The Curious Case of Barry Rodriguez

Well, for the few remaining baseball purists in sport fandom, the foundation has just been demolished by another Performance Enhancing Drug quake. This time the messianic hope embodied by Alex Rodriguez and his pure talent have been revealed to be nothing more than a shroud for Cooperstown.

Earlier this month, Rodriguez’s name was revealed as one of 104 positive tests that were conducted in 2003 to deter the rising popularity of Performance Enhancing Drugs (PED’s). The testing was initiated earlier in the decade after a 16 year veteran catapulted 73 homeruns out of baseball parks across the nation. And though everyone held reservations about the products shipping from Wall-bonds manufacturing, it was Alex who was supposed to be the history books defender.

The 2001 performance of 73 homeruns was the equivalent of the final splat of pine tar on George Brett’s bat. Bond’s achievement came only 4 years after McGwire traded shots with Sammy Sosa in Baseball’s resurgent 1998 season. 1998 saw McGwire’s courtship of 61* get stadium seats full and turn style repairmen some overtime. The efforts of both men were nothing short of heroic. As baseball had struggled to gain market share after the 1994 strike, long ball-mania was one way to generate interest in the game. Their summer campaign became instant karma for Selig and company.

In one season baseball found its market share returning. Live game feeds interrupted all programming content to show the next shot heard around the world live and in primetime. But while the rest of the league was engrossed in the summer race, number 25 out in San Francisco was watching his 37 homeruns fail to be a featured segment on SportsCenter. And though Bonds would finish 1998 with a .303 average and a .609 slugging percentage, it was only good enough to land the snowman rank in MVP voting.

Up in Seattle during the 1998 season Rodriguez was in his 5th season in the league and in the midst of his most productive to date. 1998 saw A-Rod hit 42 homeruns will maintaining a .310 batting average and a .560 slugging percentage; numbers that landed him 9th in the MVP voting. He also entered into the exclusive 40-40 club as he swept 46 bases as well. Though this is the only time Rodriguez reached the 40-40 club, it was done in 6 fewer seasons than Bonds, who didn’t achieve it until year 11.

In retrospect, 1998 seems to be the calm before the proverbial storm. Over the next 5 years everything got bigger; the players, the home runs, the attendance and the Yankee’s payroll expenses. Coincidentally, the one are of the game that never did undergo enhancements was the oversight. Baseball was able to remain negligent as long as the public was over stimulated on the results rather than the means. But, the assault and brevity of the next 5 years would leave pieces of corked history debris falling to this day.

Back to 2001. While Bond’s 73 souvenirs and the shredded frame that it was done on left sport writers in awe from preseason on; A-Rod’s was busy impersonating Dr. Evil demanding ransom money that would have made Enron double check their accounts payable records. For Barry, 2001 saw his performance even leave Chris Berman breathless from all the “Back, Back, Back, GONE!” calls. Bonds numbers were one for the ages: 73 homeruns, 137 RBI’s, 177 BB’s, .328 Batting, .863 slugging and his 4th MVP award.

While everyone with a kayak was busy getting to the Bay Area, A-Rod was showing that he was worth the GDP of Micronesia. In his first year of the new contract, Rodriguez established himself with the Texas fan base through hitting .318 with 52 homeruns and 135 RBI’s and a .622 slugging percentage. Though these numbers would contend for MVP honors in any other season, the achievements of Bonds clearly dwarfed the rest of the league.

But, as Baseball started to get more public and government pressure to clean up the game, the feats of yesterday were instantly made suspect. The respect that Bonds garnished during the 2001-2002 seasons disappeared faster than Keyser Söze. And while former players, most notably Jose Canseco, wrote accusatory books to remove the invisibility cloak covering some of baseballs’ best, most of the ‘big name’ players seemed to have escaped. Of course there was the Congressional hearing where Palmeiro feverishly denied use, Big Mac’s sole rebuke of “I’m not here to discuss the past”, and Sammy Sosa’s new found need for a translator; but this all seemed spectacle.

Bond’s has since been removed from the sport. No team will touch him even though the aging veteran could probably still produce a few compact swings in the clutch for a contender. Selig's performance as the incompetent Commissioner should have been Oscar nominated material. And while this has all been unfolding, Rodriguez’s biggest plunders came in the personal realm. Yes, he is Mr. April and Mrs. October, but people just concluded it was the pressure and the not the fall out.

The most disheartening element of A-Rod’s confession is that there is the air of dishonesty. He never comes flat out with an apology; rather he articulates to the best of his ability an elongated excuse. His focus of use stays within the 3 year window that he played for the Rangers. The use of steroids was attributed to 2 key factors; pressure of a large contract and being young and naïve. Now, pressure is one thing, but playing in Texas isn’t exactly New York. Texas has zero world championships, zero AL Pennants, and only 3 Division Titles; none of which occurred while A-Rod was on the roster.

As far as the young and naïve argument is concerned; I am sure that if any other 25-27 year old who used an illegal substance and was caught would have the odds of the Rangers to “win it all in 2009”to beat the rap in a court of law. Furthermore, 3 teammates of young Alex’s on the Rangers in 2001 were Ivan Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro, and Ken Caminiti. Two of the three are known steroid users. This does not mean guilt by association, but it does create the ideal setting. A-Rod might claim youthful ignorance, but then again, the first rule of fight club is that there is no steroids...I mean fight club.

Eventually, the 104 player list of positive test results will be released. Of these, A-Rod’s name will certainly be the biggest. After all, he was the chosen one. As Bonds continued to creep towards Aaron’s 755 mark, the general discourse was that even if he becomes the home run king, he will eventually be overtaken by the pure. But, with that hope evaporating faster than GM’s cash reserves, the Commissioner’s office are considering some revisionist’s history. Unfortunately, you cannot erase what has been done.

The era will have to be remembered with a mental asterisk as opposed to one penciled in. Even if it is easier to pin up the bigger stars, surely the use of PED’s was wide scale enough that they benefited players of all caliber. Moving forward, an understanding will need to be reached that the eras statistical plateau's where reached on the backs of roided out Sherpa’s.