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By Keith Dobkowski, MLB News Writer
December 4, 2004
BALCO: Victor Conte's Interview with 20/20's Martin Bashir
A cheating culture has always existed in Baseball. And the shock
over the BALCO steroid scandal should be redirected as a shock
over our shock. Baseball has fooled us before and certainly will
fool us again.
One look at baseball’s greatest players and you will find
cheating. The list now includes Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and
Gary Sheffield. They join the likes of Ty Cobb, Pete Rose,
Shoeless Joe Jackson, Babe Ruth, Rollie Fingers, Gaylord Perry,
Willie Mays, 1919 White Sox, 1970s Pirates, Hank Aaron, Sammy
Sosa, Mark McGuire, Jose Canseco, Ken Caminiti, George Brett,
and dozens of others.
The cheating includes hall of fame players and champion teams.
It is done for advantage, giving the player or team any possible
leg up on the competition.
Whether it is an MVP injecting a steroid as Canseco, Caminiti and
now Giambi have admitted...
Or scuffing or spitting on a ball as hall of fame players Perry and
Fingers did…
Or corking a bat like homerun sluggers Sosa and Ruth…
Using too much pine tar like 3,000 career hits George Brett…
Taking Andro and hitting 70 homeruns in a season as Mark
McGuire did…
Using Cocaine before games like the 1970s Pittsburgh Pirates…
Throwing a World Series like the 1919 White Sox and Shoeless
Joe Jackson…
Betting on Baseball like Pete Rose…
Using amphetamines for energy like Mays and Aaron did…
Or using ‘the cream’ and ‘the clear’ as Bonds and Sheffield may
have…
Many of the stories we have heard such as Ty Cobb sharpening
his cleats to injure other players while stealing a base. Or Tim
Raines sliding in certain manner to avoid breaking the vile of
cocaine he kept in his pocket for a mid-game energy boost have
become a part of baseball lore.
In a way we welcome the cheating. We overlooked Andro in the
slugging summer of 1998 when McGuire and Sosa took on the
homerun record. We overlooked Jose Lima throwing batting
practice balls during a game to Sosa in the last weeks of the ‘98
season. Lima and therefore Sosa cheated and we did not care.
We celebrated the long ball.
Furthermore there is hypocrisy. It praises Curt Schillling’s bravery
in game six against the Yankees, yet turns around and places the
tainting of the game upon Giambi’s shoulders. Both players used
performance enhancers. A pain killing injection allowed Schilling
to pitch and another injection allowed Giambi to hit. Where is the
thick red line?
Players have always used performance enhancers to gain a
benefit. It is not to dismiss the BALCO mess, but to realize that
baseball welcomes a cheating culture and knows it will survive.
To properly judge BALCO and the players it is more important to
put everything in context.
Is it just one player receiving a benefit, or is it a benefit
bestowed on the entire league. That leads us to declare that
BALCO, while wrong, is a minor infraction when looking at the
history of the game.
When judging infractions we must look at the game and the
effects of the infraction. A corked bat and a spitball both give the
player using it a huge advantage against their opponents. The
player who cheats is the one who benefits. And unless everyone
spits or corks there is not an even field.
In comparison, today we are in a juiced era where most players
are using some form of performance enhancer. Due the
widespread use the field becomes level. And placed in context,
Ruth and Aaron never faced pitchers who were on performance
enhancers and the juice, as Bonds and today’s stars have.
Bonds’ numbers therefore become legitimate.
The biggest infraction that baseball has seen is gambling.
Gambling affects the roots of the game. How it is called, how it is
managed and how much effort a players gives? The Chicago
White Sox of 1919 and Pete Rose took advantage for their own
financial benefit and placed the basis of the game at risk. A risk
not seen by juice, spit or cork…
Shockingly most Americans think Pete Rose should be reinstated,
put in the hall of fame and even allowed to manage again. Yet
Rose may be the biggest cheater of them all. Rose put the
integrity of the game on the line as he managed and bet on
baseball at the same time. Yet we forgive and act with shock
that he is not in the hall.
As the BALCO scandal continues and looks to do so for the next
year or two, newscasters, especially those unwise to baseball
like 20/20’s Martin Bashir, will look to profit as well off the BALCO
story. Baseball fans understand that cheating has long been
part of the game. From Ruth to Rose to Bonds to whoever is
next, cheating will exist in baseball.
BALCO: Victor Conte's Interview with 20/20's Martin Bashir
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