The Irrational Vilification of Alex Rodriguez

In early February Selena Roberts reported that Alex Rodriguez failed a steroids test in 2003. Immediately, outrage spread across the nation particularly in New York City and Boston. People’s beliefs and unrealistic expectations were confirmed. Alex Rodriguez was a fraud, he cheated the game, unjustly benefited, excelled at the expense of others, and career is forever tainted. He is a liar, hypocrite, and just a terrible, terrible person.

As Lee Corso would say…no so fast my friend! There is significantly more to it than that.

First, I will begin with the general background of the steroid results. This entry will also illustrate some of the flaws of how and why the information came out, as well as discuss some of the unfair generalizations and judgments the media and sports fans make.

In 2003 testing was designed as a survey to test every single player in the game, and if at least five percent of the tests turn up positive, switch to a program of random testing that would include counseling and then punishments for failing tests.

The players agreed to be tested in 2003 on the condition that the testing be anonymous and no individual results would be tabulated. This was the necessary step to determine the breadth of the game's PED problem, and the solution was one of the few elegant elements of that 2003 Collective Bargaining Agreement. However, we now know that this was, indeed, not fully the case.

Alex Rodriguez’s name came out from these anonymous tests. Sporty Nation, this test was anonymous. Anonymity refers to having an unknown or unacknowledged name. This whole situation and circumstance begs the question of how is it possible that one’s name can be linked to an anonymous test. And, why were the test results kept for so long, when they were able to be destroyed after 30 days. Before we go too far, let’s not forget that the sole purpose of this test was to determine if steroids testing should occur. Steroids was not illegal in baseball during this time. Yeah, it wasn’t illegal! The question should be why was steroids not illegal in baseball?

The simple answer to the aforementioned question is because baseball embraced a don’t ask don’t tell mentality. Baseball benefited from the so called steroids era. The 1998
homerun chase of Sammy Sosa and Mark McGwire was one of the most spectacular events in recent baseball history and in the history of baseball.

This was one of the largest media spectacles and glorification of athletes in recent history. Members of Roger Maris' family were also present at the game. Memorably, the ball was freely given to him in a ceremony on the field by the stadium worker who found it. Cars were given out. Bud Selig traveled around the country with these two men. Fireworks were ever present. These athletes were undoubtedly declining and maybe on there way out of the major leagues. However, MLB needed these athletes. The MLB needed the publicity and added revenues particularly after the 1994 baseball strike.



Bill Simmons, one of my inspirations, places the blame 30% with the commissioner, 30% with the players union, 30% with the media, and 10% with the players. I tend to agree his assessment of the MLB blame game. The commissioner undoubtedly had to have some knowledge of the steroids that were plaguing his league. He was the head of a powerful league, he is privy to a great amount of MLB history. If I can see potential steroids abusers, surely he could. For example, Brady Anderson’s HR numbers are listed below.
2
4
4
2
21
14
12
16
50
18
18
18
24
19
8
1

Where lies the outlier season.? Why can I see and Bud Selig can’t see it? The Major League Baseball Players Association (MLBPA) was so hell bent on defending the dirty players and not the clean players. The player’s union’s job is to defend and stand up for all major league baseball players not just the ones that are in trouble. They aren’t defense attorneys...thank God! A media member saw “Andro” (now banned supplement) in McGwire’s locker and was immediately blackballed and ridiculed and turned into a pariah by his media brethren. No one wanted to hear this. The media could not and did not want to taint this precious story. The players no doubt have a considerable amount of blame in this too. But, let’s not forget that these players are more than likely competing against a player that is “juicing.”

Now, I will tackle the issue of why a player would take steroids which is a pretty easy task. First and foremost, Alex Rodriguez is not the only player that is juicing. He is just the most famous, highly paid, and most hated player…maybe ever.

