I am a lifelong baseball fan. I grew up here in North Kingstown playing Wickford Little League, then Babe Ruth, and so on through high school and briefly in college. Throughout my playing days, I would catch Red Sox games or nationally televised games when I could. We didn’t have NESN or ESPN when I was growing up so I couldn’t see all of the games unfortunately. My idols were Carl Yastrzemski and Jim Rice and Dwight Evans on those great Red Sox teams of the 1970’s and 1980’s. Into the 90’s, I followed Greg Maddux and Rickey Henderson and Tony Gwynn. I even named one of my sons after my two favorite players, Griffin Williams Roby for Ken Griffey, Junior and Ted Williams. I talk baseball with high school friends, at the office, with my mother, and pretty much anyone who will listen. Baseball over the years has certainly had its black eye eras. Ty Cobb cleating unsuspecting shortshops getting ready to turn a double play, the rampant racism of the early days of baseball, Pete Rose betting on baseball as a manager and the Black Sox Scandal of the early 20th century are just a few that come to mind. These collectively do not add up to the current steroid and performance enhancing drug scandal that has plagued the game for the past 10 to 15 years. There is a considerably large amount of information that has been presented to us the public, the paying baseball fan, the customer of our national pastime about players who have taken something illegal or against Major League Baseball’s policies to make them better, stronger, faster. There are congressional hearings, court sessions, print and online reports documenting athletes from all walks of life and nationalities. There have been books written on the subject. Recently, there have been significant suspensions handed down to about 13 professional baseball players which have ended their season and their paychecks for the suspensions. I’ll speak only for myself, but here is the end result Mr. Commissioner of Major League Baseball. The players I mentioned earlier – Rice, Evans, Gywnn, Maddux, Yaz, Griffey – have all been elevated to a much higher level of respect in my baseball world. Not once, not ever, did I then nor do I now think that any of those players used performance enhancing drugs to better themselves. They were as good as they made themselves naturally through hard work and dedication to the game. However, the same cannot be said for the era starting approximately with the Bash Brothers (Mark McGwire and Jose Canseco) until the present day. I will not accept that any player that entered the league during that time frame has not been affected by the steroid and PED (performance enhancing drug) era in a negative way toward their image. Whether they did the drugs or not, they are affected by the negative images of the cheaters who did. Cases are piling up every time the Baseball Hall of Fame votes. One of the best catchers of all time, Mike Piazza, did not get enough votes to get in. Same can be said for one of the most dominating pitchers of this or any era, Roger Clemens. One of the most durable and consistent hitters of this era, Jeff Bagwell, did not get elected. Of the three – Bagwell, Piazza, and Clemens – one has recently been in front of Congress fighting charges that he lied and tried to cover up his involvement with steroids and PEDs. You have broadcasters and radio personalities who make accusations against current players who fit the PED profile. Recently, Jack Clark was fired for suggesting current stars Albert Pujols and Justin Verlander were having off years because of the heightened awareness and higher frequency of PED testing and concluded that since they are not using anymore, they are having off seasons (paraphrasing this of course). Let’s not forget the all-time home run leader who is the poster child for the steroid era, Barry Bonds. Bonds was eligible for the Hall of Fame in 2013 and guess what, he did not get in. Shocking? No. What about the public’s perception? I can only speak for myself. Would it surprise me if Derek Jeter was found to have used during some part of his career? Or what about Jacoby Ellsbury or Dustin Pedroia? How about the up and coming stars like Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, and Felix Hernandez? The answer is no. It would not surprise me. This revelation saddens me quite a bit to admit. I cannot be as sure as I was when I watched my idols growing up with these current players. My perception of the game is that every player has an opportunity to make more money if they perform better on the field. If at some point, this player has hit a point where they cannot get any better through hard work and practice and natural ability, they have a decision to make on whether or not to better themselves by other means. We typically don’t read or hear about the hundreds if not thousands of minor leaguers stuck in A, AA, AAA for years unless they make it to the big leagues. Money and immense fame are incredible motivators for making poor decisions. The cheaters and those who represent them are constantly looking for ways to beat the system. Some have been caught but I am almost certain that there are others still at it. This is my realistic and disappointing perception of the current game of professional baseball. I still watch just about every Red Sox game I can and most of the nationally televised games on ESPN or other MLB (Major League Baseball) networks. I play catch with my sons and attend their games. I love the game and will continue to support it by going to minor and major league games. Sadly, I can’t help but watch games and wonder about how a 5’8” second baseman can hit a ball 420 feet and think, if only for a second, that it was achieved unnaturally. Major League Baseball, in my opinion, has not taken the steps it needed to protect the fans like myself from feeling this way. In the cases of Jeter, Harper, Trout, and Pedroia, I sincerely hope that over time my perceptions, albeit for those brief seconds, are ultimately proven to be wrong.
