Friday, May 8, 2009

Charlie Kelly Expresses My Feelings About Steroids in Baseball.

With the most recent news of Manny Ramirez testing positive for performance enhancing drugs, which I'm sure you're already sick of hearing about, I'm really starting to wondering if there is anyone clean in this sport anymore. I'm not saying that Manny was a saint and that this news shocked me because it really didn't, but it seems like every time the steroid talk starts to calm down something like this happens.

Manny has obviously had several problems in recent years - Manny being Manny - but this most recent news may be the most damaging for him. Manny is often considered as one of the best hitters to ever play the game with a career average of .315, and he is one of the 25 players in history to reach 500 homeruns. He has the fourth highest career average on this list behind:
Ted Williams (.344), Babe Ruth (.342) and Jimmie Foxx (.325). Being with that company is impressive, but because he's in the "Steroid Era" and has been caught using performance enhancing drugs, his reputation will suffer.

I don't think Ramirez should be as heavily criticized as others in this situation. Many before Manny have lied after being caught - even to Congress - while Manny admits that he made a mistake. That doesn't mean he should be forgiven, but his image isn't nearly as damaged as Mark McGwire who looked awfully uncomfortable in his testemony in front of Congress years ago.

I'm also surprised that there are so many baseball players who are being caught for this and hardly any in other professional sports. In the NFL, I remember linebacker Shawne Merriman being suspened a four games or so for using, but besides him, I can't think of any other player in recent memory who has been caught. And I never hear about it in the NBA or NHL. Maybe the players in these sports are just better at not getting caught, or maybe the testing in these sports aren't effective enough. Whatever it is, it seems strange to me that MLB players are basically the only players being caught.

I'm sure there are still players who haven't been caught and will be revealed in the near future, but all of this focus on Manny or any player caught using performance enhancing drugs makes me feel like this at times . . .

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