We knew this day was coming for some time. Alex Rodriguez was suspended by Major League Baseball for the rest of the 2013 Season and the entire 2014 Season for his role in the Biogenesis Scandal. A-Rod was not the only one suspended, but his penalty was far more severe than the other twelve men, as MLB felt they had evidence that he tampered with the investigation and under the by-laws of Baseball, they can penalize him harsher for besmirching the good of the game. Although Rodriguez is currently fighting the decision, we strongly believe that this will end any chance that he would have for the Hall of Fame.
Sadly, Baseball and Performance Enhancing Drugs have been intertwined for the last two decades. Regular readers of this website may have noticed that we have supported the candidacy of Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens and Mark McGwire for Cooperstown. Our reasons were very simple for this, as during the time of their indiscretions, Major League Baseball and their Union had no policy against it, and frankly they profited very much by it in the late 90’s by McGwire’s single season Home Run chase of Roger Maris. In fact, some has gone so far as to say it saved the game after the 1994 strike alienated fans.
As the public became more aware (or sorry to say, finally saw the obvious) that these records were being aided by PEDs, fans began to turn on these hulking sluggers. Baseball was still profiting from these players to a certain extent, but they were also becoming embarrassed by them. It took many years, and extensive negotiations with the MLB Players Union, but by 2005 there was a Drug Policy in place, and players would be suspended if it was a violated.
This was not just for show, as suspensions were issued and not just to small names. Potential Hall of Fame players like Manny Ramirez were hit, and it was clear that this was a policy meant to eradicate the sins of the past. It doesn’t change what happened, but it is a path that MLB should be praised for, as they are the front runners in the major sports for their role in penalizing those who cheat by partaking in PEDs.
Actually, we will argue that they are the only major North American sporting organization that takes it seriously. It is been strongly alleged that the Biogenesis Scandal does not include only Baseball players; however ONLY MLB has sought out those who were part of it. There has been no attempt (or even comment) by the NFL, NBA or anyone else for that matter.
The climate has changed amongst the players too. Nobody can argue that the MLB Players’ Union is not strong, but they are on board with the strong testing; something that was far from the case a decade ago. Witness the sombre reaction to Ryan Braun’s suspension. His peers discussed disappointment with the former National League MVP, and the overall belief within a MLB dugout is that PED users are NOT good for the game.
This bring us to Alex Rodriguez, who had admitted to using enhancers during his time with the Texas Rangers; which should be noted was prior to any set policy by MLB. He stated that he was since clean, and went as far to publicly speak against it. As we now know (and based on what MLB claims is mountains of evidence) this was not the case, and he violated policies of the game.
This is the difference to us, as since there is a known code of conduct in place, we would have no problem understanding a Hall of Fame voter for blacklisting A-Rod. If we had a vote (and nobody does this write up better than our own, DDT), we aren’t even sure that he is a first ballot entry anyways, and that is even with we forget about the PEDs.
Although we can’t argue with the whopping regular season statistics of Rodriguez; however where were they in the Post Season?
A-Rod’s Regular Season stat line of .300/.384/.560 drops to .263/.369/.464 in the Post Season, echoing complaints that he is not a clutch performer. He did have a stellar 2009 Post Season, but that is countered by his benching (justified) in his last playoff appearance.
The Seattle Mariners had their best regular season the year after Rodriguez left for Texas. The Rangers never had a winning season in his three years there and improved by seventeen games, the year after (they paid) New York to take him. Alex Rodriguez only translated to one World Series for what was an All Star lineup. For a man with over 100 WAR, we have to openly question just how many wins he translates to.
We do know this. The above three paragraphs are irrelevant as far as Cooperstown goes, because he can officially kiss it goodbye. We can’t say that we will be going on our soapbox to change that opinion either.
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