BUD SELIG'S WAR AGAINST PEDS...PAST AND PRESENT

It's all Pud Galvin's fault! Well no, I can't say that but would be so much easier to finally just blame all of this PED's corruption of our favorite sport on one person. Just one person. We could finally just find the cause of all of this insanity and stop the debating of where and when and point fingers somewhere else. It would be nice to just get back to the game. The pure game. Those days are gone though, but how did we get here? Is this whole BioGenesis crackdown for the good of the game....or is there an ulterior motive?

It's a fair question to ask. I want the game cleaned up as much as anyone else, but am I the only one bothered by the investigation itself? Let's go back in time....

Back in 1889 pitcher Pud Galvin was the first player to be linked to these things that we now have identified as evil performance enhancing drugs. So we have a starting point! This has been around for awhile. Galvin experimented in testosterone treatments that derived from animals. Things are a little different now, but this has been around for more than 100 years! It's evolved.

Galvin may not be a popular name these days, but there are many more to choose from. What about Jose Canseco? He wrote his first book in 2005 called "Juiced" that brought more attention to the subject than he wanted. In that book he called out players like our very own Alex Rodriguez, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmiero, Ivan Rodriguez, and Jason Giambi. This book brought so much attention (probably unwanted) so then came his second effort in 2008 named "Vindicated" which only brought out his frustrations. Just after this we get the admissions from both McGwire and Rodriguez regarding their PEDS use in the past. The thing I still can't get over today is the fact that McGwire's usage directly helped him surpass the great accomplishment by Roger Maris....he admits this and somehow that is still ok. It sickens me.

So here we are today. BioGenesis has really put a sour spin on this season, but it isn't the first time! Have we forgotten about BALCO? That didn't just affect baseball, it was widespread! Jason Giambi got off easily (in my opinion) with several apologies and Barry Bonds became the poster child for steroid use, even though he denied it. Despite all of the testimony in front of a grand jury he too got off without a great punishment. So where am I going with this?

The old cliche says that "history is doomed to repeat itself" if we do not learn from our mistakes. Perhaps commissioner Bud Selig is looking to make an example and redeem himself now post BioGenesis. It makes sense....

Following the 2006 steroid outbreak Selig took a lot of scrutiny from Congress that his drug policy was not strict enough. I don't think the one we have now is strict enough so how does a 10 game suspension for a first time offense sound? Sounds like a nice vacation to me. 30 games for the second, 60 games for the third, a year for the fourth and "commissioner's discretion" for the fifth was only putting Selig in the hot seat, and rightfully so. It didn't send the right message. Now we start with a 50 game suspension for first time offenders, 100 for second time and a lifetime ban for the third time. It is revamped but that hasn't stopped players from using peds....

Now here we are and this time we have another scandal with baseball front and center. Bud Selig is in the hot seat again. Now he is under the gun and he has to restore order. I want the game cleaned up, but it shouldn't be a witch hunt because he wants to retire with the image that he came down on these players. He would prefer to retire thinking that sports fans are crediting him with this crack down. He sent a powerful message....it's gonna be different now for years to come. Blah blah blah. I believe that MLB has conducted a thorough investigation, but you have to wonder if Selig is making this just as personal as it is about business.

Make it about the game Selig, not your ego. Sitting on David Letterman and announcing to the country that you knew what fate awaited Alex Rodriguez made you look like this was a personal vendetta or this is your great legacy after this season is over and you retire. This doesn't make you go out on top. This is just my take on it though. I know there are many others. Just keep it about baseball, Bud. We don't care about your ego.....just the game.

--Jeana Bellezza, BYB Senior Writer and Editor

Twitter: @NyPrincessJ

 

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ENOUGH'S ENOUGH. TIME FOR PETE ROSE TO GO TO COOPERSTOWN

If Barry Larkin, one of the most respected ballplayers in the game, can give huge compliments to the all-time hit king Pete Rose, then we really need to think about how idiotic it is to shun Rose from the Hall of Fame any longer.  Time has passed, the once most imitated ballplayer of the 1970's needs to be put on the ballot...Pete's taken his lumps...it's time.

Here's what Barry Larkin said of Rose during his Hall of Fame speech, a speech that was supposed to be all about Barry Larkin: "

"I wouldn't be in the big leagues without Pete Rose...Thank you Pete Rose. I love you man.”

Larkin also credited Rose for so much while they were with the Reds organization together. According to USA Today's piece: "Larkin credited Rose, who was in Cooperstown signing autographs, for talking with him in 1987 about "the pressures -- things that come along with being a (Cincinnati native) playing in Cincinnati."

This is a guy that played for and wanted to be like Pete Rose.  This is a guy that learned from Pete Rose, admired him and appreciated him.  Yes, Pete Rose gambled on baseball, and I'm not going to sit here and try to pinpoint when he did it and when he didn't.  I know it took place as a manager and that's pitiful, but it's also 2012 and let's face it...Pete Rose IS baseball, yet baseball turned it's back on him. 

