STAYING CLEAN

As many of you know, I have an extremely outspoken and opinionated position on the topic of steroids/performance enhancing drugs and Major League Baseball’s Hall of Fame. Steroids and the Hall of Fame combine to create a controversial (as controversial as sports issues are) issue that strikes close to home with me. Baseball has been one of my biggest passions since I was little and the Hall of Fame is like sacred ground to any baseball-lover… And I would like to keep that ground sacred.

I recently read an article, linked by USA Today, which outlined four reasons steroid users should be included in the Hall of Fame… The article, written by Ted Berg (@ogtedberg), was creatively titled “4 Reasons the Baseball Hall of Fame should include steroid users.” Strike one Ted. Spice up the title. Before Ted goes into describing his four reasons, he tries to quiet the outrage which I’m sure some readers had when reading the title (this is a polarizing issue when it comes to baseball fans).

I have already described that this issues hits close to home, but let me assure you that I have taken emotion out of reasoning for not wanting steroid users in the Hall of Fame.

And as for Ted’s four reasons… Imagine the Oakland Raiders’ defense dropping back in a zone against the Denver Broncos. Peyton drops back and picks it a part. Well sit back and get ready for me to find the soft spots and holes in Ted’s defense.

As mentioned, before Ted gets into his reasons he makes a few statements to try to quiet the rioters. In doing so, he opens up a few opportunities for me to describe fundamental parts of my argument. Ted believes Major League Baseball should eliminate the character clause in Hall of Fame voting. According to the official definition of the requirements, “Voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character and contributions to the team on which the player played.” Let me say this up front, I AM NOT QUESTIONING OR ATTACKING STEROID USERS CHARACTER. I do not automatically assume that every person who uses steroids is a miserable human being. We’ll get into why later.

Secondly, Ted accuses fans of being angry people who believe “Cooperstown has no room for cheaters.” Another major point in my argument, people who use steroids are not petty cheaters. They’re more than that.

Take two made up people: Anthony and Michael. Now, Anthony steals a Snickers bar from a local convenience store and gets caught. Michael robs a bank and steals a car, also gets caught. Is the punishment for Antony going to be the same as Michael’s punishment? NO!! Of course not! Anthony’s lute totals about $2.14 with tax while Michael is dealing with a felony. Steroid users are MASTER CHEATERS not just cheaters.

Consider those few points, Peyton calling a few audibles to run through that Oakland defense. Not it’s time to pick apart the zone…

Before I get in too deep with this argument, please feel free to read Ted’s article by clicking this link: http://ftw.usatoday.com/2013/12/baseball-hall-of-fame-steroids-bonds-clemens-piazza-bagwell/#sthash.H6AXi1z2.uxfs

Ted’s first reason: End the Witch Hunt

To be honest, there’s no real concise point Ted makes here. It’s more like an overarching topic, but I’ll highlight a few of his points. Ted says that Hall of Fame voting is a “murky mess of moral judgements, finger-pointing and baseless speculation.” To start I’ll repeat myself, I am not challenging steroid-users’ character (you’ll have to wait until the end for me to fully explain that… TEASER!). As far as “finger-pointing and baseless speculation”… click this link to see my response: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Yx0iKKi5xM

Baseless speculation!? Let’s take the Big 3 of steroid users: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Alex Rodriguez. All three have been PROVEN to have taken steroids. Bonds took the argument that he unknowingly took steroids… Really? I take decent care of myself and I would know if I was taking some kind of illegal substance. A professional athlete who probably has four dietitians with him every time he orders at a restaurant didn’t know he took steroids? Come on, bro (Bryce Harper voice). Keeping steroid users out of the Hall of Fame is hardly a witch hunt.

Ted goes on to say there’s no doubt there are some players who have not been caught using steroids but undoubtedly use performance enhancing drugs. What will we do when these players make it to the Hall of Fame? To fully respond to that, I will have to know what players he is talking about. So Ted, if you read this let me know.

But for sake of argument let’s say there is a player who definitely used but it was never fully proven, what do we do? In most situations, the terms would be guilty until proven innocent. That being said, remember that the Hall of Fame is sacred ground. The burden of proof is not on the voters. It’s on the potential inductee. In other words, if there is reasonable doubt or even substantial doubt that a player used steroids: HE AIN’T GETTIN’ IN! This is sacred ground people! I don’t want someone in sacred ground that “maybe didn’t take steroids.” I want people in there that definitely did not take steroids! It’s not a witch hunt. It’s an effort to keep a sacred place pure.

Looked off the safety, completed a pass for a 30-yard gain… One of Ted’s reasons down.

