OPINION: Move On Major League Baseball

By Broadside Staff Writer Foxhall Parker

In front of a joint session of Congress last Wednesday, President Barack Obama said, “We have lived through an era where too often, short-term gains were prized over long-term prosperity.”

President Obama was not speaking about the issue of steroids in baseball, but he
very well could have been.

The president was speaking about the tenuous state of the U.S. economy, but he did not blatantly place blame on his predecessor for the economic predicament. Nor did he say what should have been done or denigrate those who made mistakes.

Instead, he chose to look forward. He chose to tell the American people how he was going to lift the economy out of this recession. A lesson that Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig and MLB Players Association Executive Director Donald Fehr should take heed of.

Rather than allowing this steroid-infused witch-hunt to continue, MLB should look to the future and tell fans that baseball will be clean in the future. Then, and this is the important part, baseball needs to make good on that promise.

Most baseball fans have come to accept that, throughout the ‘90s and in to the 2000s, players used performance enhancing drugs. While this realization may not please fans, it is an accepted fact all the same. What MLB now needs to realize is that they cannot fix the past; they can only assure fans that baseball will be a clean sport moving forward.

After Alex Rodriguez’s awkward press conference on Feb. 17, it seems many people are asking if A-Rod is still lying or hiding something. The question that should be asked is—did he test positive since 2003? If he did not, let it go.

It does not matter if we know when, why or how he used steroids. He took the PEDs when there was no testing policy or rules against steroid use. That makes this fiasco the fault of MLB and the Texas Rangers, just as much as Rodriguez’s. Furthermore, it does not matter if we find out who else used steroids.

Some sports writers are calling for the other 103 names in the “anonymous” steroid report to be released, to either vilify the cheaters or vindicate those who did not cheat. I am here to tell you it does not matter.

Now that baseball’s great hope has been shown to be a great doper, there is nothing more to discover that will help or hurt baseball.

Another future Hall of Fame candidate, Roger Clemens, can be found guilty, but that will not be bigger than Rodriguez’s admission.

A-Rod could have cleansed the holy home run record that was tainted by Barry Bonds. He could have saved the sport from its own stupidity.

No matter what happens with those names, this “era” will stain baseball forever. It would serve everyone best to just move on.

If the names are released, sure, we will look at the players that did not use and give them a nice, warm pat on the back. But no more than a second or two will pass before we blast the users and put each one of them through a merciless inquisition. And fans will continue to read baseball articles that give no mention of balls, strikes or innings.

The steroid users are all anyone wants to talk about. Part of the reason is because we love controversy, but mostly because the users hold all of baseball's sacred records.

They ruined the record books!

What is baseball going to do? Are they going to re-write them or put asterisks next to all the undeserved records? If baseball wants to be connected to steroids forever, put asterisks next to everything. They might as well put an asterisk next to Steve Bartman’s catch in Game 6 of the 2003 National League Championship Series.

Baseball cannot be upset that the home run record is held by a presumed steroid user, Bonds, and that it could be taken by an admitted user, Rodriguez.

As for the past steroid users, it does not matter one bit what baseball does with them. The only way to heal these track marks is with time and tough drug policies that will insure the future integrity of the game.

In time, the questions about steroids will diminish and baseball headlines will fill with phrases that truly embody America’s pastime, like “Cubs Miss Playoffs” and “Mets Squander Division Lead.”

So release the names or do not release them. Baseball cannot fix its past, but it can insure a clean tomorrow. President Obama is looking to the future. Will Bud Selig do the same thing?