SPORTS
MLB’s steroid tragedy
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by Michael Robinson
Wednesday, October 13, 2004
Aug. 24, 1989, Major League Baseball commissioner Bart Giamatti described Pete Rose's lifetime ban from baseball as the "sad end of a sorry episode."
The same words can be used to describe the untimely death of Ken Caminiti. After a turbulent 15-year career that was marred by steroid and cocaine use, the former MVP died of a heart attack Sunday at the age of 41.
While Caminiti's death brings a sad end to his personal struggle with drugs and steroid use, it does not mark the end of the sorriest episode in professional sports. Despite the sudden passing of baseball's most public steroid user, steroid use continues to taint the national pastime.
After more than 5 percent of the 1,438 players anonymously tested in 2003 were found to have used steroids, the MLB was finally forced to admit that it has a steroid problem.
In accordance with the absurdly lax policy demanded by the players' union, which does not allow any punitive consequences for steroid use to be put into effect until 5 percent of players have tested positive in the previous year, baseball will finally enact a policy to punish steroid users.
Sadly, the policy is shamefully weak and is not likely to have a major impact on steroid use in professional baseball. The current policy does not even call for a suspension until the second positive test, and even then the suspension lasts just 15 days. A player is not suspended for a full season until he tests positive five times.
However, the policy at least demonstrates that Selig and company have moved past a lengthy period of denial and taken the first tiny steps toward establishing accountability for steroid use.
While official MLB tests placed the number of steroid users at approximately 5 to 7 percent of all players, the testimony of the few big-name players willing to speak out against steroids suggests that the number is significantly higher.
When Caminiti admitted to using steroids during his MVP campaign in 1996, he estimated that at least 50 percent of major league players used steroids. Jose Canseco put the number at 85 percent.
We may never know the real number, but ultimately that statistic is irrelevant. All that matters is that steroid use is far more prevalent than it should ever have become, and the league must take a far more serious stand against it.
Even the players recognize that the current policy is a joke. In an interview with the Dallas Morning News, veteran pitcher Kenny Rogers took a brutally realistic view on baseball's steroid policy.
"I don't think anything is going to change," Rogers said. "Nothing. You'd have to be a complete moron to get suspended. And if you get suspended, the first time, it's really not much more than a few extra tee times."
The fact is players receive longer suspensions for knocking down stuffed sausages than they receive for a positive steroid test. Even multiple instances of steroid use do not result in a lifetime ban, as Rose's gambling conviction did.
While a manager placing bets on his own team can certainly affect the outcome of a game, an everyday player using steroids has a far greater impact. So why isn't the punishment for steroid use as severe as the punishment for gambling?
The current policy is not even in the same ballpark. With an astonishingly lenient policy, Selig and the boys are practically condoning steroid use. This is simply unacceptable.
When will the league take a real stand against steroids? Caminiti discussed the problem in 1996. Eight years later, MLB officials have only begun to address it. How many years will it take for the league to draft a policy that the players actually take seriously?
By actively opposing efforts to create an even playing field, the players' association is harming any player who does not use steroids. For a group that claims to represent the interests of the players, this clearly sends the wrong message.
Baseball did not take steroids seriously in Caminiti's day and they do not take them seriously now.
In his famous admission to Sports Illustrated, Caminiti explained, "It's no secret what's going on in baseball. At least half the guys are using [steroids]. They talk about it. They joke about it with each other."
The current policy remains a joke. If the league is not concerned with the legitimacy of the game, it should at least consider the health of its players.
Caminiti is an example of what steroids can do to a professional athlete. As a result of his steroid use, Caminiti's natural testosterone level was reduced by 80 percent. His health gradually eroded, leading to his tragic death. Late in his career, steroids were already taking their toll on the baseball star.
"My tendons and ligaments got all torn up," Caminiti told CNNSI. "My muscles got too strong for my tendons and ligaments. And now my body's not producing testosterone. You know what that's like? You get lethargic. You get depressed. It's terrible."
Caminiti's words could not stop the steroid epidemic, but hopefully his tragic death will. The sudden loss of a former Major League star should provide a chilling wake-up call for professional baseball. If that call hits home, Caminiti will not have died in vain.
Anonymous (October 13, 2004 @ 1:53pm):
Never gonna happen. Look at Barry Bonds. Given the recent revelations by Gary Sheffield, there can hardly be any doubt that Bonds uses steroids. Yet because he is so close to breaking one of baseball's most cherished records, nobody cares.
If MLB wants to save itself, it needs a policy with teeth. Like turning over records of positive drug tests to federal prosecutors.
Anonymous (October 13, 2004 @ 4:43pm):
For future reference, Donald Fehr not Bud Selig is the head of the Players Union. Plus as a writer and sports fan, Caminetti's autosy has not been announced as death by steriods so dont have a headline calling it a "steriod tragedy."
I normally dont write these but these mistakes were just too blatent too ignore.
