On honor and baseball: what has become of the 'Old National Game'?


In 1998, Major League Baseball's Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa raced to set new, single-season home run records. Both stars slugged their way into the history books, shattering home run records which had stood for nearly four decades.


Then came rumors of steroid use.

Sosa tested positive for doping and McGwire admitted to using "andro", an anabolic steroid. McGwire and Sosa apologized. But the controversy had just begun.

In 2001, Barry Bonds emerged from the offseason with the physique of that green cartoon guy, the "Incredible Hulk", and slugged his way past McGwire and Sosa's records to set a record of his own - at the age of 37, no less. Rumors of steroid use stole the spotlight, but Bonds denied knowingly using anything illegal.

In 2006, the BALCO nutritional center steroid scandal erupted and the MLB began to crack down on doping. In response, the League urged players to come forward under immunity to testify against BALCO, which was said to have provided illegal performance enhancers to professional athletes in the California region. Jason Giambi and Jose Canseco complied with the League's requests, and so did a host of others. But when Bonds was asked to testify, he insisted, under oath, that he had never knowingly used illegal performance-enhancing drugs. Bonds went back to playing ball.

In 2006, Bonds broke Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth's records for most career home runs; if Bonds had lied about steroid use, he had only made himself a bigger fish to fry by surpassing another milestone. In 2006, the book Game of Shadows was released and became a best seller. The book claimed that Bonds had lied about steroid use, and had used the following:
  • "The cream and the clear," two designer steroids distributed by BALCO
  • Human growth hormone allegedly sold on the black market by cancer patients to whom it was legitimately prescribed
  • Insulin, which reportedly enhances the bodybuilding effects of growth hormone
  • Testosterone decanoate, a steroid often nicknamed "Mexican beans" or "Red beans"
  • Trenbolone, a steroid typically used in livestock, especially cattle
  • Stanozolol, sold under the brand name Winstrol
The MLB has continued its investigation and now Bonds has been indicted on charges of perjury and obstruction of justice for the statements he made under oath concerning his knowledge of BALCO. If convicted, Bonds could face up to thirty years in jail.

Of course, at issue in the trial is not whether Bonds cheated. But for the sake of baseball, it is a shame that it cannot be. One can only wonder how many "mediocre" players from the last few decades, whose names were never memorized by adoring fans, were just as good as the Jose Cansecos and countless others who cheated. These "mediocre" players remained unknown throughout their careers, made millions less and never achieved fame.

Yes, Hank Aaron used amphetamines to smash his way past Ruth. And Ruth faced pitchers in an era when professional pitchers did not throw as fast as today and no farm system existed to ensure that only professionals took the mound. Still, fame achieved by cheaters is dirt in the eye of people like Aaron or Ruth, who were limited by their ordinary strength to perform and recover from the beating their body took over the course of the season.

A finger must also be pointed at Bud Selig, the Commissioner of Baseball, who only made a move to eliminate steroid use after the issue had become a scandal. Of course, now the cheating will likely stop due to a fear of being caught during testing, suspended and thereby financially penalized. But it should not have come to this; what ever happened to just doing what is right? What ever happened to honor?