Steroids in MLB - Who's really to blame?

As the MLB season is coming down to an exciting end, this may be remembered as the year MLB has had ENOUGH of the cheaters and liars taking Performance Enhancing Drugs. MLB seems to be on that path. The players have had enough. The fans have had enough! They're tired of wondering if they're watching greatness or if these players are achieving these great stats with the help of PEDs.

However the question remains, whose to blame? Is it the players that have been taking PEDs to gain fame and fortune? Well yes, but are they solely to blame? Do fans blame the owners who turned away while players like Jose Canseco, Mark McGwire and many others were taking them? Yes they share some of the blame also. There is a group however that is taking very little to no blame for allowing this to happen while they were active and are pointing their fingers in a, shame shame shame, kind of way. Those are the former players turned broadcasters that had the chance to put an end to this type of behavior back in the 90's and early 2000's and did NOTHING! During the negotiations of Collective Bargaining Agreements players were completely AGAINST testing. They fought against it! Now not all or even half may have been using, but they were ALL reaping the benefits of the "steroid era" with McGwire, Sosa, and Bonds all leading the way. In fact there's an analyst for a big network that said on live tv that during their players meetings 1 pitcher stood up and said they needed to put a stop to PEDs in baseball. They turned and told him to sit down and be quiet! In the book, "The Yankee Years" by Joe Torre there's a quote by a player, the name escapes me right now, and he said, paraphrasing, that he retired early because he didn't want to have to use PEDs just to stay in Baseball and compete! To me this is very telling. Players will always look for an advantage but taking PEDs is not the way

PEDs in Baseball have absolutely destroyed the game. Records like Barry Bonds' Home Run records, Roger Clemens' pitching records, Sammy Sosas' 600 plus home runs, Alex Rodriguezs' 650 home runs and MVPs will forever be questioned. These men not only cheated the game, their organizations, and the fans but also themselves. They will NEVER get into the Hall Of Fame, never be recognized as true great because of their use of PEDs. What's really sad to me is that this could've been stopped 12 - 15 years ago if they players shaking their fingers at today's player had stood up and stopped it!

Until next time

Luis Estrada Jr.