And...for the second day in a row I am cornered into defending a sports personality that I am not too crazy about. Alex Rodriguez is about to join the 600 HR club and now the same tired old arguments are being brought up that since he came up positive on the "secret" and "random" steroids screening that took place in 2003.
1) Steroids were not against the rules of baseball until the 2003 season (after the "random" testing. Baseball is complicit because it wanted super-players.
2) There are only six men in that club, in this order - Bonds, Ruth, Aaron, Mays, Griffey, Jr., and Sosa - of the (soon to be) four men to enter that club in the last 10 years, three have the cloud of steroids and A-Rod has been confirmed. You might me able to draw dividing lines within the club, but baseball has had over 17,000 players in its history and 141 seasons of history. And there are only 7 men, ever, in that club.
3) Anyone who has ever played the game at any level knows that steroids aren't going to help you hit a baseball. It might help bat speed, it might give you some strength, and it might make you come back from injury more quickly, but it will not help you size up the pitcher, identify the pitch, and put a round bat to a round ball. That's talent. Steroids (or anything else) didn't do much to help the other 17,000 people hit the ball like that.
So is A-Ro(i)d on the level of Griffey, Mays, Aaron, or Ruth? You could argue that he isn't. It's still an amazing accomplishment worthy of recognition.
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