James Riswick
Staff Writer
They say a picture is worth a thousand words.
If it wasn’t for the tell-tale earring and bad attitude, it would be hard to tell just by looking at pictures of him that the ginormous Barry Bonds of today is the same player who broke into the big leagues in the late 1980s. How can somebody get so big? The answer must be steroids.
Or compare a picture of Mark McGwire in his 70-home-run season in 1998 to a picture of him today on a golf course somewhere. He’s gone from Zeus-like proportions to regular old big-boned guy. How can somebody get so small after being so big? The answer must be steroids.
But wait a second, is that really the only answer? Is it really fair to condemn these players simply by looking at pictures, home run totals and an attention/money-getting venture by Jose Canseco? Sure, they may be guilty, but as some of baseball’s best and biggest are called to testify before Congress this week about steroid use, isn’t it important to remember that in this country one is innocent until proven guilty?
In fine courtroom drama style, let’s try and form some reasonable doubt. First, back in the late 1980s, weight lifting was not the necessity and obsession that it is today for professional athletes. McGwire and Canseco’s Oakland Athletics were one of the few teams that began to grasp onto pumping iron, but their weight room wasn’t even in their own clubhouse — they had to go all the way over to the visitor’s side. It just wasn’t the same priority.
Along those lines, Bonds did not suddenly change from the wiry-looking version of himself in the 1980s to his current frame over night or even over one or two seasons. It took years of increased weight lifting that coincided with an increased MLB-wide interest in lifting.
As for McGwire, isn’t it possible that he stopped lifting and working out after retiring?
Secondly, the home-run totals generated from the late 1990s to today can be explained by something more than just rampant steroid use. The pitcher talent pool has been deluded by added teams. Back in 1998, McGwire and Sammy Sosa played many of their games against the National League Central, which had some of the worst pitching it baseball. Also, in that time period, a cascade of new hitter-friendly ball parks were built, not to mention more weight lifting by all.
As for Bonds, it can be argued he just became an incredible hitter. Even if he did use steroids, that wouldn’t do anything for his hand-eye coordination and ability to hit a baseball. If it did, Canseco would still be playing today. Bonds’ ability to wait for the pitch he wants or settle for a walk instead makes him the most valuable player in baseball, not just his tape-measure home runs.
Now, Bonds has admitted in the BALCO steroid-distribution case that he once accidentally took a steroid creme that was given to him by a trainer. If that’s the truth, then it’s hardly damning evidence. But let’s just say for argument sake that McGwire (who’s denied all charges), Sosa, Bonds and the several others called to testify before Congress are just as guilty of using steroids as admitted juice junkies Canseco and Yankee outcast Jason Giambi. Heck, let’s say that half of Major League Baseball was using steroids.
Why is Congress holding hearings about this? Don’t they have anything else better to do than sit around and waste taxpayers money trying to find out if professional athletes are using steroids? Even Sen. John McCain, who got baseball to toughen its steroid-testing program through an earlier series of hearings, has spoken out against this new round.
“The appropriate thing to do now is to let baseball’s program run its course,” McCain said on ESPN radio.
For Rep. Tom Davis, the Congressional hearings’ chairman, calling accused former and active ballplayers is essential in finding out how pervasive steroid use has been in baseball and how it’s trickled down to possibly the high school level.
“(The players called to testify) have been accused by former colleagues of having used drugs at this point,” Davis said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “There have been public accusations about these players. They’ve set records. There is, I think, a widespread feeling that maybe they cheated their way to achieving these records by using illegal drugs.”
OK, but why does Congress care that a baseball record is tainted? Did they call a Congressional hearing when Milli Vanilli lip synched their way to a Grammy?
Baseball has enacted a new drug policy that, although not nearly strict enough, is at least finally dealing with the steroid issue by testing players. Shouldn’t this be a matter handled by Major League Baseball and not by the government?
In the end, if McGwire and others say they didn’t use steroids in the past, there’s practically nothing that can prove they did or didn’t. Records can’t be changed because of circumstantial evidence. All that can be done now is assure that steroids are no longer used. Baseball has attempted to do that, and there’s no point in Congress dragging players to testify about something in the past that can’t be corrected and that isn’t all that important when compared with the real-life issues with which Congress should be dealing.
03-17-2005