OPEN COURT: Steroids, yet again

Look, I know I’m supposed to have a take on this David Ortiz thing. It’s practically part of the “sports columnists’ code.” Anytime a high-profile slugger is outed as a potential steroids user, sports columnists are supposed to channel all of the phony outrage that fuels the worst kind of writing and take it upon ourselves to “defend the game of baseball.”

It was one thing when the self-obsessed Alex Rodriguez or the disingenuous Sammy Sosa had their names (illegally) leaked from this ominous 104-player list from what was supposed to be a confidential 2003 test. People had grown tired of them anyway.

But the lovable, gregarious Big Papi? Surely, you jest!

If it turns out that this borderline talent from Minnesota who suddenly morphed into the modern-day Babe Ruth in Boston was on some sort of performance enhancer during the height of the steroids era, then he will have destroyed baseball, once and for all.

Or so some will have you believe.

It’s no secret that this entire era was tainted by PEDs. To attempt to single out certain stars as villains is futile. This was just another screwed-up time period in what is a screwed-up sport.

“But wait just a second,” say the defenders of baseball’s record books. “Performance-enhancing drugs have completey screwed up baseball’s precious numbers! How are we supposed to compare records anymore?”

The truth is it’s impossible to compare numbers across eras, regardless of PEDs.

Keep in mind that baseball teams only allowed white men to suit up until 1947. Prior to Jackie Robinson shattering the color barrier, baseball greats such as Satchel Paige, Josh Gibson, Buck O’Neill and hundreds of men we’ve never even heard of didn’t get the chance to compete on the biggest stage.

Yet nobody feels the need to put an asterisk next to Babe Ruth or Lou Gehrig in the record books, even though they didn’t face the best possible competition.

In addition to the unspeakable segregation practices, pitching-mound alterations, surgical advances (particularly Tommy John surgery), LASIK eye procedures, equipment improvements and countless other developments have turned today’s game into something baseball’s forefathers never could’ve predicted.

Have PEDs cheapened the game and made the accomplishments seem less authentic? Yes, but only to a point.

It wasn’t just beefy sluggers who hooked themselves up to the juice. Cincinnati pitcher Bronson Arroyo, who said he “wouldn’t be surprised” to find out that his name is on the infamous list, said that pitchers were getting a boost, as well.

“I’d take anything I can get from (a nutrition store) if you tell me it would make me better on the field,” Arroyo told The Associated Press. “Honestly, I would love to not take any of the supplements I take. I’d love to wake up in the morning and have some fruit and a bowl of cereal and have a good lunch, and maybe take a multivitamin for the day, but the reality is, I’m probably not going to be as good a major league pitcher if I do.”

If an advantage presents itself (and the governing body does nothing to stop it), athletes are going to exploit it.

The steroid era isn’t some sort of ultimate betrayal. It’s simply one more dark cloud that hangs over the increasingly shady history of professional baseball.

nprevenas@gvnews.com | 547-9747