Image via Complex Original
On Monday, Milwaukee Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun was dealt a 65-game suspension for his connection with the Florida-based clinic Biogenesis, that ended his season and sent shockwaves throughout Major League Baseball. Unfortunately, Braun is likely to be just the first of many to be banned, with players like Alex Rodriguez, Melky Cabrera, and Jhonny Peralta anxiously awaiting their own verdicts.
What's even worse about this scandal, though, is that Braun's suspension means that he lied to us. A little over a year ago, in February of 2012, when a 50-game ban for doping levied against him was overturned, Braun stated that the favorable decision was, "the first step in restoring my good name and reputation," and that he was "able to get through this because I am innocent." Unbelievable. Ryan, if getting busted again is your idea of "restoring" your reputation, then you might want to get your head checked.
Of course, Braun certainly isn't the first to have gotten caught for the use of performance-enhancing drugs. Over the years, the list has become littered with names like Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Mark McGwire, and countless others. As fans of the game, it's hard to read about these stories and not feel a little bit shortchanged by these players' actions. After all, how can we watch these guys cheat when we've been told not to since we were in the Little League? Where have those core values of the game gone?
But, while it's undoubtedly disheartening, is it also possible that this mindset is somewhat unrealistic? Maybe we just have to accept that this is an inevitable aspect of any professional competition. And, more importantly, maybe because we're so concerned about steroid use, we've come to ignore what's still so great about this game. Undecided on the issue? We're here to help. End of Discussion: Is the Biogenesis Scandal the Last Straw for Baseball Fans?
What do you think? Read our arguments and share your thoughts at the end.
Yes: Baseball has lost all of its old heroes.
In the eternal words of Simon & Garfunkel, "Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you." The feeling of abandonment that Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel captured in their 1968 folk classic, "Mrs. Robinson", is one that many baseball fans can relate to today. Where have all our old heroes gone? What happened to ball players like Stan Musial, Mickey Mantle, or even Ken Griffey Jr? Instead, we've been treated to unbearable prima donnas like Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, and Barry Bonds. I mean, if one of the game's top talents is being told to "shut the fuck up" by his general manager of all people, then something has clearly gone haywire with our respect for pro baseball players.
No: Baseball was never pure in the first place.
Out of any sport, it seems that baseball fans are the ones who suffer the most from selective memory syndrome. Yes, the PED scandal is a disheartening blow to purists of the sport, but have you forgotten the amphetamines-era of the 1970s? Players were so hyped up on greenies that stolen base totals reached an unprecedented peak from 1971-1980. Increased alterness and adrenaline also contributed to the marathon throwing sessions that many pitchers took part in during that time. And that's only one instance on the long list of scandals in MLB.
The Black Sox, Pete Rose, Dock Ellis and his LSD-fueled no-hitter: baseball has been anything but clean nearly since its beginning. With PEDs, the circumstances may have changed, but the game is still the same.
Yes: It's impossible to trust any of the players anymore.
Man, has anyone seen the season that Orioles first baseman, Chris Davis, is having? Dude's going off. 37 home runs, .314 BA, and a mess of RBIs (97 to be exact)? How haven't we heard of this guy before? Let's check out his stats: Davis had 33 home runs and 87 RBIs all of last season, and in the season before that only put up five home runs to go with 19 RBIs. Wait, what? Hmmm...anything seem fishy to you guys? Or how about Jose Bautista? The Toronto Blue Jays star had never hit more than 16 home runs in a season before he hit 54 in 2010 when he was already 29 years old. And what about Yoenis CesPEDes jacking 17 home runs in the first round of the Home Run Derby?
Okay, okay, that last one is a stretch, but you see where we're going with this, right? It almost doesn't matter whether or not any of these guys are taking steroids; the fact of the matter is that we're instantly suspicious of any player's success at this point. We feel wrong giving an honest player his due. How are you supposed to enjoy following a sport when you're constantly paranoid of it?
No: There's an inspiring crop of young, supposedly clean players.
Sure, the '90s and early 2000s were a major black eye on MLB, and it'll be hard to forget anti-heroes like Rafael Palmeiro, Roger Clemens, and Sammy Sosa. But do you know who is going to help make forgetting those guys a lot easier? Up-and-coming stars like Bryce Harper, Mike Trout, and Manny Machado, a crop of players who have shown flashes of brilliance without any of the controversy of their predecessors. You think you're in need of someone to root for? How can you not cheer for a guy like Mike Trout, who very nearly won the AL MVP during his rookie season? There's plenty of talented young stars like this in league, fans just need to start looking at them and stop living in the past.
Yes: The League has often turned a blind eye to PED use.
Bud Selig has been heavily criticized during his tenure as league commissioner for a number of reasons, but his most glaring deficiency has been his inability to come down hard on dopers in the '90s and early 2000s. Selig would literally have had to have been blind to not see how huge guys like Jose Canseco and Ken Caminetti were getting. Bud, you really thought they got those muscles from a new offseason diet or something? Selig was happy to let his players' questionable behavior slide only because they were boosting interest in the game again, and driving TV ratings up.
Since 2007's infamous Mitchell Report was released, though, Selig has pledged to rid the game of any influence from PEDs, but from this latest steroid saga, it's clear that his tactics have either failed, or not been harsh enough. Whether they were incompetent or just didn't care, the commissioner's office has been just as complicit in all of this wrongdoing as the players have. With guys like Selig in charge, this situation will never improve.
No: Times have changed.
