Late Wednesday night, the World Series came to a close, and our rivals were crowned champions. I watched as Bud Selig presented David Ortiz with the MVP award, and let out a good laugh. It seems extremely hypocritical to me that in an age where Selig is attempting to "clean up baseball," he would hand over the MVP award to a known steroid user.
It's no secret that Selig has made it a bit of a witch hunt with Alex Rodriguez. 211 game suspension for someone who is technically a first time offender, with no positive test, is excessive. Sure, ARod hasn't been the poster child of innocence, and there are a few times where you question his judgements, but Selig is using ARod to set an example.
As Yankees fans we receive a lot of flak because of ARod. There is no doubt that he has gone through a metamorphosis as a player, even in his name. Everything from "AFraud", to "ARoid" has been thrown at him. And fans are usually on the receiving end of it. How can we support a player that is a known steroid user? Let's be clear, we support him because we acknowledge that it is a team effort. A productive ARod in our line up is a good thing. That does not mean that if he is guilty of using PED's we support those actions. On the same note, you have Ortiz, who is also a known PED user, but treated quite differently than ARod.
In 2009 it was released that Ortiz was on the list of 104 players who tested positive for PED's. Ortiz acknowledged the positive results, but never quiet admitted to the usage of PED's. And then, nothing. Absolutely nothing happened! MLB kind of said "Yea, you tested positive. Have a nice day!" This was the same year that ARod admitted to PED usage, after Sports Illustrated said he was on that same list. Ortiz made promises to find out what he tested positive for, and handle it accordingly, but did nothing. ARod stepped up, and took responsibility for his actions. Can this be why they are treated so differently?
Look, ARod has made a few mistakes. Sunbathing in Central Park, photo shoot kissing himself in the mirror, flying women if questionable morals across the country while married. But none of those things matter to me. You know what does matter? Baseball! ARod's personal life means nothing to me. I won't lose a wink of sleep over who he is or isn't sleeping with. I honestly could not possibly care less. What I do care about is his performance in baseball. All I see are stats. So when I make statements concerning ARod, I don't care about his character. I don't care if he is vain, or stuck up, or whatever else people may call him. I only want to discuss his statistics, and how his actions effected baseball, period. People want to prosecute ARod because of his character. It is easy to use him as a scapegoat when the media portrays him as a vain, and self centered individual. But it is an unfair assessment, unless you know him personally. How can you make a judgement call on someone you have never even conversed with?
On that same thought, if ARod is guilty of cheating, he deserves to be punished. So does Ortiz. The bottom line is that Ortiz tested positive for PED usage. He is a cheater. The media has elected to not use him as a scapegoat, so the judgement thrown at him is far less harsh. He is viewed as this cherubic, smiling, happy man, and that may very well be true. But the fact remains that he used steroids. And while he never outright admitted to it, it doesn't make it any less true.
You cannot stand for something with one foot out of the door. If you believe that the usage of PEDs in baseball is wrong, than you have to stick to that. And this includes lobbing Ortiz in with Barry Bonds, Sammy Sosa, and ARod. If you believe that they all should be banned from the hall of fame, so should Ortiz. Fair is fair. Otherwise, you are as big a hypocrite as Bud Selig!
--Erica Morales BYB Senior Writer
Twitter: @e_morales1804
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