Reason two, steroid users should get into the HOF (according to Ted): It will save the Hall of Fame

In 2013, there was only one player inducted into the Hall of Fame: Deacon White. Never heard of him? There’s a reason. He played from 1870 to 1891. That was it. If that’s not shocking in itself, listen to some of the names that were left out of the Hall: Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmeiro. Sensing a trend? Steroid users. Now there were also names like Craig Biggio, Fred McGriff and Dale Murphy left out that I don’t agree with. BUT, as far as the users, bravo voting committee!

By the way, if you don’t know who votes for Hall of Fame inductees, it’s mostly sports writers who have been writing for at least ten years (I was wondering why my application kept getting denied).

In the article, Ted articulates that only one man getting voted into the Hall “can’t be good for the town or the museum.” Actually Ted, it’s a great thing! But that’s the fundamental difference in my and Ted’s views. But then Ted goes on in THE VERY NEXT SENTENCE to say, “The Hall of Fame is our greatest shrine to our best thing.” Finally, something we can agree on! Ted says greatest shrine to our best thing; I say sacred ground. So why would we want to allow something that has the potential to tarnish that sacred ground? (Letting users in the Hall).

Ted then says, “As fans who grew up loving the game in the late 1990s and early 2000s mature and start families, how many will rush to bring their kids to see a Hall of Fame that excludes their own childhood heroes?”

Let me break this down… first of all, I am the exact person that Ted is referencing. Grew up and fell in love with the game in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Secondly, Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa are hardly my childhood heroes (Doug Funny can never be dethroned in that category… he’s such a great guy). But even though their not my heroes, I get Ted’s point. And to answer his question, I WILL RUSH TO TAKE MY KIDS TO THE HALL OF FAME because it is still PURE. If roid-heads get in, then I won’t want to visit the Hall of Fame because it would be terrible to see sacred ground without its purity.

Ted’s next point is by far my favorite in his entire article. Hands down! Before I relay it to you, I want you to know that I’m really not a jerk. But if you come at me with some nonsensical ignorance, I’m going to toss back a heavy dose of sarcasm. I’m going to paste in the paragraph with Ted’s point. The capitalization is my doing for emphasis…

People sometimes ask, “How am I supposed to explain to my kid that Barry Bonds made the Hall of Fame even though he took steroids?” But that actually takes, like, 20 seconds: “The Hall of Fame honors great players, son, not great men. Barry Bonds might have been a jerk, and he was WILLING TO BREAK THE LAW TO BE BETTER AT BASEBALL. BUT MAN, COULD THAT GUY HIT.”

Put your sarcasm goggles on please… Ted! You’re absolutely right! I have been flipped on this issue. I don’t know what I was thinking. That’s exactly what I will tell my kid! So then, my kid will go on and think, “hey I’m going to go steal a bunch of money from a bunch of different people! Yeah, I’ll be breaking the law but I’ll be rich! And who knows maybe they’ll make a plaque for me if I get really good at stealing!” Thanks for that piece of philosophical gold Ted!

Okay, sarcasm goggles off… I’m not equating taking steroids to robbing banks but you get my point. Bonds cheated big time! Was he great at launching baseballs? Absolutely. But that doesn’t change the fact that he cheated to get as good as he was.

Quick aside… Barry Bonds is a unique case because I fully believe that without steroids, he still would have put up Hall of Fame numbers. Bonds could do it all as a scrawny kid. I do NOT believe he would have broken Hank Aaron’s record (I still call Hank the Homerun King) or put up the ridiculous numbers without steroids. I’ll get more in depth on that later.

Outside of keeping the Hall of Fame pure, think about the message that baseball (voters) will be sending by voting in PED-users. Do we really want to say that "cheating is wrong but it can still make you great?" That's the message we send if proven steroid users enter into the Hall. Or do we want to say, "You may have accomplished some great feats, but you cheated to the extreme, so you will not be recognized as one of our 'greatest'?" The world is materialistic enough already. Let's not continue the message that the end justifies the means. 

To get back to Ted’s point: saving the Hall of Fame. That’s exactly what I want to do, but by keeping sacred ground sacred and making sure steroids users don’t get in.

Raiders drop back in Cover 3, Peyton hits Welker with a corner out… 25 yard gain.

Ted’s third point: Recognizing Humanity

This is the part where my mind wants to explode because people want to compare two completely different issues.

