When I first heard the news that Alex Rodriguez used steroids, there was nothing but shock. The report triggered a San Andreas fault-line straight through my aorta; it created a blow to the gut that could have turned Lennox Lewis into a pile of mush.
Shock. Clear and sharp, painful and wrenching.
All of this surprise, all of this reverberation, wrought by a man whose transgressions should have been limited to blonde bimbos and Material Girls.
Years ago, I acquiesced to the fact that my childhood love, baseball, turned out to be smoke, mirrors and a whole lot more. The teams I grew up with were laboratories, comprised of dishonest DHs and petulant pitchers all searching for an improper edge.
We all know the names. We all know their transgressions. Mark McGwire was the original villain, duping us first and cutting us the deepest. Roger Clemens was the angriest man this side of Christian Bale, a “clear” aftereffect of his usage. And Barry Bonds was despised, sick with jealousy, so his guilt was sealed long before the underpinnings of his game were revealed.
America had no problem condemning these traitors to history, these thieves of a nation’s loyalty. They were disreputable bunch, and their punishments more than fit their crimes.
But Alex Rodriguez was clean. He was a prodigy, a five-tool player who resembled Bonds’ early mold but checked his envy at Derek Jeter’s door. His power was not compromised, lean and fit where McGwire was bulging and doughy. And while his cuckolding was unbecoming, his misbehavior landed him a relationship with a crypt-keeper named Madonna, an unenviable duty that even he didn’t deserve.
Sure, I hated the guy. I couldn’t stand the dispassion he displayed, his willingness to act as a mercenary rather than a man. I took solace in the fact that he’d never won a World Series. I grinned amidst the flurry of Monopoly money that greeted his returns to Seattle’s Safeco Field.
That was then. This, unfortunately, is now.
When I view A-Rod, A-Fraud, A-Roid, there will no longer be enmity flowing through my veins. Instead, there will be the chunks of concrete that have crumbled from baseball’s foundation, obliterated by a 2003 test whose results should never have been revealed to SI.com.
And yet they were. And now we’re stuck with the realization that America’s pastime will never have the comfort of continuity that it long provided.
Article comments
1 - Tony
The thing is I'm not sure if people really did like A-Rod before this came out, especially more then Clemens. Sure Roger had the bat throwing incident but generally most fans supported him I think, and the media definitely loved him.
A-Rod on the other hand was always thought to be kind of a fraud by most. Seattle fans hated him for leaving, Texas fans hated him because the team was terrible when he was there, and Yankee fans hated because he choked constantly.
Canseco brought up A-Rod's name a long time ago, when Alex then went on 60 Minutes and lied through his teeth. Then the Torre book comes out and rips him really bad. I mean even that jealously of Jeter most likely stems from his inability to understand why everyone loves Jeter when he's the one who pumps 50 home runs a year.
Either way, great article. This whole thing was really terrible for baseball, any way you look at it. And no matter how much people did or did not like him, it definitely was a shock to have it all explode like this.
2 - zingzing
funny how when it comes to physical performance, we cringe at the thought of drug use, but when it comes to creativity, we celebrate it.
what if we doubted lou reed because he took drugs. the beatles? the stones?
francis ford coppola? jack nickelson? the beats? andy warhol?
i know there is a difference between physical and mental performance, and there is a difference between the effects of steroids and narcotics, but still...
these are drugs like any other, and they do nothing but heighten something already there. i certainly couldn't take steroids and suddenly hit 70 homers. i couldn't hit one.
i'm not excusing anyone, but i'd like to point out that if these people bring their work to the level of art, then drugs that enhance the expression of that art doesn't negate the fact that it happened at all. they still did all these things. who cares if they were... unnaturally advantaged? these things happened.
bonds used science and training (and mostly training) to hit those 73 homers. or whatever. he took full advantage of human knowledge to make it happen. and it will probably shorten his life. he made a sacrifice.
the day when dylan introduced the beatles to marijuana, even though they had already been taking massive amounts of speed at that point, is celebrated. the day some dentist slipped lennon and harrison acid is another breakthrough. every drug took their art to different, maybe better, places. and then lennon found heroin, and it changed again. these things are noted and discussed, but they don't negate the accomplishments of those involved.
i, like you, totally realize the shortcomings of this argument. it's not even logical. just something to think about.
maybe baseball should be above these things. maybe it never will be again.
3 - El Bicho
I don't see how after Canseco's book, the congressional hearings, and the issues with Giambi, Bonds, Clemens, Petit, et al how the revelation that any superstar in the league is juiced can create shock in anyone at this point.
Unfortunately, there's two types of people involved with baseball. Those who love the game and those who love to make money off the game. They should have told you after you found out about Santa.
4 - El Bicho
Interesting thought, but apples and oranges. When an artist takes a drug, who is cheated by his work? When a baseball player takes a drug, it affects everyone who has played the game because the numbers matter.