Maya Angelou once said that a person should, "do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better". For decades, Major League Baseball was ignorant about the rampant use of performance-enhancing drugs in the sport.
You may believe, as many do, that the ignorance of club executives and the officials who ran the game was intentional, that baseball looked the other way as tainted home runs led the way to booming numbers through stadium turnstiles. If so, so be it. What is inarguable, however, is that MLB, more than any other major American team sport, has done better now that it knows better. Baseball has steadily ramped up its PED testing program as well as punishing offenders with lengthy suspensions. Last week, MLB and the players union announced a further strengthening of their commitment to root out steroids and similar enhancers. The two sides agreed to an update of the current policy to allow for testing that would detect a synthetic form of testosterone, which is on the banned substances list. There will also be more in-season testing.
In addition, punishment will be increased. Currently, players who are found to be PED users receive a 50-game suspension on their first offense, a 100-game ban on the second offense and a lifetime expulsion on the third offense. Under the new plan, offenders would receive an 80 game suspension on their first offense. A second offense would lead to a full season suspension, with the lifetime ban remaining on the third infraction.
Most importantly, baseball and the players tightened a rather sizable loophole in the current punishment that allowed offenders to return to play in the postseason if they finished their suspensions before the playoffs. Under the new policy, a player who has been sanctioned for PED use during a season not only won’t be permitted to play in that year’s playoffs, he won’t receive a share of postseason money for that season.
That should serve as a major deterrence for players, but it’s only part of the deal. Baseball officials and the players union will need the fans to send a message that they won’t tolerate cheaters either, even if they wear the hometown uniform.
Let’s just say that so far the signals from the stands aren’t helping. Milwaukee fans, for instance, enthusiastically welcomed back Brewers slugger Ryan Braun last week after he completed a 65-game suspension for PED use. This coming after he consistently denied the offense and after he accused a urine specimen collector of tampering with his sample. Braun was lustily booed in Boston, but the cheese heads didn’t seem so exorcised. And Orioles fans wasted no time welcoming Nelson Cruz into the fold last week, after he hit home runs in his first two games in a Baltimore uniform. Cruz took a seat for 50 games last season after he was found to have used steroids while with the Texas Rangers, though he claimed it was by accident.
Everybody in baseball seems to be doing better now that they know better. But the ultimate question is: Does it matter to the fans?