Alex Rodriguez

In 1920, baseball appointed Kenesaw Mountain Landis, a federal juge, the first Commissioner of Baseball. His first major decision was to ban nine men from playing professionally for the rest of their lives. The Black Sox Scandal, as it became to be known, was a major black-eye for the sport that helped define America in one of its most trying times. With the arrival of "Babe" Ruth and the rest of the powerhouse Yankees of the '20s and '30s, (among other factors), baseball was able to regain its footing and remain America's Pasttime.

In 1985, awareness of illegal drug activities came to light when nine Pittsburgh Pirate players were summoned to appear before a grand jury and later their testimony was used in what came to be known as The Pittsburgh Drug Trials. This drug trial led to the nation becoming aware of the heightening drug problems throughout the league, not just Pittsburgh. Amphetamines and marijuana, long thought to be in use in the Major Leagues were now all but confirmed. In 1986, Baseball Commissioner Peter Ueberroth suspended a number of players for varying amounts of time.

In 1989, baseball's all-time hits leader, Pete Rose, accepted a voluntary life-time ban from Major League Baseball. Even though he was given the opportunity to apply for reinstatement, he has been denied both times (in 1997 and 2003). Rose has admitted that he bet on the game and it remains to be seen if his ban will ever be lifted in his lifetime and if arguably one of the greatest hitters ever will be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

And of course, in 2007, the delivery of the voluminous "Mitchel Report," documented the alleged use of steroids and other drugs by a named 89 baseball players, most notably perhaps Barry Bonds, Mark McGwire, and Roger Clemens. Though some players have vehemently denied use or at least knowingly using (Clemens, Bonds), the admittance of use by other players named (Andy Pettite comes to mind), leads many to believe that if nothing else, most denials are lies.

Now, where am I going with this? Simple. Alex Rodriguez, arguably the greatest player of his generation, has admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) from 2001-2003. Now the questions loom as to how honest was he in his interview, how does it affect his legacy, etc.

The answer to these questions, I believe, are quite simple. It doesn't matter how honest he was and no, it categorically does not affect his legacy. In the same breath, I also don't think that anyone named in Senator Mitchell's report has to worry about their legacy. On the whole, Major League Baseball has been through some highly visibly, highly trying times in the history of the game. With the advent of sports as the defining American culture in the last ten years or so, we as fans have come to expect and accept to a degree that sports players are flawed. With nine cities/metropolitan areas supporting at least four major sports teams, with one supporting nine (NYC), one supporting six (the Bay area), and one five (Chicago), sports are our common interest. Even the lackadaisical, disinterested person still knows enough to watch a televised game to know who is playing and what is going on, at least by asking.

Think about how many professional athletes there are in the United States alone. Think again of how many foreign players immigrate to the United States just to play a game. There is no way that you are going to find a majority of "moral-bound" citizens playing in a sport. The need for a competitive edge is always there, especially considering the amount of dollars that are spent by the fan, and in turn are given to said players.

Did Rodriguez do something wrong? Yes. Will we as a society forgive him his trespass? Outwardly, no. We will vehemently deny him the right to be considered one of the greatest to ever play the game without an asterisk, much like we did with Barry Bonds breaking Hank Aaron's home run record. But on the inside, we will still know that he was good; very good, in fact. And that is the main idea in the steroid/PED argument: PEDs obviously give players some sort of edge competitively, but how much of an edge?

Alex Rodriguez is and always will be a great hitter. Roger Clemens is and always will be a great pitcher. The raw talent was always there. Their ability to hit and pitch to the best of their ability, and better than others was always there. Rodriguez hits for average and hits for power, but as a situational hitter in the playoffs, he's never paid off. If PEDs were the best thing ever, wouldn't he be a great hitter all of the time? The point is simple--he is a great hitter, he is extremely talented but he is human. He has his deficiencies as an athlete and probably (like the rest of us) as a human being. But that doesn't mean that he still isn't one of the greatest hitters of this generation...

And like every generation before him, there are problems with the game and problems with those who played it, even the great ones. To judge conclusively doesn't change that fact, nor does it change the fact that we as a society will still come back to the game...if for nothing else, the game itself.