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A Black Mark on Baseball
by J.B. Cash
14 December 2004
With the recent revelations of steroid abuse by baseball players Jason Giambi, Barry Bonds, and Gary Sheffield, the people that run baseball and the people that run the sports media have found themselves at a crucial decision making point. They can either ignore this problem or act decisively; there is little middle ground. The decision they make will set the tone for baseball and probably all of professional sports for years to come.
While almost everyone agrees the use of performance-enhancing drugs is wrong, the steroid issue has become a line of demarcation for the generations. For older fans the game of baseball represents an America that has disappeared. A sports world where athletes were role models and heroes. Where cherished records were set by men of honor and character. Where the baseball diamond was the epitome of the concept of clean and honest sports. To them the use of steroids is a form of cheating in the worst way. And it is sullying the cherished records of the sport they love
But for younger fans baseball is merely another big-time sports-entertainment vehicle, maybe third or fourth in importance to them, made up of the same kind of oversized, hard-to-identify-with athletes as the other sports. To them steroids are just another chemical used by the pro athlete and they can even help the entertainment value of the game by allowing for more long homeruns and increased scoring.
Thus the commissioner of baseball, Bud Selig, faces his greatest challenge. The steroid scandal is threatening the integrity of the game in a way that has not happened since the 1919 "Black Sox" scandal. (Note the irony of a scandal being referred to as "black" in place of "white" or pure. Such un-PC terminology could not be used today.)
The race issue looms large over this scandal. Of the three players that testified to a grand jury that they used products from a supplier that were illegal steroids, Giambi, Bonds and Sheffield, only Giambi is white. Typical that only the white guy could bring himself to come clean on the issue. Both Bonds and Sheffield have admitted to using the supplied substance but both said they did not know what it was. Apparently we are to believe that because they are black they will just put anything in their body even if they don't know what it is.
The New York Yankees, who have Giambi under contract, are now seeking to back out of the millions of dollars owed to him due to his admission of guilt. Giambi has had an odd career fade recently. He started the year hitting poorly then contracted a strange illness that sidelined him for most of the season. Sheffield, another Yankee, had a good year statistically and nothing has been said about his future with New York. The anti-white bias rears its ugly head again.
Barry Bonds is a whole other story. With 703 career homeruns and holder of the single season mark with 73, Bonds was putting together career numbers that would establish him as the greatest hitter in the game. That is over. The taint of steroids will forever stain his accomplishments. It will be impossible to make a case for Bonds as a great player because the question will always be "what would he have done without the steroids?"
That does not mean, however, his career is over. No, white America has rolled over on controversial issues related to black athletes before. Bud Selig is a typical pro-black supporter of the caste system. He cannot be expected to suddenly grow a spine and make a decision based on inherent issues of right and wrong. Selig will probably put his finger to the wind and try to find a solution that will mollify the older fans and also satisfy the race police that will rush to defend Bonds.
What are the possible decisions he can make? The most extreme and the most proper would be to banish Bonds from the game for life and erase all his records. That would send a strong message to everybody that baseball is serious about this issue. It would also set a standard that other sports could emulate and it might begin a reversal of a situation that has spiraled out of control.
That is the type of action that would have been taken by former baseball commissioner Judge Kennesaw Mountain Landis, who responded in that manner to the gambling fix of the 1919 World Series. Landis banned every player involved in the fix for life, even though a court of law found them not guilty. No arbitration, no appeals, no pardons. Those players never played major league baseball again. One of them, Shoeless Joe Jackson, was a certain future Hall of Famer. Landis' action was extreme even for those days. It is doubtful that Selig or baseball could muster the courage to duplicate that severe kind of punishment in an age where even the most horrible acts are soon forgiven.
Furthermore, Selig and the other owners do not posses the moral high ground on the issue. They have profited greatly from the increase in homeruns fueled by the use of performance-enhancing drugs. They have turned a blind eye to the obvious, especially as it pertains to Bonds. MLB had plans to celebrate Bonds's passing of Babe Ruth on the all time home run list. Now those plans have been put on hold. Can the owners stand the loss in profits if power numbers go down? How about a loss of profits if the fans tune out because of the phoniness of steroid-induced players setting artificially inflated records?
Note that the players union is heavily involved in this issue. They will undoubtedly protest any kind of strong action in a vigorous manner. This may in fact provide cover for Selig as any punishment deemed "soft" can be passed off as required by agreement with the union. Crimes such as drug abuse, theft, and murder, are not enough to lose your job in any other union environment, why should it be any different in baseball?
Also interestingly enough, the government is involved. Modern government always rushes in whenever there are newspapers and TV cameras. Senator John McCain, starting his 2008 presidential campaign early, is bringing the full weight of the US Senate into the picture. He seems determined to generate some positive press for himself on this issue. How remains to be seen. McCain has always been a populist pretender. He is a staunch defender of illegal immigration, which is in complete opposition to his constituency in Arizona. It is hard to see him taking any kind of strong action on steroids that would effect Bonds because it would alienate all of the PC media and race extortionists he so badly wants to make happy.
Since these players are essentially guilty of cheating, the issue begs comparison to the Pete Rose situation. Rose is accused of possibly betting on some games while a manager. Perhaps it affected their outcomes. He is banned from baseball for life because of it. But isn't what Bonds and the others have done the same thing? Taking steroids and inflating your physical ability is cheating. So in effect someone like Barry Bonds has not only effected the outcome of a few games but thousands. If Rose's punishment is the standard for cheating then the punishment of Bonds should be that much more severe.
To many people, steroids are something white people use to compete with blacks. For a long time it was assumed that Soviet bloc nations doped up their men and women so that they could win Olympic medals against the "genetically" superior American blacks. Now we know that blacks may be the worst drug abusers of all the Olympic athletes.
Bonds, Sheffield, and also suspected Sammy Sosa, are three of the most famous of black baseball players. Steroids have now become a "black" problem. And as a black problem it cannot be handled rationally because of the special privilege given to the black athlete due to the caste system. Thus another negative effect of the caste system. Since blacks are given preferential treatment, any issue in which they are heavily involved cannot be dealt with in a fair manner.
It is wishful thinking that the media, the commissioner of baseball, or modern politicians can possibly straighten this problem out or manage to mete out proper punishment to the guilty parties. After all they are all responsible for the culture that created the situation in the first place. One can only hope that the whole issue will help the fan base see through the lies that support the caste system. At Caste Football we will continue to point out the evil of the anti-white mentality that infects the sports we love.
J.B. CASH
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Mr. Cash writes for Caste Football.
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