Ethical Standard and Drugs

Cleansing the Baseball Hall of Fame would do nothing but create an empty building in Cooperstown. The Baseball Hall of Fame categorically cannot ban steroids or any other drugs because a substantial number, possibly even the majority, of the men featured in Cooperstown used some kind of drug. As Chafets points out, "the greatest stars anyone has ever seen" were on the juice, and their names are in the Hall of Fame. Suddenly decrying the entry of people like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens is hypocritical, and sends the wrong message. If the whole goal of the anti-doping movement is to set the right example to young people, then the Baseball Hall of Fame should start by setting an example of honesty. The Baseball Hall of Fame should allow steroids, and should even consider an exhibit on the use of drugs in baseball in order to have a more open dialogue about the issue.

Baseball players and other professional athletes use performance enhancing drugs because doing so had been normalized, albeit not discussed openly with the media, until recently. As Nightengale notes, "Major League Baseball didn't even have a steroid drug-testing policy until 2004, with no punishments levied until 2005." That means that until 2004, any baseball player could have been using whatever he and his coach wanted him to use in order to ensure best performance outcomes. The use of drugs was not considered bad practice or bad form; it was simply part of the game. Chafets also notes that many fans are imagining some "golden era" of baseball in which the stars were clean. Yet since the early days of baseball, athletes have been taking pills and injecting themselves in order to get the results they want (Chafets). There was no "golden era" of clean players.

Moreover, if the anti-steroids movement believes that baseball would be more honest and consistent in its featuring of standardized levels of play without drugs, it would be wrong. There are no consistent standards in baseball because the game play has changed. Just as levels of performance change over time, so too do the details of the game. The Hall of Fame needs to be more forthcoming about the relativity of statistics. The ways statistical data has been gathered, the size of gloves and the heights of pitcher mounds have all changed over the years, leading to misleading information. Yes, players may use more sophisticated combinations of performance enhancing drugs than they did in the 1920s, but that information should be displayed openly and honestly to the viewing public. "If everyone has access to the same drugs and training methods, and the fans are told what these are, then the field is level and fans will be able to interpret what they are seeing on the diamond and in the box scores," (Chafets).

In fact, the Baseball Hall of Fame should consider not only allowing players busted for drugs to be included in their midst, but to have a dedicated, ongoing exhibit about steroids and other drugs. This exhibit could include everything from a life-sized molecule of different performance enhancing drugs to images of players who use drugs and who have been willing to comment about their use openly. An interactive exhibit could warn young people and adults alike about the harmful effects and risks of the drugs, as well as showing the visitors why these drugs have become popular in all sports. Obviously the drugs are helping the athletes to compete, not only against other athletes, but against themselves. The performance bar has been set high, whether due to drug use or not. A realistic approach is one that reconciles the reality of drug use with the desire to see people use drugs in a safe and open way. The Baseball Hall of Fame could even come to set a new ethical standard and new social norm related to all drug use. As the war on drugs has failed miserably, it is time to have a more open conversation about drugs in all sectors. Not only ball players but corporate executives use drugs.

Americans are "purists" and "moralists" when it comes to drugs, as Chafets notes. This leads to illusion and hypocrisy and people imagine there was a time when baseball players did not use. Similarly, Americans can be harshly judgmental while unwilling to examine their own use of performance enhancing drugs. Almost every American uses some drug at some point. Even the kids in the stands can be on Adderall and Ritalin, Modafinil or Provigil (Chafets). Adults are often addicted to opioids but want their baseball stars to be pure somehow. It sets a double standard, which is hardly a good example to set for the young. Popular opinion needs to change over time, gradually coming to accept drug use as a fact of life and taking on an approach that is more about harm reduction. A special exhibit in the Hall of Fame on steroids would go a long way towards promoting openness, media literacy, and honesty.