The Baseball Column: Scrubs Take Steroids Hit
POSTED: 12:45 pm PDT April 6, 2005
UPDATED: 12:58 pm PDT April 6, 2005
So It's Come To This
After more than a decade of standing idly by as superstar after superstar got unnaturally bigger and made a mockery of homerun records, Major League Baseball has finally put the hammer down -- on minor leaguers. On Tuesday MLB released the names of 38 minor leaguers who have violated the league’s new steroid policy. Never mind the superstars who travel with entourages and own fleets of sport cars -- an example needed to be made of that Double A outfielder who makes $1,500 a month and works at Sears in the off-season. Well, I’ll certainly sleep better tonight.
Not that these guys don’t deserve to be disciplined, but the sad fact is that they are paying for the sins of Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds. While Barry and Big Mac can take refuge in their mansions, relax in their oversized Jacuzzis and sip on champagne, these anonymous farmhands will return to studio apartments, eat Ramen noodles and hope they aren’t wearing paper hats and asking customers if they want to "super size" their Happy Meals next month. Even if they are fortunate enough to resume their careers, they will be cast as pariahs with a scarlet "S" forever emblazoned on their chests.
The new steroid policy is a step in the right direction, but as the positive test results roll in, let’s not direct all of our angst and frustration on the unfortunate saps who got caught. Instead we should remember that the commissioner’s office, the owners and the players all contributed to a culture that fostered and tolerated steroid use for nearly a generation. If not for the BALCO investigation and a few ambitious reporters, that culture would most likely still exist today.
What Might Have Been
Flashback to the summer of 2000: Bill Clinton was in the White House, we had just survived the Y2K scare and Rick Ankiel was one of the top young pitchers in baseball. Only 21 at the time, the left-hander went 11-7 with a 3.50 ERA for the NL Central Champion Cardinals and made two postseason starts. Then suddenly and mysteriously, he could no longer find the strike zone. He made several valiant attempts to regain his old form, but in the end it became sad and painful to watch Ankiel pitch. From 2001-2004, he pitched just 34 big league innings. Instead of giving up the game, Ankiel tried to make a go of it as an outfielder. That didn’t work either. The Cardinals released the former phenom on April 5. If he clears waivers, Ankiel could return to the Cardinals minor league system.Calm Down
In Minneapolis, the Star Tribune did a full-page layout in their annual baseball preview section touting Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau as this generation’s Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, tabbing them as the new “M & M Boys.” While many, including this writer, believe that Mauer and Morneau have bright futures ahead of them, let’s keep in mind that they had a combined 29 career homeruns entering this season.
After more than a decade of standing idly by as superstar after superstar got unnaturally bigger and made a mockery of homerun records, Major League Baseball has finally put the hammer down -- on minor leaguers. On Tuesday MLB released the names of 38 minor leaguers who have violated the league’s new steroid policy. Never mind the superstars who travel with entourages and own fleets of sport cars -- an example needed to be made of that Double A outfielder who makes $1,500 a month and works at Sears in the off-season. Well, I’ll certainly sleep better tonight.
Not that these guys don’t deserve to be disciplined, but the sad fact is that they are paying for the sins of Mark McGwire and Barry Bonds. While Barry and Big Mac can take refuge in their mansions, relax in their oversized Jacuzzis and sip on champagne, these anonymous farmhands will return to studio apartments, eat Ramen noodles and hope they aren’t wearing paper hats and asking customers if they want to "super size" their Happy Meals next month. Even if they are fortunate enough to resume their careers, they will be cast as pariahs with a scarlet "S" forever emblazoned on their chests.
The new steroid policy is a step in the right direction, but as the positive test results roll in, let’s not direct all of our angst and frustration on the unfortunate saps who got caught. Instead we should remember that the commissioner’s office, the owners and the players all contributed to a culture that fostered and tolerated steroid use for nearly a generation. If not for the BALCO investigation and a few ambitious reporters, that culture would most likely still exist today.
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Flashback to the summer of 2000: Bill Clinton was in the White House, we had just survived the Y2K scare and Rick Ankiel was one of the top young pitchers in baseball. Only 21 at the time, the left-hander went 11-7 with a 3.50 ERA for the NL Central Champion Cardinals and made two postseason starts. Then suddenly and mysteriously, he could no longer find the strike zone. He made several valiant attempts to regain his old form, but in the end it became sad and painful to watch Ankiel pitch. From 2001-2004, he pitched just 34 big league innings. Instead of giving up the game, Ankiel tried to make a go of it as an outfielder. That didn’t work either. The Cardinals released the former phenom on April 5. If he clears waivers, Ankiel could return to the Cardinals minor league system.Calm Down
In Minneapolis, the Star Tribune did a full-page layout in their annual baseball preview section touting Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau as this generation’s Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris, tabbing them as the new “M & M Boys.” While many, including this writer, believe that Mauer and Morneau have bright futures ahead of them, let’s keep in mind that they had a combined 29 career homeruns entering this season.
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