Ted says that we screw up all the time. “Hall of Famers are no different.” Ted says Gaylord Perry doctored baseballs which is absolutely true. For those of you who don’t know, “doctoring” a baseball is scuffing the ball, spitting on it or putting some foreign substance on the ball. Without getting in a physics explanation (which I am completely underqualified to do), basically a baseball is a rounded surface with small interruptions as the laces. But when you “doctor” the baseball, the surface is no longer flat which makes the ball move in sometimes unexpected directions. Is that “cheating.” Yes. Did the spitball make Perry a Hall of Famer? Heck no! Plus, did he throw a spitball every time? I highly doubt it. But when’s the last time you think Barry Bonds went to the plate and thought to himself, “Hey, I’m NOT going to be on steroids during this at-bat.” Come on Ted!

Many people (including Ted) will make the argument that the use of “greenies” was rampant in Major League Baseball. Again, I’m going to spare you the chemistry and biology behind greenies, but a greenie is an amphetamine. It’s a stimulant that speeds up the heart rate. Many people who have ADHD or narcolepsy use amphetamines. In fact, I have a close friend who takes a medicine (legally of course) similar to what we are talking about. My friend (will call him Craig) and I discussed the steroid topic before and I mentioned greenies. Craig gave me a great insight into what they do.

Craig and I both played baseball at Carson-Newman. A college baseball schedule is comprised of about 50 to 60 games, usually four or five per week. Late in the season when we were playing our third game in two days, we were tired. We had to physically and mentally fight fatigue. According to Craig, if he waited to take his medicine until right before the game, he would feel energized and focused throughout the game. Better than he would have if he did not take his medicine.

Craig was a two-time all conference player for us. I never made all-conference.

Craig took meds like greenies. I did not.

Was he such a great player because of the meds? OF COURSE NOT! Craig made all-conference and I didn’t because he was a way better player than me. I was average at best. Craig was an excellent hitter with or without his medication!

If a Hall of Fame baseball player took greenies at some point in his career, he would have been a Hall of Fame player even if he did not take greenies. A player who took steroids may have put up Hall of Fame numbers but the roids boosted him tremendously. The Hall of Fame-talent was not there initially.

Now, I already know what you’re thinking. “There’s no quantifiable evidence that steroids make you better.” Actually….

In 1980, there were 3,087 home runs hit in Major League Baseball. In 2000, there were 5,693 home runs hit, almost double the number from 20 years ago. It’s true that guys naturally got stronger while parks got smaller, but let’s not bury our heads in the sand. There were almost 3,000 more home runs hit in the heart of the steroid era than there were 20 years prior. You want quantifiability? (I think that’s a word). You got it. Now someone please send me a spike in power numbers when greenies were being used.

Using greenies and using steroids is not the same thing. Just listen to the descriptive and more scientific names of the drugs. Stimulants or HUMAN GROWTH HORMONE. It’s not hard to see that one has a much bigger affect than the other. And by the way, Craig agrees with me on the matter of greenies versus roids.

Let’s go back to our two thieves Anthony and Michael. Anthony steals a Snickers bar, gets caught and gets slapped on the wrist because... well... it's a Snickers bar. The candy theft won't exactly shift the economic landscape of a store. Michael on the other hand robs a bank, gets caught and gets thrown in prison. Later in life, Anthony and Michael run for political office. News comes out that they have thievery in their pasts. 

The public hears about Anthony and the Snickers bar. They laugh. They hear about Michael and the bank. They are furious and he gets no votes.

You get my point. Are Michael and Anthony both thieves? Yes. But Michael’s thievery made much more of an impact, just like players who used greenies and steroids are technically both cheaters. But the steroids make a HUGE impact.

This leads me swiftly into my next point. And I make my point by bringing up an argument of Ted’s. He references Ty Cobb and how he climbed into the stands to beat up a man with no hands. I don’t know if that’s true, but just that there is a rumor or story that Cobb did beat up a handless man, lends itself to say Ty Cobb was as mean as they came. I do know that he used to sharpen his cleats to hurt players sliding into second. This guy was awful… at being a nice person but amazing at baseball. If Cobb was still alive, would I want to hang out with him? Not a chance? I would be scared that he would get mad and punch me or stab me with his sharpened spikes. Would I induct him into the Hall of Fame… again? Yes sir I would!

Again, it goes back to a sliding scale (that I believe the majority would be in agreement with me). Mean and selfish is not on the same level as immoral or unethical. 

Mean = Ty Cobb
Unethical = steroid users

And oh yeah… Peyton up top for another 20-yard gain.

Ted says (his 4^th point) that the Hall is to: Celebrate Great Players

Ted says that everyone was on PEDs in the steroid era. It was roid-head against roid-head. They played in a time where no one did anything about it.

