In Game 4 of the 2000 American League Championship Series at Safeco Field, New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens, then 38, was utterly dominant against the Seattle Mariners. He shut down Seattle’s potent offense, yielding just one hit in a 5-0, complete-game victory, giving New York what proved to be an insurmountable 3-1 series lead. The Yankees eventually beat the Mariners in six games, advancing to the World Series.
According to the testimony of Clemens’ trainer, included in a report released last week on performance-enhancing drug use in Major League Baseball, Clemens had been injecting steroids during the latter half of that season. Without that illegal edge, would a pitcher who should have been in the twilight of his career been so unhittable? If Clemens were playing by the rules, might the Mariners have prevailed in that pivotal game?
We’ll never know. The point is, if the allegations of Clemens’ trainer are true, the playing field wasn’t level that day. The game lacked integrity, just as if one of the teams had been corrupted by gambling interests. The game, its fans and its history were all ripped off.
An entire era of America’s pastime has been compromised, along with many of the records achieved during the past decade or two, because of the widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs. Barry Bonds and now Clemens, the era’s greatest slugger and greatest pitcher, stand at the heart of the scandal. In a game where legends grow over time — for good or bad — their reputations are likely beyond repair. Baseball, if it takes swift and certain steps to clean itself up, can be healed. But it may need help.
Baseball has long enjoyed an exemption to anti-trust laws, and its legal monopoly has flourished. That gives Congress the moral authority, and legal leverage, to demand that the sport clean itself up. If owners and the players’ union won’t or can’t agree to swift, certain steps, like the adoption of internationally accepted anti-doping practices, Congress should be ready to step in.
The World Anti-Doping Agency has used tough, uniform rules and testing standards to curb drug use in the Olympics and other international competitions. Baseball needs to undergo a similar culture change, something it has long resisted. New leadership in the commissioner’s office and the players’ union might be a necessary first step.
Sport is a major piece of our cultural fabric. When it becomes as corrupted as baseball has, it’s time for society to demand repairs.
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