Steroids: To Fess Up or Not To Fess Up? (2009)

(From the Buster Gamons column of 2/17/09)

Surprise, surprise, there was more evidence that Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens were indeed steroid users. And, oh yes, Alex Rodriguez too. Watching his squirming, tortured spin-answers to Peter Gammons questions was unreal. (How can you stick a syringe in your butt and not know what it is you’re injecting?) But yet A-Rod did, belatedly, admit the truth.

Obviously, the asterisk for baseball’s Steroid Era will be a big one. All this shit has done the game no favors and there is plenty of blame to go around. To me, the interesting aspect is the public’s attitude toward the various stances taken by the juiced or otherwise discredited players. Basically, the tainted players fall into three camps:

“Let’s Change the Subject”. This group includes Mark McGwire (“I’m not here to talk about the past.”) and Sammy Sosa (“I forget how to speak English.”)

“I Did Not Have Sex With That Woman!” Here we have those who, despite a pre-ponderance of evidence, steadfastly deny the undeniable. Included are Barry Bonds, Rafael Palmeiro, Roger Clemens, and Pete Rose. (Pete eventually reversed course, but it took him a couple decades.)

“Now That You Caught Me, Let Me Fess Up”. These folks decide, sooner or later, that honesty is the best policy. Here we have Jason Giambi, Andy Pettitte, Miguel Tejada, and now A-Rod.

It seems to Buster that the last group gets the easiest treatment in the court of public opinion. Giambi, Pettitte and Tejada all said, fairly quickly, “Yep, I did it.” Giambi cooperated with the Mitchell inquiry. Though not forgotten, there seems to be a lot more forgiveness for those who cop to the truth. I think A-Rod will eventually get his fair measure of forgiveness, too. Will it keep him from the Hall? Who knows? It’s keeping McGwire out. And of course the Pete Rose approach didn’t work out too well either.

(Maybe the two most infamous confessers were the first – Ken Caminiti and Jose Canseco. Neither received much in the way of forgiveness. Caminiti fessed up, then promptly retired and died. Canseco confesses frequently and very publicly, but remains an unforgivable asshole.)