Ted, you’re absolutely right. Earlier I said we shouldn’t stick our heads in the sand but that is exactly what Major League Baseball did during the steroid era. Everyone knew what was going on but no one did anything to stop it. MLB officials, players and coaches all knew it was wrong. But even with that knowledge, the prevalence of turning a blind eye does not make taking steroids right.

Just because no one does anything about it, does not justify the act. Let’s go back in history. There was a time in this country where owning another human being was legal. Did almost everyone own slaves? If you could afford it, yes. Was it right? No.

Just to be clear, I'm not equating using steroids, to owning slaves. Sounds obvious but I know there is someone who would think that.

Every steroid user is not a miserable human being with poor character, but they did make the wrong choice. Before I tell you why I don’t dub PED-users as terrible people, let me finish up the rebuttals of Ted’s article.

Ted says that all of Bonds’ 762 home runs still counts and we still celebrate the championships teams won with steroid-users on the rosters. My response to that and to PED-users… You can have your records. You can have your championships and stats.

BUT STEROID USERS, YOU WILL NOT TOUCH THE HALL OF FAME.

Did a ball go off Bonds’ bat and over the fence 762 times? Yes it did. No arguing that. You can have your record and no astrix needed, but you won’t sniff the Hall of Fame. That’s sacred ground.

We can celebrate players all we want. But the Hall of Fame is a different kind of celebrating. And to the casual baseball fan, this may not make sense.

Think of it this way. Lots of us grew up going to our grandparents houses. And we were allowed to roam all around the house knocking over things and making a mess. I mean they're our grandparents. They would let us get away with anything. But there was always this one room in my grandparents house that I was not allowed to go in. One room that was not allowed to be dirtied or even altered in any way. It was sacred.

That’s the Hall of Fame. You can dirty the rest of the house and have your records. But that one room is Staying Clean.

Peyton to Welker for the touchdown…

*******

Now that I have finished picking apart that defense, a few more explanations...

I promised I would describe why I don’t harshly question the character of steroid users. Let me start by saying, I’m speaking about the average user. Guys like Ryan Braun who constantly lied to the fans, to teammates and to friends will not get my empathy. You can’t combine all those lies and deceits and say, “I made a mistake.” No, a mistake is forgetting to make reservations on your anniversary - the punishment is probably more severe than Braun’s - not taking roids and lying to everyone about it for three years.

Anyway, here is why I can understand why guys take steroids. The reward far outweighs the risk. What’s the reward? Millions of dollars and the chance to set your family and your children for life. What’s the risk? A suspension and your reputation is tarnished. And the kicker, the suspension is only for 50 games! Are you kidding me? And oh yeah, that’s 50 games but you can still play in the minors during the suspension. That’s a joke. Excuse the straight forward language but GROW SOME, MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL! The MLB turned the other way for years about steroids and they say they are getting serious. And to their credit, they’re starting to. But a 50 game suspension for the first offense is not stopping anyone!

Look at Melky Cabrera. He started his career with the Yankees. In four years with New York and one with the Braves, Cabrera hit about .270. Solid but not great. Next year he hits .305 and a career-high 18 home runs with the Royals. Following year with the Giants (the year he was the All Star Game MVP) he hits .346! Then gets busted for steroids. In 2009 (his last year with the Yankees), Cabrera was paid $1.4 million. In 2012, when Cabrera was on roids and putting up MVP-like numbers he was getting paid $6 million. If Melky would have continued on without getting caught and putting up drug-aided numbers, he would have gotten paid like an MVP and cashed in anywhere from 12 to 16 million a year on the low end. I won’t ask what you would do, but all I’m saying is that it would be hard for me to turn down the opportunity to make that kind of glue and the opportunity to make sure that my family did not have to worry about any kind of financial issues when the risk is getting suspended for ONLY 50 GAMES.

Step it up a notch MLB. Get really serious about cracking down on PEDs.

And finally, I end with an idea. One of the best arguments about allowing steroids users into the Hall of Fame was briefly mentioned by Ted in his article. Try to find Mike Greenberg of Mike and Mike in the Morning. His articulation of this argument is phenomenal. The argument is that the Hall of Fame is for the best players of each period, and the Steroid Era, although dark and tarnished, was an era of the game that had dominating players.

Here is my answer to that but the idea is in the beta stages of development. Create a room in the Hall of Fame. A room that is dark, no AC or heat (whichever would be worse in Cooperstown), has a musty smell to it, maybe put a toilet right in the middle of the room but don’t ever clean it. And have plaques but not plaques like the rest of the Hall but plaques made of cheap printer paper and crayon. And that can be the steroid users section of the Hall of Fame.

And I would never go in it. Because I’m all about Staying Clean.