The Triangle

Issue date: 2/5/10 Section: Ed-Op

Media Credit: Chuck Kennedy MCT Campus Mark McGwire appears at a hearing by the House Government Affairs Committee looking into the use of steroids among major league baseball players.

The start of spring training for the new baseball season is less than two weeks off, leaving only the minor distraction of the Super Bowl remaining on the winter sports schedule. So with what Commissioner Bud Selig has told us, the steroid era is behind us. Of course it isn't, as Bud, its chief enabler, should know better than anyone. Two of baseball's biggest names, Alex Rodriguez and Manny Ramirez, were outed only last season, Ramirez for current use. The 2004 list of steroid abusers remains a state secret but a handful of names has leaked thus far. There is no test at all for human growth hormone, now the drug of choice for cheaters. Performance enhancing drugs will be with us for a good while yet, if they have not yet become a permanent part of the fabric of the game - that is to say, the cancer that will turn the most beautifully designed and perfectly balanced of all team sports into just another gladiatorial sideshow.

There is plenty of blame to go around for this, including that of the sporting public. The Lords of Baseball remain dug into their 'hear no evil, see no evil 'mode of response. The Players' Union does what unions generally do, which is to protect the economic interests of its members. Fans can vote with their feet, but giving up on the game is a sad option.

There is, however, one lever that can be turned: baseball's Hall of Fame. The Hall, set up like the All-Star Game as a publicity gimmick in the cash-starved 1930s, is now the repository of the game's integrity. Like all institutions, it's had its ups and downs. However, it exists to enshrine excellence, and to honor baseball's genuine heroes. It's not a place for cheaters. Maybe the cheaters can't be wholly kept out of the game itself, but they can be kept out of the Hall, and that could have a powerful deterrent effect.

The Hall can't really duck the issue in any case, because the stars of the steroid generation are already knocking at its gates, and some have already passed through. Andre Dawson, Rickey Henderson, Kirby Puckett, Ryne Sandberg, and Cal Ripken are only some among those whose accomplishments we are asked to take on faith.

Continued...

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