By Julian Dory
Columnist
Baseball’s steroid era will forever leave a black mark on a game born in the streets and fields of our great country. Forever, in the sport where records are most indelible, fans will have to insert mental asterisks next to any outstanding achievement between the late 1980s and today.
Barry Bonds. Cheated.
Mark McGuire. Cheated.
Roger Clemens. Cheated.
It is a shame. Their talent was astronomical without the assistance of dirty syringes and skin-seeping creams.
Most recently, last year’s NL MVP, Ryan Braun, had his name dragged through the mud of public shame after testing revealed he had broken the MLB’s performance-enhancing drug policy.
When that news broke, it was the one of the worst lows of the steroid era. A clean cut, well-spoken, hard-working star that had risen just as the dust settled from the worst point of the steroid scandal in baseball had sunk to the depths of every other guilty offender before him.
Back to square one.
Or … maybe he was innocent? Braun had not put on much noticeable muscle since entering the league in 2007 and the drug-testing in baseball is widely-regarded as being built upon paranoia. Any tests that pick up even a scent of an oddity result in a “failure” marker, a 50-game suspension for the guilty player and an indelible mark of infamy. Sure, we never look at some players the same ever again, but some players have failed tests based on substances they regularly took, bought from their local drug store.
Still, honestly, Braun’s case seemed to smell funny from the beginning. That is why when Braun won his appeal of his suspension (and in essence, his original conviction) last week it came as a pleasant news story.
But not a surprise.
For the first time since baseball put down its iron fist on its drug policy, a star embedded in the web of steroid-offenders wiggled himself free. The arbitrators ruled that Braun’s testing had been administered incorrectly, and this, as a result, skewed the results (he had tested positive for heightened levels of testosterone).
Braun was unequivocal in declaring his innocence and happiness with the results. He had maintained his story from the beginning, and he had never even offered a possibility as to how he could have increased his testosterone.
It is great to see a major star, and reigning MVP, acquitted of such a regrettable offense. But it is even greater to finally see a corner for baseball to turn with regard to its steroid era.
Now, the knee-jerk reactions may fade. Now, the drug testing may be reevaluated and perfected so that innocent players don’t have to declare that status. Now, the offenders of the real drugs—HGH, creatine, cypionate—might finally realize there is no hope in even attempting to hide their abuse from drug-testers anymore.
Most importantly, parents might finally be able to rest easy when their children talk about their “baseball heroes.”