'Roid Rage

Anyone who's been following baseball this week has been inundated with Jose Canseco's allegations of personally injecting steroids into nearly every ass in the American League. It's been correctly acknowledged that Canseco is a world class dirt bag, and I sure as hell wouldn't buy a used car from him. But it's still pretty far-fetched to think that he simply made up all of these allegations. So what are we supposed to think?

Every sportswriter has weighed in on what this rampant doping means for baseball, and most have opted for hand-wringing and shame. But suggesting the doping tarnishes the achievements of those players makes some pretty bold assumptions about the effects of steroids and ignores the context in which the doping occurred.

It's obvious how steroids effect a power lifter or a sprinter - sports that turn on raw physical performance. It's less clear how bilking up helps a player with the precision skills required in baseball. I'm sure more muscle makes a great hitter even better. But I've seen muscle-bound guys who can't buy a homer and skinny guys with the hand/eye coordination, bat speed, etc. to get the job done. Steroids also entered the equation at exactly the time when players began rigorous physical conditioning, so it's next to impossible to divine where these . Because steroids have some effect on performance, alarmists assume they determine performance. It just ain't true.

What everyone seems to be ignoring is the fact that steroid use was NOT BANNED by Major League Baseball in the 1990s. The first official policy was drafted after the 2001 season. It is true that 'roids were illegal, and this may sound like a slippery philosophical argument, but that doesn't mean using them in baseball was cheating. It may have been illegal, unethical or dirty, but it wasn't breaking the rules. If you don't want to like these players because they were juiced, you have every right. But there's no grounds to suggest their records be wiped from the books.

But the record books are what this anger is really about. Comparing players from different generations is a second job for many, and stats are the tools of the trade. But from now until the end of time, anyone who argues Barry Bonds is the greatest hitter of all time will have BALCO thrown in their face. And that's fair. And it's nothing new. From the dead ball to the height of the mound to expansion, the dynamics of the game are in constant change. Steroids are a chapter in the history of baseball, and maybe not a noble chapter, but still a part of the book.