The Raffy Rant

I try to be a thoughtful baseball fan, but I was shocked like others at Rafael Palmeiro's suspension for using steroids (specifically, stanozolol, so it wasn't an accident). I've been mulling this since the revelation and want to get some thoughts down.

Baseball is held in a mythical regard, and we speak softly when we say the names of Mantle, DiMaggio, Ruth, Berra, Tinkers-Ever-Chance, and others in the pantheon of American sports legends. There's a cliche that says, "Baseball is what America wants to be and Football is what America is." So let's get this in the open: baseball is a game where cheating is acceptable behavior, just like NASCAR, politics, and paying taxes. The Baseball Hall of Fame is filled with spike-sharpeners, pinetar-batsmen, and spitball-specialists. Now we must consider whether to admit athletes who regularly and openly used performance enhancers like steroids and human growth hormones in a time when baseball did not prohibit their use.

The guardians of baseball's image are reporters, and long-standing sportswriters hold the keys to the HOF. Many have stated Palmeiro is a Hall of Famer, the steroid use did not change their minds, and he will receive their votes, though perhaps not on the first ballot. These include Stark of ESPN, Nightengale and Livingstone of Sports Weekly, and Elliot of The (Toronto) Sun. Some are waiting to see how the McGuire debate works out (Verducci of Sports Illustrated), and others are taking a hard-line against admittance, including writers for the New York Daily News and USA Today. Rick Reilly of Sports Illustrated wrote particularly vicious column in the August 15th issue of SI, lambasting his colleagues for even considering giving their votes to Palmeiro.

So if I had a vote, what would I do?

Lost in the noise is the basic issue that use of steroids without a doctor's permission is illegal. Period. The use of vasoline to make an Uncle Charley break a little sharper is not illegal outside of baseball. Why hasn't a federal agent shown up at Palmeiro's (or McGuire's or Sosa's or Canseco's) doorstep with a search warrant and a set of shiny handcuffs? Palmeiro broke federal law, unless his doctor prescribed the drugs, then the Maryland State Board of Medical Examiners need to examine the Orioles team doctor's medical license.

If Palmeiro spends any time in jail, it's because he lied to Congress and not because of the drugs. And maybe not even then. And the fact we find this kind of cheating "acceptable," even after an apology, is the disease that is afflicting our culture.

Am I overstating things? I don't think so. The Hall validates a player's career and holds it up to a higher regard over thousands of other players. Why then are reporters and other people defending an illegal and stupid habit that destroys human beings? Ken Caminiti was a steroid user, among other drugs, and he figured this all out before he died in 2004.

We can't do anything about the other idiots already in the Hall, but we can do something about the drug users who are examples to teenagers who see Palmeiro and others as justification to destroy their bodies with steroids.

Repeat after me: "Today, we will not accept illegal drug use and lying about it as normal behavior."

Hey, Raffy, you want into the HOF? The ticket booth is out front. Pete Rose and Jose Canseco will probably let you cut in line. Or not. But when has playing by the rules been an issue to you?