Well, its time to discuss Mark McGwire. The last few weeks have been brutal. McGwire has been designated by the media to take on all the sins of the baseball world. Did McGwire cheat? In the purest sense of the word, the answer is an unequivocal yes! He took performance enhancing drugs. Period. But before everyone goes off on their high-horse, let’s put a few things into perspective: there were literally hundreds of PED users back in the late 90’s and early 00’s. This was a time when steroids weren’t even banned by baseball. To basically single out McGwire as if he were solely responsible for the steroid era is at best disingenuous, and at worst, just flat wrong.
There is talk that McGwire should be banned from baseball the same as Pete Rose. That’s fine, but if you are going to ban McGwire, then you will have to ban every other ball player linked to steroids. Good bye Manny, Alex, Andy, and the numerous other “cheaters” still in the game.
What is this infatuation with McGwire by the media? Every time I look at a sports page or bring up espn.com, there is another lead story about some nobody player from years past complaining about how rotten McGwire is. Why is the media so relentless with this? Why are they so bent on persecuting him, when others seem to get a pass? I read a column where a former pitcher was complaining that he would have had better numbers if he didn’t have to pitch to these steroid cheaters. He added that perhaps he could have even had Hall of Fame numbers. That’s cute, but if you’re going to use that kind of logic, you had better be prepared to reconsider all the Hall of Fame members that played prior to 1947! Some of the best competition baseball had to offer was kept from playing simply because of skin color. How different would some of those stats have been if all of those white players had to face the likes of a Satchel Paige on a daily basis? What if Josh Gibson could have batted against the Whitey Fords of baseball?
Which rule breakers should we exclude from baseball? Clearly the PED users, but what about the marijuana users? There’s a lot of them out there, but baseball doesn’t test for that. Do pot smokers have a competitive advantage over the non-pot smokers? If it helps them relax when they’re nervous, then yes, I would say they do. What about a pitcher who gets caught doctoring the baseball? Does that give him a competitive advantage? I think it does. What about the spit-ball throwers? How about those guys that trap the baseball in the outfield and try to sell it as a catch? Isn’t that cheating? Again, the ironic thing is that steroids were not banned in baseball when McGwire took them.
Am I trying to condone the actions of Mark McGwire? No. What he did was wrong; he probably knew it was wrong; and he probably did have a competitive advantage because of it. My point is, maybe its time to give the guy a break. He could have comfortably retired to the golf course and never had to address the issue again. But he loves baseball. Why else would he put himself through this endless attack? Certainly not for the money. Baseball hitting coaches don’t exactly rake it in.
Should McGwire get into the Hall of Fame? No, with a caveat: If you are going to single out McGwire, you had better apply those same rules to all the other cheaters come ballot time.
My point is, the viciousness of the attacks against McGwire have become ridiculous. Mark McGwire is a good man. You never hear about the amazing work he has done for abused children. You don’t hear about the man who walked away from a guaranteed ten million dollars in the last year of his contract because he felt like he could no longer compete at the level that would justify that salary. No, all you hear is a constant barrage of attacks.
It’s time to move on…
