Yes

by Dan Greenland

Created on: February 24, 2009

The "asterisk" that has been referred to in Major League Baseball has to do with players that hold records but have used performance enhancement substances at some point in their careers. The theory behind this is that you can't just exclude someone from the record books because they were on steroids, but at the same time they had an unfair advantage and this "asterisk" would appear next to their names in the history books to let people know that they achieved this remarkable feet by unfair means. This would allow the public to decide how to perceive these athletes on a case by case basis.

In the last few years many professional baseball players have been accused, or have come forward and admitted to using performance enhancing substances at some point in their careers. Some of these players were Barry Bonds (accused), Roger Clemens (accused), Andy Pettitte (admitted), Jose Canseco (admitted to using himself, and accused or incriminated many others, in his book, Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits & How Baseball Got Big), just to name a few players. A pattern started to form; those who admitted their usage were quickly forgiven and got back to work, those who did not ended up in front of government inquiries and soon charged with perjury.

In light of this, when Alex Rodriguez was accused of using performance enhancing substances by a reporter he willingly set up an interview with a very respected baseball journalist (Peter Gammons of ESPN) to confess to the public that he had, in fact, used these substances early in his career. This seems like the best course of action. Alex Rodriguez (A-Rod) is still young in his baseball career. He is on track to break the all time home run record barring a major injury later in his career. He understood that a criminal investigation was not something that would be good for him personally, or for his career. He also had several teammates to learn from. Roger Clemens denied these accusations until he was blue in the face and is still stuck in a legal struggle against the charge of perjury, and it looks like his career is over. Andy Pettitte and Jason Giambi admitted their usage and will both play with this season without the distraction of legal proceedings.

This leaves only one question. Will the name "Alex Rodriguez" appear in the record books with an asterisk? It is important to note that Major League Baseball has not yet made a decision about using the asterisk in situations where steroids were used, but it seems to be a very supported idea. Many would argue that A-Rod only used these substances for a short period of time and that the rest of his career without these substances has been just as amazing so there shouldn't be an asterisk. The debate about this is complicated because A-Rod has been one of the most prolific power hitters the game has ever seen. With or without enhancement substances, A-Rod can hit. Everyone wanted to believe that he would break Barry Bond's tainted record and we would have a deserving home run champion. But that will not be the case.

Alex Rodriguez said it best himself in the interview with Peter Gammons. When asked if the use of performance enhancement drugs should automatically disqualify a player from the hall of fame Rodriguez answered, "I hope not. I hope not. I mean, I think every case is different. I think you have to look at the data. If you take a career of, you know, 25 years, and you take away three, or you take away 2, or you take away one, I think overall you have to make a decision." I agree with A-Rod that the use of steroids should not disqualify an athlete from the hall of fame, if it was a mistake and the athlete moved on as A-Rod contended in the interview. But, if you are talking about records and you have to take away, "...three, or you take away two and half, or you take away one...," obviously, there has to be an asterisk by that name and record.

Although A-Rod's legacy will now be tainted and this will always be a shadow over his amazing career, I feel that he did the right thing. Even if an asterisk appears next to his name in the record books, he will, most likely, be the next player to the claim the title of, "Home Run Champion."

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