Baseball and Steroids

I've been a fan of baseball for most of my adult life. This week's revelations that stars such as Jason Giambi and Barry Bonds used steroids are not a surprise but still disheartening.

Thomas Boswell, arguably one of the best sportswriters in the business, wrote this column today (free registration required) sharing his own personal encounter with Giambi at the beginning of spring training this past season. He sums up the problem that Major League Baseball has on its hands:

Steroid use is the biggest blight on the game. And the guiltiest party in the charade is the players' union. In March, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) called union president Don Fehr before his Commerce Committee and staged a 2 1/2-hour public flogging. Expert witnesses and leaders from other sports were called to expose the union's sophistic arguments in blocking the kind of thorough drug-testing that most other major sports already have.
Fehr went away properly chastened on the one area in which his union has disgraced itself. "I understand your words," Fehr said to McCain, "and I understand the mood of the rest of this hearing."

Still, in the face of powerful agents and star players who want to keep their fake muscles at all costs, even the best intentioned people need fresh ammunition to keep up the fight against steroids. Now, everybody has a belt full of fresh bullets.

"I've been saying for many months that I instituted a very tough program in the minor leagues on steroids in 2001. We need that program at the major league level," Commissioner Bud Selig yesterday said after speaking in Washington about the return of baseball to the nation's capital. "This is just another manifestation of why we need that right away. My only reaction is we're going to leave no stone unturned until we have that policy in place by spring training 2005."

There is no need to turn over stones. This issue is obvious. Every player, agent and union executive should realize it. Baseball is in the midst of a glorious renaissance on the field. But if this popularity is bought at the price of the honor of the sport and the health of its players, then it is not worth a fraction of the grim price that is being paid.

Beyond the personal risks that steroid use presents to the players, continued use of such drugs brings into question the integrity of the game itself. Consider these results from a recent ESPN poll regarding Barry Bonds testimony on steroid use:

Do you believe Bonds when he says he did not know the clear substance and cream he received from Anderson were steroids?

84.7% -- No
15.3% -- Yes
Total votes: 71,160

In fact, even while Giambi was the focus of stories early in the week, Bonds was the underlying subject. As these numbers indicate, the bulk of SportsNation presumed Bonds had used steroids long before Giambi's testimony was leaked.

Giambi admits to receiving steroids from Greg , weight trainer for Bonds. Does this change your opinion about Bonds' possible steroid use?

82.3% -- I always thought Bonds used steroids
10.5% -- I didn't believe Bonds used, and I still don't
7.2% -- I didn't believe Bonds used, but I do now

What does this say about the integrity of baseball when one of its best players is suspected of using steroids?

It's time that the players union woke up and accepted the fact that drug testing is necessary. It would be better for players to be in support of the policy instead of against it. Otherwise, if fans start to believe the games are not being played on the level because players are using performance-enhancing drugs then they may decide that it's not worth spending money going to the games.