The unfortunate flip-side of all the old-timey reverence for hallowed names like Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig is that the players of today are held to the same standards of character and behavior as their turn-of-the-century forefathers. In case you guys weren't aware, though, the world has changed since the days of the Great Bambino. So why should we expect professional athletes to be paragons of virtue when our other cultural icons are allowed to act as they please?
The code of conduct that we've imposed upon these guys is ridiculous. If Kim Kardashian can make her name and millions of dollars off of a sex tape and a terrible reality show, then why can't a desperate minor leaguer hoping to earn the big bucks do what it takes to find that extra edge? This isn't about being cynical; it's about being fair.
Yes: The players haven't stopped using steroids, they're just hiding it better.
Let's be honest: just because we've heard less about steroids in the past few years than we did when the media was swirling around Barry Bonds' pursuit for the home run title, doesn't mean that they've gone away. As we saw in the case of the Biogenesis clinic, the strategies for hiding usage have simply become more advanced. When they can pull in lucrative clients like Alex Rodriguez, Melky Cabrera, and Ryan Braun, biochemists like Anthony Bosch will always put in the extra hours to find new ways around MLB's testing methods. Why be optimistic about anti-steroid policies when they're continually being proved to be outdated and ineffective?
No: Baseball is still our nation's premiere summer pastime.
Note: We didn't say favorite pasttime, we said favorite summer pastime. When the fall comes along, we all know that the NFL reigns supreme, and in the late spring and early summer, the NBA and NHL playoffs will always be more appealing to watch than the first month or two of MLB's 162-game season. But when that muggy July weather descends upon us, and everyone is looking for the nearest place to cool down, we'll always opt for some shaded bleacher seats at our closest ballpark. If you haven't been to a ballgame before, change that now.
Baseball is perfect because it doesn't demand that you stand up and scream for four quarters, or that you keep your attention focused for the entire game lest you miss a highlight-worthy play; it just asks that you grab some friends, a couple beers, and relax as the action slowly unfolds before you. When temperatures are climbing up to 100 degrees, what more could you ask for?
Yes: The record books have become tainted.
Baseball is a sport that places a high premium on statistics. Even when you go back before the dawn of the sabermetric-era, box scores and stat sheets on the backs of baseball cards were how we stacked up our favorite players up against each other. And what competition has more iconic records than baseball? Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak, Cal Ripken Jr's 2,632 consecutive games played, and Cy Young's 511 wins are some of the most unassailable placeholders in all of sports.
But when you have a guy like Barry Bonds coming along and breaking the all-time home runs records, suddenly, everything about the game feels cheapened. Should there be an asterisk next to his name in the record books? Do we need to go back and start scrutinizing all of the past greats to see if the same should be done for them? A sports fan should never have to ask themselves these kind of questions.
No: The bad guy doesn't always win.
If you're interested in keeping the Hall of Fame clean then you can at least take comfort in the fact that baseball voters have done their part in keeping dopers like Mark McGwire, Barry Bonds, and Sammy Sosa from earning their bust in Cooperstown. On top of that, the public consciousness has done well to make sure that guys like Rafael "I have never used steroids. Period." Palmeiro have been quietly shuffled away to the corner in their retirement. A part of the reason that these guys doped was because they wanted their names to live on forever. When we deny them that immortality by refusing to retire their numbers or enshrine them, then we can truthfully say that we as the fans won.
Verdict: No, the Biogenesis scandal is not the last straw for baseball fans.
Baseball has been under an extreme amount of scrutiny in the years since Barry Bonds freely usurped Hank Aaron as the home run king, despite the fact that Bonds had been clearly juicing during much of his playing career. A sense of justice was missing, and with a flurry of investigations and congressional hearings blanketing Major League Baseball in controversy, many wondered if the league would be able to stay afloat in the face of this scandal. As the latest saga regarding the Biogenesis clinic unfolds, the same questions and concerns will arise: How could the league let this happen? Why should I pay money to watch a bunch of cheaters? How can anyone fix this?
When it comes down to it, unless the league institutes harsher penalties to discourage doping (say, a one-strike, lifetime ban policy) then things aren't going to be changing anytime soon. But the real question that no one has asked yet is this: does it really matter? As we've already discussed, no one can pretend that baseball--or any professional competition, for that matter--has ever been completely clean; that idea is just propaganda that we've been fed by out-of-touch purists, and fantastical, Hollywood movies. Guess what? No one has Roy Hobbs' magic bat, and it's entirely possible that Nolan Ryan was hopped up on speed while he was working the mound.
We often forget that athletes are real people just like us, and that they too have to make a living. If they need some extra help to get out of the dregs of the minor leagues (where their pay can be as little as $1,100 a month), then so be it. We'll continue to enjoy the summer days that we can waste away on the couch watching a game, or hanging out at the ballpark with our friends. If we had to put some blinders on while we were taking in a game, then so be it. In terms of total fan experiences, baseball still gives us plenty to get misty-eyed and nostalgic about and, in the end, that's all that really matters.
Now that you've heard our thoughts, it's time for you guys to decide. What does Ryan Braun's suspension, and the rest of the controversy surrounding MLB in the wake of the Biogenesis scandal mean to you as a fan? Has the game been forever shamed in your eyes, or was this to be expected? Will we ever be able to connect with the players like our grandfathers did with Babe Ruth and Ty Cobb, or are we naive to hope for something so outdated like that? Weigh in on the issue in the comments section below.
