Dave Price
I remember writing here in 1996 my belief that the sudden surge of home run production in major league baseball was because the ball was juiced.
After all, what other explanation could there be for home runs being hit at an amazing pace never seen before in the game? The possibility that it was the players who were juiced instead never really occurred to me -- at the time.
So far during spring training, from Florida to Arizona, it seems there has been as much focus on performance enhancing drugs as there has been on pennant contenders.
For example, Tuesday brought a news report in the San Francisco Chronicle naming players who have allegedly received steroids and human growth hormone from a nutritional supplements lab implicated in a drug-distribution ring - Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and Gary Sheffield among others. The Chronicle, citing information it said was given to federal investigators, reported that Bonds was given the substances by his personal trainer, Greg Anderson, who got them from the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative.
I'm not here to pass judgment on Barry Bonds or any other player, however, I don't see this issue disappearing anytime in the near future. It could become a major issue that rivals the seriousness of the "Black Sox Scandal" in 1919.
This is a serious issue and one that needs to be dealt with in a firm and decisive manner.
It's not something that can be swept under the rug. Or rationalized.
Last week, Jeff Kent was criticized for a comment he made Thursday to the Houston Chronicle -- "Babe Ruth didn't do steroids?" Kent said. "How do you know?" The Houston Astros' star toned down his remarks a day later, specifically in regard to suggesting Ruth used steroids.
Thanks, Jeff.
"The point is we're all tainted," Kent was quoted in the Houston Chronicle.
True. There are skeletons in every closet.
But that's beside the point. The use of drugs to enhance performance is wrong. It's not good for baseball, or any sport, for that matter.
It's not the message that needs to be sent out to society, especially to the kids for whom sports are supposedly an avenue to achieve good things in their lives.
Am I naive in believing this? I hope not. And I hope the issue of steroids in sports is just another of those bumps in the road that can be smoothed over.
Dave Price is a sports writer for the Nevada Appeal. Contact him at dprice@nevadappeal.com or 881-1220.