Jewish World Review April 30, 2007 / 12 Iyar, 5767

Radomski's Crooning Won't Upset Baseball's Apple Cart

By Evan Weiner

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | So Major League Baseball's little world was rocked again on Friday when it was revealed as part of a US government's investigation into drug use is baseball that a New York Mets clubhouse employee Kirk J. Radomski pleaded guilty to supplying performance-enhancing drugs to dozens of current and former Major League Baseball players and their associates, and laundering the proceeds from those deals. Radomski worked for the Mets between 1985 and 1995 and claimed he was selling anabolic steroids, human growth hormone and amphetamines to players over a decade long period starting in 1995.

Will Radomski's plea really have an impact on Major League Baseball? Probably not. The federal probe of BALCO, Jose Canseco's book, Congressional hearings on the use of illegal performance enhancing substances in all sports, the South Carolina doctor going to jail after giving illegal performance enhancers to members of the Carolina Panthers in 2004, the raid of former Major League pitcher Jason Grimsley's home in 2006 by US has not diminished the amount of money or interest that is going into sports.

If anything, sports industry has become even bigger despite the allegations of players using illegal substances to help their performances.

Radomski, BALCO founder Victor Conte, Dr. James Shortt and others have been indicated or implicated, found guilty of various crimes and the sports world goes on and on. In the United States, the possession of steroids without a doctor's approval has been illegal for 16 years, the bill signed into law by President George H. W. Bush, yet Canseco said he was instructing his teammates about using various illegal performance enhancers in 1992 in the Texas Rangers clubhouse. The Managing General Partner of the Texas Rangers in 1992 was George W. Bush, the son of the then sitting President of the United States.

Years later as the 43rd President of the United States, George W. Bush included in his State of the Union speech a talk on getting steroids in 2004. Bush's comments included "the use of performance-enhancing drugs like steroids in baseball, football, and other sports is dangerous, and it sends the wrong message - that there are shortcuts to accomplishment, and that performance is more important than character. So tonight I call on team owners, union representatives, coaches, and players to take the lead, to send the right signal, to get tough, and to get rid of steroids now."

Apparently no one in the United States sports world took Bush's call to arms seriously because the raids of both Radomski and Grimsley homes took place long after the State of the Union address, a number of Carolina Panthers players were using illegal substances and the International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge was trying to convince with Italian authorities in 2005 that athletes caught using illegal substances should be tried not by Italian law authorities but by the IOC since the athletes really were not committing a crime, rather they were cheating and should be suspended for cheating.

So if Rogge was correct, then Major League Baseball may have been loaded with cheaters and not criminals from 1991 onward. That means it is possible that from 1991 onward, baseball games might not have been bona fide competition and that really does bring up questions. Since baseball did not test for illegal performance enhancing substances until recently, any wild allegation can be thrown out there without proof. Yes, andro was found in Mark Mc Gwire's locker in 1998 but at the time androstenedione was legally sold over the counter.

The Anabolic Steroid Control Act was signed into law in October 2004 and classified androstenedione and 17 other steroids as controlled substances. As of January 2005, these substances may not be sold without prescription.

If Mc Gwire just took andro, he did nothing wrong in 1998. Many countries do not recognize the United States steroids law and in some baseball playing Latin American countries, there was no problem in purchasing steroids.

So baseball may not have had as many "cheaters" as thought because of various international and American laws governing steroids and other supplements. Still, what if Radomski starts singing to Major League Baseball's investigator on illegal substances, the former United States Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell and names a bunch of retired players? Major League Baseball can't suspend them as they are retired, perhaps there might be a permanent ban imposed like the one given to Pete Rose which really won't amount to much except in an individual case here or there or maybe dock pensions but that's not happening. The likelihood of any athlete getting arrested is slim, how many users have been picked up by law enforcement officials? Major League Baseball can't do anything about its past and Major League Baseball isn't going to erase the records from 1991 onward because that could unleash a bunch of class action suits that would be unprecedented in sports history.

How many United States cities and states raised hotel, motel, car rental, sales and other taxes to underwrite new stadiums for Major League Baseball owners that would want their money back if it was admitted by Major League Baseball that the competition from 1991 onward may not have been on the level? How would MLB deal with all the ticket holders who might want their money back who attended games during the time period? How would baseball owners deal with Cable TV operators who passed onto non-sports fans consumers the ever escalating price of sports on their systems (by the way, will US and Canadian cable operators ever reimburse subscribers for missed games which were paid for because of labor actions in baseball, hockey and basketball in 1994, 1995, 1998, 1999, 2004 and 2005?), if they ask Major League Baseball for a refund?

It has been suggested Mc Gwire along with Sammy Sosa in their battle to break Roger Maris' home run record of 61 in 1998 helped catapult Major League Baseball to where it is today, an industry loaded with revenue streams, new stadiums all over the map except in South Florida, huge TV contracts, a big money producing in mlb.com and huge attendance. There were all sorts of rumors about steroid usage during the 1990s but the US government, baseball owners, the players association or newspaper editors seemed very interested in ruining the party, so life went on despite some suspicions about certain players.

Chances are good that Radomski will give investigators a lot of good information, but like the BALCO case, the Dr. Shortt plea bargain, Dr. Shortt got a year in jail, Radomski will become a mere footnote in sports history. People will still buy tickets, buy mlb.com subscriptions for games, and buy cable or satellite radio and TV packages because they want to see or be seen at a game or they want to be entertained. Truth be told, all baseball fans want to know is who hit the home run and how far did it go. Radomski, Grimsley, Conte, BALCO, Dr. Shortt just get in the way of being entertained.