The Rights of Spring are becoming the Wrongs of Swingers, and the Boys of Summer may soon be the Boys of the Slammer. It’s not an encouraging story, and I’m growing dang tired of it.
Sports Illustrated broke the story that Yankees player Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids back in 2003. That was the year he won the American League’s Most Valuable Player award which he eventually leveraged into the biggest contract in baseball.
Apparently, he was taking at least two anabolic steroids.
So now, what is supposed to be the optimism of spring and the upcoming baseball season will once again be headlines about banned substances, players taking unfair advantage and the asterisk that will basically surround the last decade of all major league leaders. They’ve already started en masse.

It really isn’t supposed to be this way. The Yankees are moving into a new stadium. The game is trying to regain its name. Given the economy, prices may even be coming down throughout the league so a family can enjoy a game and maybe even have some money left for peanuts and ice cream. But not so.
A-Rod was one of 104 players that tested positively for steroids in 2003. They were no penalties at the time, but just about everyone in America has lost respect for this generation of sluggers. They’ve gone from heroes to goats, and A-Rod is now part of the Bonds/Sosa/McGuire/Palmeiro crowd that has rendered their records meaningless. What a mess. And somehow in the midst of it Commissioner Bud Selig makes $17 million and change for his “leadership” of the game.
I hope the media finds a way to focus on some heroes and inspire some kids. Focus on Ken Griffey, who stayed away from steroids which–combined with his injuries–has cost him a shot at the lifetime homerun record. Or perhaps they could focus on lifetime heroes such as Henry Aaron, Willie Mays, Harmon Killebrew, and Frank Robinson who hit homers without drugs.
Otherwise, baseball will continue to sink as our national pastime, and it may not even die a noticeable death. And by the time this year’s World Series comes–in November!–we may have already moved onto football. Our kids, I fear, already have. There’s just not that many heroes to look up to anymore.