the
Yankees in game six with a torn tendon in his ankle. Without the
benefit of a painkiller, Schilling does not make the heroic start.
Talk about a performance enhancer. And amphetamines, which
have been a part of baseball’s dirty secret was never addressed.
While the past decade has been declared the juiced era,
amphetamines have been a major part of baseball for several
decades dating back to Willie Mays and Hank Aaron.
Third is changing face of cheating. The World Anti-Doping
Organization has always been a step or three behind the dope
makers. In fact the entire BALCO scandal would not have existed
but for a lazy athlete that left a syringe behind in their hotel
room. If the cheaters are always one step ahead of the testers,
Major League Baseball will never fully stop those who plan on
cheating.
END OF THE JUICED ERA
To help usher in the future and place the juiced era behind us will
simply take a big homerun year from one of the alleged users.
Many have pointed to no one hitting 50 or more homers last year,
specifically Barry Bonds. Yet Bonds has only hit more than 50
once in his career. To measure Bonds is to measure his homerun
average per at bat. Last season, while he did not hit 50, Bond
had his best season in three years by averaging a homerun
every 8.3 at bats. Yet the fans will want 50.
Bonds has always played his best ball when the pressure is
applied. And the pressure will never be higher than this season
with the new steroids policy in effect. Luckily Bonds will have a
bat behind him with Moises Alou and another runner on base
ahead of him with Omar Visquel. This should lead to more than
the 373 at bats Bonds had last season. If Bonds can reach 450
at bats, a feat he has not reached since Bonds hit 73 homeruns,
Bonds will surely hit more than 50 and end the juiced ball era
with the 50th shot. Remember, 52 homeruns to Hank Aaron and
53 for the record is motivation as well.
Furthermore, Bonds will benefit from the new anti-steroid policy.
While homerun numbers have been all the rage, miles per hour
on pitches increased during the juiced era as well. Last season,
the first year of testing, the average speed of a pitch dropped.
This year with the stricter rules the average is sure to drop
again. The question is how much easier will it be for Bonds, or
any other slugger, to turn on a fastball that moves 2 mph’s
slower.
The juiced era of baseball will always exist in the minds of the
fans. But like all other controversies it will fade from importance
in the same way we forgot about Ty Cobb beating up a
handicapped fan in the stand about 100 years before Ron Artest
followed his lead, in the way we forgot about Babe Ruth using
cork, Hank Aaron using amphetamines, Pete Rose gambling, and
Rolly Fingers scuffing a ball.
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