by Baseball fans have become cynical in the light of their childhood stars. Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, Roger Clemens and now A-Rod have all been tainted by the ongoing steroids scandal that seems to prove the entire game is a sham.
It was former Yankees Manager Joe Torre who gave A-Rod the “A-Fraud” moniker in his new book — the outrage over Joe’s betrayal was quickly buried this week with the revelation that “A-Hole” had been bouncing the needle in Texas:
Alex Rodriguez acknowledged Monday that he used performance-enhancing drugs while playing for the Texas Rangers from 2001 to 2003, a confession that casts doubt on the achievements of the player widely considered to be the best in baseball.
The admission also makes Rodriguez, who joined the Yankees in 2004 and has 553 career home runs, the most prominent baseball player to admit that he has knowingly used illegal substances. Three other equally famous players — Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Mark McGwire — are widely suspected of having used performance enhancers, and have become infamous for their denials. Rodriguez took the blame in a lengthy interview on ESPN.
Will A-Rod be able to overcome this drowning of his place in history?
Will the New York fans accept him now even though they never accepted him before his confession?
The fact that A-Rod may have had help from the Major League Baseball Players Union does not help buff his tarnished image:
Nearly five years after federal agents seized positive drug tests of 104 players, including Alex Rodriguez, the players union offered its first full explanation of why it did not have the tests destroyed, as it had the right to do.
In a statement released Monday night, Donald Fehr, the executive director of the Major League Baseball Players Association, said that the union was in the process of destroying the tests when they were subpoenaed by federal authorities in November 2003.
“Upon learning this,” Fehr said, referring to the subpoenas, “we concluded, of course, that it would be improper to proceed with the destruction of the materials.”Fehr also said that the union’s chief operating officer, Gene Orza, and other union officials did not tip off players about when they would be tested in 2004. Before the union issued its statement Monday night, Orza said in an
e-mail message that he did not tip off Rodriguez about a drug test in
2004. Orza also disputed the notion that it was his responsibility to
have the drug tests from 2003 destroyed.On Saturday, a report on Sports Illustrated’s Web site, citing
anonymous sources, said that Rodriguez tested positive for steroids in
2003. The report also said that Rodriguez received notice from Orza in
September 2004 that he would be tested in several weeks.
Alex Rodriguez has a lot of career left — but does he have any baseball left inside him?
Only time and tests will tell the tale of the if and when A-Hole is able to become A-Rod again.
One of the free dailies has an excellent cover showing A-R-H and the pilot of the plane that went down in the Hudson – one with “Hero” over him and one with “Liar” – you can guess which is which – and also comparing their salaries.
They really need to crack down on drug usage if they ever want to bring baseball back to what it was – but the statistics and breaking records seems to be all anyone cares about because that probably attracts fans, for whatever reason. I just like watching the game, winning or losing. 🙂
Yikes! That is some description, Gordon!
I agree MLB needs to fix baseball RIGHT NOW! Use the same blood testing as the Olympics. Forgive the past, confess all steroid sins, and dissolve the players union. Start all over. Salary caps. No guaranteed contracts. No drugs. Bring earnest fun back to the game.
He look pretty hurt, David. I think he knows he’s pretty far into it. Big contracts make for big liars, right?
A-Rod does have a lot of hurt feelings, Anne. At least that’s the sense of him we get from Torre’s book. He’s a big talent but he can’t make it over the mountaintop. He climbs like a hero but he is unable to finish to get the big win and the place in immortal baseball history. It’s crushing him.
Feel for the players who fall in this trap of using performance enhancing drugs, why innovate it if it is illegal?
There was a time, Katha, when you could “enhance” your performance with drugs and get a better contract and not get caught. In fact, you had to go on drugs in order to compete with everyone else on the juice. It was a vicious circle that Major League Baseball should’ve more proactively prevented.