(New York Yankee 3rd-Baseman - Alex Rodriguez)When you hear, “Take me out to the ballgame, take me out to the crowd,” does that ring a bell? Does it sound familiar? To a baseball fan, when they hear that song this time of the year in the spring, they know it means baseball season is finally here. People are talking about their favorite players, their favorite teams, the new free agents, upcoming rookies and anything else they can talk about with their friends and family because they love the game of baseball. One thing that people usually debate about is who is going to be the Most Valuable Player (MVP) for that season, and one name that has pops up as a candidate every year is Alex Rodriguez, or most commonly known as, “A-Rod”. Well in this 2009 pre-season A-Rod’s name was quite popular again, but this time it was about him taking steroids.
Although A-Rod cheated on baseball when he illegally took drugs from 2001-2003 to improve his game, lied on TV denying he ever took steroids and probably has tainted his career forever, Alex Rodriguez still should go to the Baseball Hall of Fame after his career is over.
Now A-Rod is no saint but there are three reasons that people should consider before they judge whether or not he should go to the Baseball Hall of Fame. First reason is even though A-Rod took steroids, the Commissioner of Baseball, Bud Selig has a huge part in why steroids got to be such a big deal in the first place. On Feb. 7th, 2009, A-Rod’s name appeared on a list of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in Major League Baseball's 2003 survey testing. Two days later on Feb. 9th, A-Rod admitted that he took Primobolan and testosterone each season from 2001 - 2003 while playing for the Texas Rangers.
Although A-Rod did cheat, there was no testing for steroids that every single player had to take until 2004 and they didn’t come to a conclusion how long the players would be punished if caught until 2005. Selig said it best when he stated,
"Under our current drug program, if you are caught using steroids and/or amphetamines, you will be punished. Since 2005, every player who has tested positive for steroids has been suspended for as much as 50 games."
So technically, A-Rod never failed a drug test under Selig’s testing program because he quit in 2003. My question is, why did it take Selig so long to set up a drug testing program? How could Selig not have considered that steroids might be part of why Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire were smashing single season home-run records like 66 (Sosa) and 70 (McGwire) in 1998 when the record had been 61 (Roger Maris) for decades? How can Barry Bonds hit 73 home runs in 2001, when he hadn’t hit over 49 home runs in a single season in the first 15 years of his career without Selig thinking for once that Bonds might be on steroids?
When players could improve their game illegally, make millions of dollars and get away with it till 2004, it’s no shock over 104 players were tested positive for taking steroids in 2003. The past 15 years in baseball is now known as “The Steroid Era” partially due to Selig because if he had come to his senses and suspected that the Sosa and McGwire’s home-run chase might have been illegal and would have had a drug test program put together before 1998, A-Rod, home-run records and steroids would not be in the situation they are in today.
The second reason is that steroids may have saved baseball after the baseball terrible strike of 1995. Ever heard of the phrase, “Girls dig the long ball?” It means girls (and guys too) love to see the home run, and the home-run brought fans back to baseball after the strike of 1995. The strike lost a lot of fans and baseball wasn’t sure how long it would take until baseball would be back to the way it was before the strike. Then came 1998 when Sosa and McGwire both made history as they broke Maris’ single season home-run record of 61, as Sosa hit 66 and McGwire hit 70. Just the competition, the rivalry and the home-run chase between these two guys drew fans back to baseball because they were experiencing history right before their eyes.
Then three years later in 2001, Barry Bonds made history by breaking McGwire’s single season record with 73 home-runs. Fans were so amazed by the home-run, it was like the fans and even Commissioner Selig set aside that these guys were probably on steroids because it was so exciting to watch how far these guys could hit the ball. These guys were playing the best of their careers, but interestingly late in their careers when their bodies should be showing signs of age, not hitting 500 foot home-run bombs literally out of ballparks. So when The Mitchell Report came out in 2007 that Sosa, McGwire, Bonds, Roger Clemens and other players were accused of using steroids, baseball players and fans had faith in A-Rod that he would be the one breaking numerous records because he was not on the list. Now after finding out A-Rod used steroids too, baseball fans have mixed emotions about baseball and he himself.
People may think that baseball has been tainted with all these players taking drugs illegally and some people think that A-Rod individually may have tainted baseball forever, but I think people need to understand that if all these players that broke records illegally hadn’t taken steroids, where would Major League Baseball be today? Without steroids there would be no 500-plus foot home-runs or 73 home-run seasons, and without the home-run what was going to draw fans back to baseball after the strike in 1995? Fans need to realize that “The Steroid Era” may taint baseball for a long time, but that era is what saved baseball and players like A-Rod shouldn’t be the victims and kept from the hall of fame.
Now don’t get me wrong, A-Rod made a decision on his own to take steroids, knew that he was cheating when he took them and I do not approve of cheating on the game of baseball or cheating in general. I think what made baseball fans dislike A-Rod even more than his steroid issue is that he also lied on national television denying he ever took steroids when interviewed by the anchor of the CBS Evening News, Katie Couric.
Dec. 16, 2007
Katie Couric: "For the record, have you ever used steroids, human growth hormone or any other performance-enhancing substance?:
Rodriguez: "No."
Couric: "Have you ever been tempted to use any of those things?"
Rodriguez: "No."
Then just 15 months later A-Rod changed his story when interviewed by ESPN Baseball Analyst, Peter Gammons,
Feb. 9, 2009
Peter Gammons: "What's the truth?"
