Writing the Pine

Former co-golden boy of the summer of ‘98, Sammy Sosa allegedly tested positive for a PED in 2003.  He is one of the 104 that tested positive that year along with current Yankees 3B, Alex Rodriguez.  (His inclusion on the list was leaked earlier this year in spring training.)

Aside from hurting his chances for any possible chance at entering the Baseball Hall of Fame, he is now exposed to possible charges of perjury if Congress decides to pursue it.  Sosa testified under oath he had never taken performance enhancing drugs in any way,shape, or form:

“To be clear, I have never taken illegal performance-enhancing drugs”

- Sammy Sosa, before Congress in 2005

Unfortunately, there are tests that refute those statements, Sammy.  Even though there were clouds of suspicion around Sosa, Mark McGwire, and other sluggers from the PED-era of baseball, it’s always another stomach punch to Major League Baseball when confirmation of those suspicions come out.

It’s just another black eye in a string of negative publicity for baseball.  At this point as a fan and quarter century baseball historian, it’s time to accept that fact that players cheated in this era and there’s nothing we can do about it.  We can however accept that fact that the blames go around to the players, the media, Major League Baseball, the Player’s Association, the owners, and even the fans.

Face it, we all wanted to get over the 1994 strike and who doesn’t enjoy 73 homer seasons.  The fans just kept cheering.  The media looked the other way.  (Recently, a sports columnist for a large publication spoke of his regret of not confronting the juicers in baseball by saying, “You’re big.  You have zits on your back.  And you have no testicles . . . “) Owners loved that fans were coming back in droves in a multi-billion dollar industry.  And Bud Selig and the rest of the MLB did nothing otherwise.

So we need to all just accept blame and move on and prevent future generations of players from cheating.  Put a wing in Baseball’s HoF for the mid-90’s to early 2000’s and let the record show that their career achievements, right or wrong, may come under the cloud of suspicion that comes from competing during this time period.

Every name will eventually be released from that list of 104 – a slow water-boarding for baseball’s rich tradition and heritage.

Let’s just move on.

This story broke on the nytimes.com website by Michael S. Schmidt and some information was obtained from that report.