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Friday, August 28, 2009 7:48 PM EDT
MELARO: Baseball must get its drug policy correct
If you read Ronald Blum’s column in yesterday’s paper, you might just be feeling ill.
I know I am.
I’m not going to pretend to know more about the drug situation in baseball than Blum does.
He has served the Associated Press as the country’s top baseball writer for years.
However, there were some points that he brought up which offer me the chance to air my feelings.
For starters, he points to a comment from players’ union head, Donald Fehr.
According to Blum’s column, when the players’ association first received the results of the initial round of drug testing on Nov. 11, 2003, a memo was immediately sent to its members.
“Promptly, the first steps were taken to begin the process of destruction of testing materials and records.”
Maybe it’s just me, but that comment speaks volumes in the arena of a cover up.
And therein lies one reason why Major League Baseball has become one of America’s most hypocritical organizations.
That’s a great lesson to teach America’s youth. Sweep the problem under the rug and ignore it.
For decades, that’s what baseball chose to do.
And to be perfectly honest, I believe that philosophy has come back to haunt the game.
Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen pleads in Blum’s last paragraph, “Get that stupid list out and move on. This is ridiculous. This is embarrassing. This is a joke. Whoever is there is there, get them out, and that’s it.”
I agree.
Some players have been cheating the game for years.
At least they were before mandatory testing began.
In reading Blum’s column, I fully understand that court proceedings have to play their course.
There are protection rights that, according to law, take a front seat.
Fine.
But count me among those who feel that our children need to be protected as well.
They are growing up idolizing a generation of cheaters.
Who are the real victims?
I’ve watched parts of several games in the Little League World Series this week.
It’s been entertaining.
But I worry that these youngsters keep talking about players like A-Rod as if nothing was wrong.
Something is definitely wrong.
It’s no different than the firestorm of coverage that Michael Jackson has gotten since his death.
Granted, Jackson was a musical talent.
He was a showman who made heads turn with his talent and his idiosyncrasies.
Yet, the longer the coverage continues about this death, the more we learn of his addictions.
And that, unto itself, is a tragedy.
The world has turned a blind eye to his addiction and looked for somebody else to blame.
I feel for his loss, but I can’t help but feel that he brought most his untimely demise on himself.
In terms of the baseball world, any negative press is something the game needs to accept.
And as Guillen noted, the sooner, the better.
(Jim Melaro, a Times Herald sports writer, can be reached at sports@oleantimesherald.com)
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