He was nicknamed "Charlie Hustle" for a reason, he played hard. As I've told you before, I briefly lived near Cincinnati growing up and everyone, including 5 year old me, understood what the Big Red Machine meant to the game of baseball.  Rose was a huge part of that team and all his hard work and dedication to baseball was because he loved the game.  He broke records and played hard. He didn't bet on how many hits he would get, but he got them to become the all time hits leader in the whole game...4256.

The point is we are about to enter this "World of the Steroid era", and we are being ridiculous actually, trying to think about how the steroid era is going to affect future voting for the Hall of Fame. We are literally trying to do this logically, like it makes sense that all these guys that may or may not have "dabbled" in PEDs should be voted in or not. I don't get it. They actually cheated too, remember? They enhanced their bodies to hit more and better than others.  Yet, these guys are the ones being considered for the Hall of Fame, a special group of elite players in the whole game! What? Well, if you're going to do that, I have news for you, Pete Rose IS elite too, when he played the game.  Pete Rose didn't "juice", yet he's the one shunned.  I don't get it.

Think of it this way, the Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire's, the Sammy Sosa's and Rafael Palmeiro's are the guys under a cloud of suspicion for PEDs and we are actually going to figure out how to vote for these guys. Sadly, eventually all of them will go to the Hall of Fame, but Pete never will.  Yup, there have been op-ed's from people smarter than me saying, "How will the writer's vote in the steroid era?", yet God forbid someone says Pete Rose, you quickly hear a "He's banned," and they move on.  Well, let's not move on any longer.

Let me just say this, in my own humble opinion.... it's over. Pete Rose has done his time and sure, it's wasn't the smarting thing to do, cheating on baseball, but so did all these other guys, yet, they're being considered.  I believe it's time to bring Pete Rose back into the discussion, let's bring Pete Rose back to baseball.  It's time ladies and gentlemen... it's time Bud. No one knows that better than Barry Larkin. So, if baseball respects Larkin that much, than they need to also respect his words about one of the greatest hitters of all-time. Peter Rose...that's my take.

On a side note, Pete Rose was in Cooperstown yesterday, just a few blocks away from the Hall of Fame.  Like I said earlier he was signing autographs. 

 

Come on Baseball, bring Pete back!

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WHY I HOPE RYAN BRAUN IS NOT A FOOL

There is a story coming out of Milwaukee that could severely cripple a bright spot in baseball, if it turns out to be true. These days though, anything's possible, but we will hold judgement until the official word comes out. It involves Ryan Braun, the current National League MVP and PEDs. I know, I know, you're as shocked as me. I read it late last night and felt sick and I immediately said to myself, "What has happened to my sport?" Read the full story HERE.

Michael Hunt of the Boston Herald has a great piece, witty actually and he still hits home the major point of this whole mess. He asks "If Braun knowingly cheated, a 2012 season, which had much promise with essentially everyone back from a NLCS team except for Prince Fielder, could be devastated with a 50-game suspension for the Brewers’ marquee player.

How good or smart would that make anyone look now if Braun cannot prove he did nothing wrong?" Read his full piece HERE.

You also have to start to think, if in fact this is true, who else was doing it on the Brewers? Is this a shocking, isolated incident, or did they do it as a team? People will start to point fingers at Prince Fielder and Corey Hart and that's terrible to think this way. All of this "guilt by association" started because of Jose Canseco's accusations, some true, some not, about what he allegedly did in the Rangers clubhouse years ago with Juan Gonzalez and Rafael Palmiero and before that, with Mark McGwire.

I guess Yankees fans could almost be happy that Alex Rodriguez was only thinking about himself when he dabbled, because that would be devastating to a Yankee clubhouse if many players were involved. Luckily for Alex, it was just him, he "didn't know" what he was taking, and he turned his life around.

Ryan Braun is a role model. I know my oldest son and his friends impersonate him on the wiffle ball field. I will be sure to shield this story from them and hope to God it's not true. Braun is talented, many of these players are and I just don't understand what their thinking is when they "allegedly" get involved with these performance enhancing drugs. It may give you strength, but it won't make you hit the ball, you still need the talent to do that.

It's funny, I'm reading dozens of reports this morning about this incident, all the reports are being very careful:

Los Angeles Times: BBWAA won't strip Ryan Braun of MVP

USA Today: Ryan Braun tests positive for PED, says 'It's BS'

CNN What we know and what we don't know about Braun's positive test

The one that really caught my eye was the LA Times headline. The BBWAA won't strip Braun of the MVP, and yes, if this is appealed by Braun and it turns out to be false, he shouldn't be stripped. But if it's true, Matt Kemp of course needs to be breathing down their neck saying "Yoo Hoo, over here, look at me! I did it clean!"

Look, it's too early to get freaked out about this, we need to wait and see what happens with Ryan Braun. I hope to God that it's not true. No question though, this shocking report is a black eye on baseball... again... and it's getting pretty hard to defend these guys year after year to my 9 year old son who looks up to these guys like they're Gods. Fix it boys, or some of the old school jersey's of true baseball greats will replace the new guys... Don Mattingly, Robin Yount and Ron Guidry. Those guys did it with what they had, talent and pure guts. Hopefully Braun does too and this is all a misunderstanding. I hope so.

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