The MLB has had a nasty PED scandal brewing for the better part of a year with now-defunct, anti-aging clinic Biogenesis, which reportedly supplied a bevy of MLB stars with all sorts of banned, performance-enhancing substances. Naturally, repercussions will be handed out. In a mannerer that makes the most sense for Bud Selig and the MLB, at least.
As it turns out, Selig has decided to suspend players…but only after the All-Star Game has passed.
“Commissioner Bud Selig’s office is expected to suspend (Brewers left fielder Ryan) Braun and (Yankees third baseman Alex) Rodriguez, along with as many as 20 players sometime after next week’s All-Star break.” The story was attributed to “several sources” to the sports network’s “Outside the Lines.”
Now, one could easily argue that Selig is simply ironing out the finite details in the suspensions. But some of the names of the players listed in the report – including Bartolo Colon*, Jhonny Peralta and Everth Cabrera – were named All-Stars for next week’s Midsummer Classic, so… yeah, Selig would clearly rather just go on with the event as-is than make a big spectacle over replacing some of his most celebrated players.
I grew up playing baseball and idolizing players like Jim Thome, Kenny Lofton and Ken Griffey Jr. I still follow the sport consistently and will always have a special place in my heart for it, but after awhile, antics like this make me question an association I used to call my favorite in all of professional sports.
Take Chris Davis, Baltimore’s all-world first basemen and leading All-Star vote-getter. His performance during the first half of the season has been nothing short of remarkable. Talks about him touching Roger Maris’s “clean” home run record (61, set in 1961) definitely hold merit, considering Davis is on pace for 59. But I can’t sit here and tell you that I think he’s doing it cleanly. Not during a time when so many players are reportedly working with clinics, shady medical practitioners and trainers to find an edge.
If this were any other sport and any other hallowed record were up for grabs, I’d be thrilled to witness history unfold. However, this is baseball in 2013. every remarkable act, be it an otherworldly home run chase or a 101 mile-per-hour fastball, has to be considered suspicious, at least from where I’m sitting.
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