In 1996, Alex Rodriguez tossed up an unprecedented rookie season. His .358 batting average led the league while popping 36 homers and 123 RBI. He also led the league in runs (141), doubles (54), and total bases (379). Factor in some great defense and you could argue not only that he's never been better, but that this was the greatest season ever for a shortstop. How do you follow this up? Well you can't really, but you can go on to be the best player of your generation and such a natural talent even accusations from a (sadly) credible source in Jose Canseco were laughed off despite the fact that his books have been eerily accurate to this point. When A-Rod's home run totals spiked to near 60 in '01-'02, people credited it to his natural improvement and the bandbox nature of his home stadium. When he got noticeably bigger after his trade to the Yankees, it was attributed to getting older, or adjusting to his new position of third base. All these red flags and even the biggest A-Rod hater wouldn't think to pin performance enhancing drugs on him.
What makes Rodriguez different from Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, and other all-time greats who have recently fallen under the cloud of steroids? He represented the purity of the game. An immense talent with an unquenchable need to succeed, and a willingness to work as hard as was necessary. This was the ideal that would topple the manufactured stats of the steroid era. Sure all the records were tainted, but A-Rod would heroically raise the bar in a matter of years. Now, he'll still be breaking all the records in the next decade, but it will only perpetuate the stigma of cheating that rots the heart of America's Pastime like a cancer. We won't be seeing another player like Alex Rodriguez for a long, long time. What a shame that it will be good riddance.
5 comments:
A-Fraud deserves our universal and unqualified condemnation. The depth of his deception and the conditions surrounding it are far from being fully understood. Enter allegations involving notification from a Union official of an upcoming drug test during his first year as a Yankee; does this mean that this Union official had a reasonable suspicion that A-Fraud was still using performance enhancing drugs? Additionally, statements A-Fraud made during his supposedly cleansing confessional with Peter Gammons have come under scrutiny. Police departments from New York, New Jersey and Florida are refuting his claims that the reporter who released the initial story of his positive test broke into his house when his children were sleeping. Why does he feel the need to stretch the truth anymore? While there will always be competing versions of the truth, this does not mean that there isn't an absolute truth. In this case, I am convinced that the absolute truth is consistent with the other disappointments involving baseball's great talents of our generation. Betrayal is always a little more profound when it is generated from the failure of someone we know can accomplish greatness. Shame on you A-Fraud.
I'm glad baseball has adopted some form of testing to preserve the game going forward, and I actually don't care too much about the "pre-testing" years, so long as the player is honest about it, (Andy Pettitte).
My new phrase,
"If you did it, just admit it"
I understand preserving the wholeness and such of the game, and I'll all for that, but baseball lost that "wholeness" factor years ago and will never have it back.
Agents, greed, Opt-out clauses, getting paid $10,000+ per pitch, not running out fly balls, disrespecting club-house attendants, corked bats, pine-tar, only loyalty to cash and not the team or fans, and steroids have all contributed to dissolving what was once so pure about baseball.
Gone are the days when baseball was a sport, a hobby, and an American past time. Gone are the days when baseball was a game.
Today baseball, to MOST, is a business, and in business everyone does everything they possibly can to make the most money they can. In business if you aren't using what that competing pitcher or hitter is using than you are losing some of your business (AKA DOLLAR BILLS).
In business, like a salesman's sales, a guy who "shows up" to work for 2,632 games straight means nothing if his WARP, VORP, and BAIP aren't high enough.
How can I blame guys for being businessmen when baseball has become a business.
Sure baseball still has a great many purists out there. I love baseball purists.
The fans who watch the game for the game. People who loyally root for their home team because they always have. People who value that pitcher who's 100+ pitches in giving everything he has for his fans, his team, and his love of the game.
Too bad the purists got bought out by the businessmen.
Paulo- Some good points. I think that A-Rod's actions go beyond businessmen being businessmen. I don't disagree that baseball has become a business. No further effort is needed than to see the designation of "Professional" baseball. However, as with every profession, there are professional rules of conduct and laws that underscore how one should act within the profession. While steroids were not illegal within the sport of baseball, the sale, purchase, possession and/or use of steroids is/are a federal crime. If one were to look simply at the standards set by the professional players themselves, perhaps this would not be seen as such a severe breach of the code of conduct. However, baseball, like most other professions, is subject the public's moral conception of the actions by those within it. In some ways steroid use is like no asset verified loans. While there were no professional rules governing either, it is clear that both represent severe breaches in the ethical codes of the profession. Businessmen are held to the professional and legal rules associated with their trade. A-Rod violated both the federal rule of law and the professional code of conduct of his sport. He, and the other steroid users, are the Ebbers (Worldcom), Skilling (Enron), or Madoff (Ponzi Scheme) of their industry. These "businessmen" will be remembered not for their effort and ingenuity, but as examples of how easily great men can be corrupted by sloth and greed.
I like your points Mean Gene, but why stop at sloth & greed?
Really there's an argument to be made that all 7 deadly sins have been committed.
The 7 deadly sins of baseball, with special focus on A-Rod, because he’d want to be the star of my post anyways.
1.) Sloth - Someone (A-Rod) who failed to realize and utilize his natural talents and gifts appropriately.
2.) Gluttony - The blatant over indulgences of A-Rod and so many others isn't even arguable.
3.) Lust - Dante's criterion was "excessive love of others," which therefore rendered love and devotion to God as secondary.
= A-Rod's love for himself
4.) Greed - like lust and gluttony, a sin of excess. However, greed is applied to the acquisition of wealth and other greedy behaviors including
disloyalty, deliberate betrayal, manipulation of authority especially for personal gain, are all actions inspired by greed.
To me this describes many in baseball today pretty darn well: A-Rod, Bonds, McGwire, 103 other unknown positive PED test subjects, the Scott Boras types, the Bud Selig's 18mm salary, and gazillionaire owners, to a tee.
5.) Wrath - These feelings can manifest as vehement denial of the truth, both to others and in the form of self-denial, impatience... See "steroid user denial" or one's impatience by taking shortcuts to success.
6.) Envy - Those who commit the sin of envy resent that another person has something they perceive themselves as lacking, hmmm
A-Rod wanting fame and attention, Bonds wanting Hank's record, McGwire wanting Maris' record...
7.) Pride - Considered the original and most serious of the seven deadly sins, and indeed the ultimate source from which the others arise. It is identified as a desire to be more important or attractive than others, and excessive love of self... sound like a personal ad for A-Rod or what?
There you have it, the 7 deadly sins of baseball.
I would like to credit Wiki in helping me define the 7 deadly sins.
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