I would have never guessed that David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs back in 2003. Never in my wildest dreams. I mean, if you look at David Ortiz’s stats from 2000-2003 (the first three seasons where he started at least 100 games), the numbers just scream Power Hitter. So it’s only a natural progression. Just look: 2000, he hit 10 home runs and drove in 63 runs in 130 games. In 2001, 18 homers and 48 RBI’s in half a season, and in 2002, 20 home runs and 75 RBI’s in 125 games. Then in 2003, suddenly he’s a 30 home run hitter. Thirty-one homers and 101 runs batted in. In 2004, the Sox Championship season, Ortiz homered 41 times and drove in 139 runs. Now you can argue that this statistical leap can be owed to the fact that Ortiz was batting behind Ramirez. In his six seasons in Minnesota, Ortiz never batted behind a hitter like Ramirez (apparently the steroids never made it up to the Great White North). But nevertheless, the statistical jump is impossible to ignore. You’re gonna tell me, with a straight face, that going from hitting 10, 18 and 20 home runs to hitting 41, 47 and 54 home runs (his totals from 2004-2006) is a normal progression? Basically what I’m trying to say is that no one should be the least bit suprised by this revelation. The guy gained about 30 pounds and started hitting balls to Lansdowne Street, and we’re supposed to look the other way and accept it as normal.
Now we already now about Manny, it’s old news. Yes, he just tested positive and finished serving a 50-game suspension. He still has skeptics on his back and now he has to deal with tests from 2003. But we’re not surprised by this either. So if we’re not suprised by this, if this makes sense to us, than why are we continuing to act like our world is being shattered every time another name leaks? The late Ken Caminiti (may he rest in peace) had already told Sports Illustrated, years ago, that at least half of the league was using performance-enhancing drugs. Jose Canseco made similar allegations. Of course everyone takes his claims with a grain of salt (or a whole ocean’s worth of salt) because it seems that Canseco might be a few blades short of a lawnmower, but regardless, there have been enough big names already linked to steroids that how can we possibly, as fans, sit here and not grow suspicious of just about every major star we’ve followed in the last 10-15 years. Barry Bonds, David Ortiz, Manny Ramirez, Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Alex Rodriguez, Roger Clemens, Jason Giambi, and the list goes on.
It’s time for us to accept, as baseball fans, that this is the way the game was played in the last decade. We can almost come to the conclusion that no one has had a distinct advantage because of the sheer number of players who were juicing. Like the dead-ball era, this has simply been another phase that professional baseball has gone through, and will hopefully bounce back from. There’s no doubt that the allure of the home run brought baseball back from the edge of despair following the 1994 strike. I have no doubt that there is still hope for baseball to redeem itself from this ordeal. The asterisks are something we will look back on not with fondness or with disgust, but with an understanding of where the sport has gone and where it’s headed in the future.
With hundreds of more names still to be revealed, the only thing left for baseball to do is to look ahead to the future of the game and work on protecting the game’s integrity moving forward; there’s simply no use in dwelling on past mistakes anymore. The more we argue about who’s stats are tainted and which teams’ championships are tainted, the more we remain stagnant and stuck in a muddled past full of mistakes and regrets. It’s time to move on, baseball (and hope that Pujols’ name never appears on a list – he’s our only hope now).
