A-Rod and Baseball on September 11, 1985

A-Rod and Baseball

On September 11, 1985 Pete Rose struck base hit number 4, 192, and in doing so made baseball history, surpassing Ty Cobb as the all-time hits leader. Little did fans or those in baseball realize that Rose's accomplishment occurred while he was betting on baseball in most cases betting on his own team. Commissioner of baseball A. Bartlett Giamatti presented Rose with substantive evidence collected by John M. Dowd and compiled in a report of the same name (Baseball Library.com. N.D.). Based on the evidence, Rose on August 24, 1989 "agreed to a deal in which he dropped his suit against baseball and accepted a lifetime suspension" (Baseball Library.com. N.D.). The ramifications of that action meant that Rose was shut out of the game he loved and continues to be ineligible for the Hall of Fame.

Fast forward two decades and a player of similar talent, drive, passion, and athleticism' Alex Rodriguez (A-Rod) admits to his teammates and the public that he used steroids during two years 2001-2003 while playing for the Texas Rangers. A-Rod's admission of banned substance use was the final exclamation point of the steroids era "a period of time in Major League Baseball when a number of players were believed to have used performance-enhancing drugs, resulting in increased offensive output throughout the game" (ESPN.com. September 27, 2010). The question then is quite straightforward, do the use of steroids by Alex Rodriguez and other MLB players warrant a lifetime suspension from the game similar to the suspension of Rose for betting on baseball?

Impact of Performance Enhancing Drugs

The question of whether A-Rod should be banned from playing Major League Baseball contains many facets. The first involves whether the use of performance enhancing drugs substantively impacted the game of baseball. According to Cam Inman in his piece A-Rod, steroids, and "My Cousin Vinny" the "steroids era didn't ruin the sport, but it thrashed the record books as much as it actually enhanced it" (Inman, C. February 17, 2009). For A-Rod however, the answer is not so clear, on steroids benefits he says "I'm not sure what the benefit was. I will say this, when you take any substance or anything, especially in baseball, it's half mental, half physical…I certainly felt more energy but it is hard to say" (Inman, C. February 17, 2009). Who is correct? The answer lays in the statistics compiled during the steroids era, particularly the increased offensive output as measure by home run proficiency. Home runs flew out of ballparks at a record pace in the steroid years. Mark McGwire set the single season home run mark in 1998 and three years later Barry Bonds broke it. In 2007 Bonds broke Henry Aaron's record of 755 career home runs (ESPN.com. September 27, 2010). Look no further then one of baseball's premier groups, the 500 career home run club as definitive proof.

In 1996, Eddie Murray became the 15th member of the 500 home run club, but it wouldn't be long until Murray had company. Between 1998 and 2009, 10 more players reached 500 career home runs, easily the largest increase in membership in baseball history. Of the 10 players, six -- Barry Bonds, Alex Rodriguez, Mark McGwire, Manny Ramirez, Rafael Palmeiro and Gary Sheffield -- have been linked to PEDs. (ESPN.com. September 27, 2010).

There can be no doubt that steroids and performance enhancing drugs fundamentally changed the nature of the game and rewrote the record books.

A Utilitarian Perspective