Many fans and members of the media scream, why would a world class athlete at the top of the game whose body is so important use steroids? After all, this guy hit .358 in his first full season in the league and a friend of mine from Miami told me that in high school that Rodriguez was such an incredible player that while in high school he led huge clinics and camps! Just think about that! See below hypothetical situation…

Mike and Mike presented an interesting example a week or so ago…Someone asks you to drive from New York City to Los Angeles for $200,000. And, for every hour that you arrive early you will get $50,000 more. There will be no police officers, state troopers, or any law enforcement agents, you will not be caught, no one else will be injured, and there will be no consequences or punishments for speeding. Would you do it? I guess the better question is why would you NOT do it?

Alex Rodriguez was competing in a game where half of the players in which he was competing against were using steroids and other performance enhancers drugs (PEDs)
which some were against the law, but for the most part were not yet against Major League Baseball (MLB) rules. In addition to that, many people in power knew about the PED use, and said and did nothing. So, the question again is presented as why not use PEDs?

Many people say that if they were a baseball player, they wouldn’t cheat and use PEDs. It is easy for people to say that they wouldn’t use PEDs they were a baseball player because he or she in not in there shoes. Baseball players’ careers depend on playing games and producing. If you cease to do that, you cease to make money and keep up your financial obligations and standard of living. All baseball players do not make Alex Rodriguez money and many players make sacrifices in life along the way to becoming professional baseball players which inevitably limit their potential other job opportunities. That is to say, many baseball players play baseball year round from such a young age and are drafted to a professional team straight from highschool. And, let’s not forget that more than half of the players in the MLB come from 3rd world countries where their entire family is depending upon them and also from a place where steroids are sold over the counter and are so readily available. Again, why would you not use PEDs that are not against the rules?

Financial aspects…

Critics of Alex Rodriguez say that he made money that he otherwise would not have made if he didn’t cheat. He directly benefited financially from using steroids which is true, but he was not the only one. See below the top 3 earners in baseball below…

1. Alex Rodriguez,
2. Derek Jeter
3. Bud Selig



Does anything jump out there?! Bud Selig makes more money than 99.9% of people in baseball. MLB is now making more money than ever. MLB benefitted from the “steroids era” and profited tremendously. In 1988 George W. Bush bought shares of the Texas Rangers for $800,000 and sold them in 1998 for over 15 million dollars which is more than a 2000% profit. The Texas Rangers were a breeding ground for steroids. Just look at Jose Canseco, Juan Gonzalez, Ivan Rodriguez, Rafael Palmeiro, and Kevin Brown. But, this is not talked about. It is only about the players and not the management. Did George W. Bush ruin baseball too?!



More or less everybody is making money off of steroids and only like 4 or 5 people are truly being punished for using steroids. “This is a big story, in the sense that it involves a famous person, a bad act, and America's true favorite pastime of tearing down people of achievement.”-Joe Sheenhan

Again, I go back to my point of who would not do something that would put them at the top of their profession, help there career, and make money while not breaking the rules? Why do college students break the law by using Aderall and Ritalin without a prescription? Why do people drink coffee early in the morning and late at night? Why do people use “5 hour energy”? Why do people use multi vitamins instead of eating a balanced complete diet? Why do people get cosmetic surgery? The answer to the aforementioned questions is simply to get ahead, or to win, or be happy, or to be more efficient!


Most anyone would have done what Alex Rodriguez did. Alex Rodriguez is just disliked by many many people and lives in a world of gotcha journalism. The world we live in can be described as a world where if I like you or if I don’t like you, all of my facts will support my opinion.

It’s like…we don’t like AROD! So we will bury him. We will crush his endorsements, keep him out of the hall of fame, kill his name and reputation, make him even more hated while making millions and millions off of him. Selena Roberts, ESPN, SI, and other media outlets make billions of dollars off of the downfall of athletes such as Alex Rodriguez. The more he falls the more money they make! I learned in a journalism class that journalist should try to be objective as possible and have a journalistic responsibility to monitor their inevitable biases by covering most all angles and sides of the story.