Rodriguez: "I did take a banned substance. And for that I'm very sorry and deeply regretful."
Gammons: "So you're saying the time period was 2001, '2 and '3?"
Rodriguez: "That's pretty accurate, yes."
Now I can understand why people could have a grudge on A-Rod because I believe they felt cheated on when Sosa and McGwire tainted the single season home-run records in 1998 and then felt cheated on again when Bonds tainted the all-time career home-run record a few years ago in 2007. So, I believe that when A-Rod came clean from The Mitchell Report in 2007, they had hope in A-Rod to be the all-time career home-run king because he would do it legally and do it the right way. Then Feb. 7th, 2009 comes along and now baseball fans feel cheated on once again and they just can’t take it anymore. Baseball fans feel that A-Rod let them down and unlike Bonds, he was also a role model for young baseball fans and for those kids to accept that their favorite baseball player took steroids has got to be hard for them.
I still believe that A-Rod should make it to the baseball hall of fame someday though, even with everything I have just said about A-Rod’s cheating. He is asking his fans to give himself a second chance to redeem himself just like Kobe Bryant did six years ago after cheating on his wife and accused of committing rape. Bryant just continued playing basketball and eventually his fans did give him a second chance as he was the NBA's Most Valuable Player last year in 2008. So try to be open minded with A-Rod right now because in 9 years when A-Rod will probably retire, if he just plays baseball, time can make things go away because America is the land of second chances, and that’s all A-Rod wants from his fans right now.
The third reason is A-Rod’s career is not coming to an end and has a chance to prove he does deserve to be in the baseball hall of fame. When A-Rod said he took steroids from 2001 – 2003, he had the best three seasons of his 15-year career as he averaged 52 home-runs per season and a .305 batting average. When athletes, and in this case baseball players, stop using steroids after using them for quite a while, their body gets out of wack and their game falls apart. So if you look at A-Rod’s last five seasons from 2004-2008, the seasons after taking steroids, his stats should be terrible, right? In A-Rod’s last five seasons he has averaged over 41 home-runs per season and a .303 batting average, showing that even though A-Rod’s home-runs have dropped, he is still producing a lot of home-runs and his batting average is almost the same without the use of steroids.
So, how does A-Rod continue to put up similar numbers after stopping using steroids? Well when Sosa, McGwire and Bonds cheated and took steroids, it was at the end of their careers where they needed and depended on steroids to stay in the pros and took the steroids for many years. When A-Rod cheated and took steroids, he was young, in his prime, took them for three years and were used more as a confidence booster to live up to his new $250 million contract even though he was already one of the best players in baseball.
A-Rod is 33 years old now and has a new 10-year, $270 million contract that starts this season, so if he stays healthy for the next decade, he will most likely break a lot of records. The record that people are focusing on is the all-time career home-run record that is held by one of the most tainted players in baseball history, Barry Bonds. Many fans agree with sports analyst from ESPN.com, Gene Wojciechowski that he believes Hank Aaron should be the home-run king with 755 home-runs, not Bonds, because he did it the right way, without cheating.
"As far as I'm concerned, (Hank) Aaron is still the all-time home-run leader, followed by Babe Ruth and Bonds' godfather, Willie Mays. Ken Griffey Jr. is fourth -- that is, if you're willing to take the leap of faith that Junior's 20-year career is clean. I am, but with fingers crossed."
As of this 2009 baseball season A-Rod has recorded 553 career home-runs, and since many fans don’t believe Bonds is the true home-run king with 762, we will use Aaron’s number as A-Rod’s goal to break with 755 home-runs. With his new contract, A-Rod is expected to play till he’s 43, indicating he has to average just over 20 home-runs a season to break the record, which he should easily do if he remains healthy.
The thing is if A-Rod wants to be the home-run king in most people’s minds, I believe he is going to have to hit an extra 156 home-runs to make up for the amount that A-Rod hit from 2001-2003 when he was taking steroids. That means if A-Rod plays for another decade like planned, he has to average just about 36 home-runs per year to be the career home-run king at 912 home-runs. It will be difficult as A-Rod does get older because he won’t make be hitting as much home runs in a season because of aging, but if he can put up a good amount of home-runs in these next 5 years while he is still in his prime, there is a chance A-Rod might break Aaron’s record someday. There is no way of knowing what will happen to A-Rod, but to be the first and maybe the last person in baseball history to have the opportunity to not only hit over 800 home runs, maybe even 900 is something that is special and can’t be overlooked no matter how much people may not like him.
A-Rod made a mistake taking steroids from 2001 – 2003, and then lieing on national television denying he ever took steroids when he really did, he not only tainted his image, A-Rod lost a lot of respect from his fans and professional baseball players themselves. The news about A-Rod over the last few months has convinced most people, even the Commissioner Bud Selig, that he should never go to the baseball hall of fame no matter what he does in his career. The reality is, there is nothing that A-Rod can do about his past but there are a few things he can do about his future.
He made a huge step that Sosa, McGwire and Bonds never did, which was actually admit he used steroids. Now he needs to do what he does best, which is play baseball and let time heal things on its own. It doesn’t help that he plays for the New York Yankees because the media doesn’t look too highly of him right now, but him playing for the Yankees could be a blessing in disguise. If A-Rod plays well in the playoffs, wins at least one World Championship (which he has done neither yet) and hit over 800, maybe 900 home-runs to become the all-time home-run king by the end of his career, the New York media could change their minds about A-Rod and eventually help him in the long run by voting him into the baseball hall of fame.
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