As the 2009 season is approaching, the “steroids in baseball” conversation is long from over. I was hoping that we could put that in the past and remember the Mitchel Report, and the players testifying before congress as things that ended in the 2008 season. But now we have a huge name being mentioned in the biggest media market in the free world, New York City. A report in Sports Illustrated online came out on Saturday that uses Alex Rodriguez’s name as one of the positive steroid tests obtained in the late 2003 MLB season, when he was with the Texas Rangers.
He reportedly tested positive for testosterone and anabolic steroids, one of them called Primobolan, four seperate sources told Sports Illustrated. This steroid could be taken either orally or through injection. This unfortunately seems to follow the story supplied by Jose Canseco, also, in his book, “Vindicated.” Canseco alleges that he did everything but inject Rodriguez himself after he set Rodriguez up with known steroid dealers. The debate starts again.
The hard part about all of this is that steroids was not banned by MLB then, so on that note Rodriguez was only making a morally bad decision. However, if my memory serves me correctly, it is illegal. So we have that matter to consider. He broke the law, maybe not a MLB rule.
The problems of drugs in baseball has plagued the sport from the beginning of time. From booze during prohibition, to amphetamines, and now steroids. Pick the era, pick your drug, anything to get an advantage, and solidify your name as one of the greatest of all time.
When asked about these latest allegations, Rodriguez said that the MLBPA would have to be contacted. Everyone else close to the story has been contacted, and of course the usual “unavailable for comment,” “no reply was received,” and “never returned our call” seems to be the only response.
This has been a pretty rough week for A-Rod, as it started on Tuesday as excerpts from Joe Torre’s book, “The Yankee Years,” revealed that many Yankees during the 2004 season referred to him as “A-Fraud.” Now the Sports Illustrated article saying that he tested positive for performance enhancing drugs.
Larry Bowa, who spent two years with Rodriguez in New York, summed it up the best as he commented on how the “drug thing” will definitely take away from the focus brought forth by the “book thing.” Alex might have a thick skin, and he has been known to let very few things bother him, but this is New York. I wouldn’t want to be A-Rod this week, it is a rough one. But hey, at least he is still employed, and his house is not in foreclosure.
Steroids or not, he did win the American League home run title and the AL Most Valuable Player for 2003 as short stop for the Texas Rangers. So put that in your pipe and smoke it; or inject it…whatever it takes to get the advantage.
