Baseball Musings
Baseball Musings
December 05, 2004
Gammons on the Game

Peter Gammons is at his best when his writing springs from his love of the game. He takes on the steroid scandal is this brilliant ESPN column. There's plenty of blame to go around. Money as the root of all evil.

This is an American story. It's about money, obscene amounts of it. Did, as Canseco alleges, teams have a pretty good idea what was going on? Maybe. Certainly as the Bash Brothers ushered in the Home Run Era -- now known as the Juiced Era -- the people who run baseball encouraged everything powerful. There is no question that, after Cal Ripken and the dignity of the Joe Torre championship Yankees, what took baseball out of its recession and back into the high life (again) was the Mark McGwire/Sammy Sosa Summer of '98, and how it took all of us in, from grandparents to children. It was all about what one would do to get rich, be it look the other way or chemically recreate one's body.

A union leadership that did not listen to its employers.

What is absurd here is that in the summer of 2002, when Canseco and Caminiti issued their original allegations, several players began speaking out. USA Today released a poll in which 78 percent of major league players said they were for serious testing, and more than 50 percent said they felt the pressure to use steroids or performance-enhancing drugs because of peer pressure. At the All-Star Game, Mike Sweeney told ESPN, "I want strong testing because I don't think it's fair for someone to have an illegal advantage over me." Lance Berkman said, "I want the testing because I don't think I should have to have anyone question how I hit my home runs."

But Fehr and Orza always believed that any form of drug-testing was un-American in that it forced an individual to prove his innocence. However, by adamantly sticking to that civil libertarian line, they in fact have led players to a point where, because of this BALCO scandal, every player who hits more than 40 home runs is subject to having to prove himself innocent.

And the war between the players and the owners.

Much of this can be laid to 30-something years of cold war politics between the Players Association and owners, with its resulting distrust and contempt. But the union lawyers have always considered themselves civil rights and labor lawyers. They are not. This isn't Edward Bennett Williams defending John Connelly, or Sacco-Vanzetti. They're not civil rights lawyers, they are entertainment lawyers.

The players these lawyers represent are the product that the owners and the industry present to the public, the consumers. And because they have stonewalled and litigated and arbitrated and filibustered so masterfully, the product they represent is tainted. As a result, the consumers have lost the trust that the players need, all because of a minute minority.

Finally, Gammons puts the resolution of this scandal on the players.

The dirty little secret is a major scandal. It is not going away. Curt Schilling has long said that we can't love the game as much as the players because we don't play, and now is the time that no one can do as much to restore the game they love as the players themselves.

So what can the players do? Mea Culpas would be the first order of business, I would think. How about a news conference from Jason Giambi saying that he lied to the press. Jason, say you're sorry, ask for forgiveness, and promise you won't do it again. Barry Bonds, how about giving back some of your salary of the last four years? Donate $20 million to rehabilitation clinics or whatever charity you like. How about some names that haven't been mentioned coming forward? How about a team getting together and pledging to stay clean? And then working together to stay clean?

I hope you'll read the entire article.


Posted by David Pinto at 08:31 AM | Cheating | TrackBack (1)
Comments

This article was the kind of sentimental crap that turned me off of Gammons a few years ago. Who cares if the players were taking steroids or other drugs? The only thing that matters if if they violated league policy. If they did that, then punish them as the policy directs. Otherwise, what's the big deal? People do stupid things all the time; why does it matter if baseball players do it too?

Posted by: Christopher Miller at December 5, 2004 03:34 PM

Gammons brings up the thing that has always perplexed me - the large majority of players WANT to be tested. Yet the Union bosses still argue against it. Don't the players have any say in THEIR OWN UNION?

Posted by: shawn at December 5, 2004 04:49 PM

Speaking of Gammons' sentimental crap (I like reading him much of the time, but this is a pet peeve of mine), I wish he'd shut up about what "outstandingly phenomenal fine human beings" so many players are. Something about the way Gammons keeps harping, "Player A is a great guy," "Player B is a terrific human being," "Player C is an amazing individual" makes me want to throw up. I don't know if it's because he cheapens the praise by handing it out to every ballplayer who gives him the time of day, or whether I think it's an all-too-subjective way to evaluate players, or what, but it really disturbs me.

Posted by: Chris at December 5, 2004 06:10 PM

'Barry Bonds, how about giving back some of your salary of the last four years? Donate $20 million to rehabilitation clinics or whatever charity you like. '

I'll take the under on Barry donating $20 m to anyone because as he's said he never took steroids.

Posted by: Jack Tanner at December 6, 2004 08:39 AM

"Don't the players have any say in THEIR OWN UNION?"

Of course they do. But Fehr et al would be serving their office quite poorly were they to fail to consider the legal consequences of testing. The players, after all, are baseball experts; they tend to have a layman's deficiency in the intricate details of international sports labor law.

Remember, the law doesn't have to make sense - the union leadership may have an important reason for this.

I'm not certain this is what's happening, of course. It could also just be a power play, or the union only acting in the interests of those players who have already compromised their body chemistry.

A few years ago, I was lucky enough to attend a panel discussion with Fehr and Manfred at Harvard Law (no press except for the law school rag, just me and a bunch of Harvard Law students who wanted to work in baseball). I recall the question of testing coming up, and Manfred smiling, and Fehr having a specific answer at hand - but I can't recall what it was, nor even whether it seemed plausible. Sorry.

The main lesson I took away from the panel is that one shouldn't pay attention to coverage of MLB & MLBPA relationships when that coverage comes from the sports department.

If I get lucky, I'll find my notes and post them at Nail Tinted Glasses (url above).

Posted by: Danil at December 6, 2004 11:33 AM

How hard (?) would it be for Giambi to come out and say "It's true. I lied. I did use 'x,y,z' because I thought it would enhance my performance. I just wanted to be a better baseball player and focused so hard on the results that I lost my moral compass with respect to my choice of methods. Now, having embarrassed myself, my family, and my team, and having upset so many baseball fans, I fully understand that it was a terrible mistake. I will forever attempt to make this tremendous wrong into a right. My goal is to become clean of the use of performance enhancers and return to being a good baseball player as well. I want to be a role model for the kids on how using performance enhancers is bad, how it can ruin your life, and how you can succeed and be a good player without them. I beg everyone to accept my apology and allow me to attempt to make something positive of this terrible situation that I created."

Yet, it's now been 4 days and all we hear is stories about him running away from the press in Nev.

Posted by: NetShrine at December 6, 2004 12:34 PM

for goodness sake - steroids were NOT banned before the last CBA - it was NOT cheating. so let's stop that talk, OK??!!

like chris, i don't care baseball-wise if players do roids. i don't know that being stronger makes you a better ballplayer.

and netshrine - saying that barry should give money back is ridiculous. yyou better demand that arod better give back money for slapping the ballout of arroyo's hand (yeah, that's cheating, too.) or any other ballplayer that cheated - like phantom tags or ANYTHING. "lost his moral compass?" using roids is immoral? puhleasssssssss dude. get real....

Posted by: lisa gray at December 6, 2004 02:55 PM
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