The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same

On August 7, 2007 Barry Lamar Bonds broke the most hallowed record in sports. He hit his 756th career home run deep into the San Francisco night. The Giants' fans erupted as their hometown hero trotted around the bases. The rest of the baseball world had a different reaction. Many of them were disgusted that a record of this magnitude was broken by a man who used performance enhancing drugs. Shirts adorned with "756*" across the chest clearly show how some people feel. The general consensus around baseball was that this atrocity would only have to be tolerated until Alex Rodriguez broke Bonds' record. At 33 years old, Rodriguez has amassed 553 career home runs. With nine years remaining on a 10 yr/$275 million contract, he would only need to average just over 23 dingers per season to surpass Bonds.

The prospect of ten years of Bonds on top was tough to swallow, but the wait would all be worth it when a natural, non-steroid using athlete broke the record. That was until today, when Sports Illustrated reported that Alex Rodriguez tested positive for two steroids during the 2003 season; the very season in which he won the home run title and his first MVP award. While it is assumed that Rodriguez is clean now with the inception of MLB's drug testing procedure, his marks are forever tainted.

Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmiero and Roger Clemens have all fallen out of favor with the public following steroid allegations against them. McGwire has failed to gain admission into the Hall of Fame since he became eligible in 2007. The eighth most prolific home run hitter of all-time with 583 bombs received less than a quarter of the vote to gain election.

With Bonds inability to gain employment since his record breaking 2007 campaign, baseball seemed to be distancing itself from the steroid scandal of the last two decades. The reports of an alleged positive test from A-Rod is devastating to the image upgrade baseball has so desperately been working for. Rodriguez' name is undoubtedly the most significant to date connected to a positive sample. It is unclear whether the names of the remaining 100 players who tested positive along with Rodriguez will be leaked.

The most ironic aspect of all the steroid controversy is that Jose Canseco seems to be the most reputable and accurate source to date. Everyone he fingered in his book "Juiced" vehemently denied his allegations, most of whom have had other outlets corroborate Canseco's claims. Even Joe Torre's depiction of A-Rod as "A-Fraud" in his new book seems more accurate than abusive.

The Mitchell Report was supposed to be the final chapter of the devastating steroid era. Now, however, we have reason to doubt any and every player who hit an opposite field home run off the fists, who played in all 162 games and who had the courage to sign multi-million dollar contracts that they never statistically fulfilled. With close to 100 players still without jobs as we sit a mere week before pitchers and catchers report, this is a prime example of how greatly steroids still affects baseball. The out-of-this-world numbers that were produced during the late '90s and early '00s caused player salaries to skyrocket. Now, the wage scale is so inflated that quality ball players cannot find jobs without accepting contracts at a third of what their counterparts make.

The game of baseball needs to rid itself of this black eye. Unfortunately, as long as A-Rod and other past offenders are still on active rosters, the eyebrows of the media and fans will remain raised with skepticism.