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Cheater, Cheater - Pumpkin Eater |
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Tuesday, 25 April 2006 |
By D. W. O'Dell
 According to a recent survey at ESPN.com, 90% of those responding to a question of whether they believed Barry Bonds used steroids answered in the affirmative. 60% said they hoped Bonds ended his career playing pick-up games at Leavenworth rather than passing Babe Ruth’s home run record with the Giants. Yet hometown crowds in San Francisco cheer Bonds as if there was no question he never cheated, or if he did, that cheating is a perfectly acceptable way to play baseball.
Certainly, that last theory has been trotted out in Bonds’ defense. After all, some argue, Gaylord Perry threw a spitball during his entire career, and he was enshrined in Cooperstown. So Bonds took performance enhancing drugs; what professional ball player hasn’t sought out any kind of edge he could find?
One difference between Bonds and Perry is that Perry could have been discovered at any time, and was indeed found to have been doctoring the ball on more than one occasion. Opportunities to unmask Barry Bonds’ alleged cheating were thwarted by the Players’ Union, with a wink and a nod from the owners and the Commissioner’s office. Perry put his reputation on the line every time he supposedly doctored a pitch; Bonds knew he was safe as long as no one asked him to pee into a cup.
Cheating takes place in almost every baseball game. Every time a catcher “blocks the plate” without possessing the ball in order to prevent the runner from scoring, he is violating a rule set out in the Major League Baseball rulebook. Conversely, runners who plow into the catcher in order to dislodge the ball he is holding (think Pete Rose and Ray Fosse in the All-Star game) is guilty of interfering with the fielder.
Cheating has even been institutionalized. It has been discovered (according to some) that in 1951 the New York (baseball) Giants had someone with binoculars stationed in the outfield fence, who stole the opposing team’s catcher’s signs and then relayed them to the batter. Supposedly Bobby Thompson’s “Shot Heard ‘Round the World” was possibly the by-product of Thompson knowing what pitch was coming. But no one has suggested taking away the Giant’s 1951 National League pennant.
For some reason the worst examples of “cheating” concern acts that are not even against the rules. Any batter thought to be sneaking a peek at the catcher’s signs will find a fastball directed at his head. Several years ago a young pitcher in the Cubs organization (I can’t now remember which one) thought that an on-deck hitter was timing his swings to his fastball; when the hitter stepped up to the plate, the pitcher threw a pitch that shattered the batter’s eye socket, ending his baseball career. Allegedly, all because he was suspected of doing something that isn’t even illegal.
Another argument offered by Bonds’ fans is that since major league baseball wasn’t testing for steroids, steroid use wasn’t against the rules and therefore was legal. This overlooks the fact that in 1991 the Commissioner’s office issued a memo explaining that anyone found to be using any pharmaceutical substance illegally (without a doctor’s prescription) was in violation of baseball’s rules and subject to discipline. So using steroids without a prescription was a violation of the rules, even though there wasn’t actually a rule against it.
Let’s consider a hypothetical situation. Let’s say there is an aging batter who is ahead in the home run race by one home run with a week to go. The older player is not feeling 100% and feels that the younger player behind him is almost certain to pass him. He really wants this home run title as it might be the last chance to win one, so he pulls a Tonya Harding and has someone whack the younger player on the knee, taking him out for a week and assuring that he (the older player) wins the home run crown. When this comes out, the aging player would almost certainly have his home run title taken away; he didn’t do anything against baseball’s rules, but breaking the law by hiring someone to attack the other player is, in effect, violating baseball’s rules.
The evidence that Barry Bonds cheated is approaching overwhelming, and his failure to sue those who link him to steroids for libel simply adds fuel to the fire. If Bonds is indicted for lying to the grand jury about his steroid use, Commissioner Selig should have no choice but to suspend Bonds pending the outcome of the trial, which would probably end Bonds’ career.
Selig may take away some of Barry Bonds’ records, but I doubt they’ll take away much of the $20 million per year he’s been raking in during this mysterious “resurgence” of his career. Because he was injured, Bonds earned over $1 million per game last year. Who said cheaters never prosper?
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