I repeat, “This is a big story, in the sense that it involves a famous person, a bad act, and America's true favorite pastime of tearing down people of achievement.”-Joe Sheenhan

The overreaction and hysteria has reached an all time level where Larry Izzo and Rodney Harrison of the New England Patriots Championship teams used steroids and are forgotten. Where Shawne Merriman (who earned his nickname "Lights Out" in high school where he knocked out 4 people in the first half of one game) tests positive for steroids and finishes third in the league for defensive player of the year, makes the pro bowl, and all pro team.

It’s just gone way too far.

We want to know is his cousin real?

We call the DR and send reports to the DR to investigate the steroids?

Why do we have friggn’ body language experts on television analyzing his interviews…no seriously. Why?!

What else can we talk about?

What else can he do? What else should he do? What would you do? Clearly, he can’t win or do anything right. Every word and thing that he does is picked a part.

Just don’t forget that 104 people tested positive for steroids during the anonymous survey testing and Alex Rodriguez is the only person to be identified from this ANONYMOUS list. AND, please don't think for one second that you definitively know who juiced and who did not because you do not and can not know. People got away with it and will continue to get away with it. Lastly, before you gloat too much and pile on Rodriguez too much, odds are your favorite team probably has someone on the list. So, be careful...

4th amendment search and seizure rights were violated. Which crime is worse…Alex Rodriguez using steroids or someone leaking anonymous test results? Why is it acceptable for the media, government officials, and people in baseball to cheat by lying and betraying athletes’ trust and confidentiality via the leakage of information that will undoubtedly change someone’s life forever? It’s seems to be all about the means justifying the ends. How and why is promised anonymity taken away? The other day, I read that the police officer that leaked Rhianna’s picture should be fired and prosecuted, but why should these media members, government officials and members of baseball that leaked Alex Rodriguez’s name not be prosecuted to the full extent of the law?



I leave you with an insightful, poignant critique from Joe Sheehan of baseball prospectus.

“I don't really care that Alex Rodriguez used steroids. There was a time, not very long ago, that I thought the issue of PEDs in baseball was overblown because use was overstated. Now, I think that use was common, with some significant number of players regularly using steroids in an effort to become better at that craft, and a larger number at least trying them out for a period of time. I remain skeptical that PED use is connected to performance in a way that warps the game, a conclusion supported by the evidence that proven use is mixed among hitters and pitchers, among good players and fringe ones, among the strong and the skinny. The establishment of a testing program with penalties does appear to have been a deterrent, as evidenced by the drop from 104 positives in 2003 to fewer than that number in total in the five years since.

What interests me is the process, and the abuses we've seen. In 2002, the players agreed to anonymous testing in an effort to eradicate a problem, part of a process that created the first CBA arrived at without a work stoppage in decades. This should have been an absolute good. Instead, because of a failure of the MLBPA to tend to details, an out-of-control investigation and prosecution led by an IRS agent, and the government's inability to protect the sanctity of information, 104 players will have their promised anonymity taken away with nothing given in return.

It's not enough to say, "Tough, they cheated." Even cheaters have rights to see their agreements honored, and these 104 men have been violated by their representatives and their government, complicit with a media that repeatedly asks the easy questions and takes on the soft targets while avoiding the real work of uncovering not just names, but truth. The story is bigger than Alex Rodriguez. It's more interesting than Alex Rodriguez. It has more depth and more nuance than the failure of one man to play by the rules.

Tell that story, in a measured voice that embraces complexity, and I'll listen. Until then, it's all just screaming.”- Joe Sheehan

More of Joe Sheehan’s article can be found here. (http://www.baseballprospectus.com/article.php?articleid=8487)

Alex Rodriguez no doubt has brought quite a bit on himself via some of his bush league tactics, blatant lies, and his inherently insincere nature, but does anyone deserve what has transpired here?

I would write more, but I have written enough. Stay classy sporty sporty nation and keeps it real! This is my minority report.