I’m not sure what to think (http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-chafets24-2009jun24,0,6757150.story) of a column published recently in the Los Ang
eles Times – one where the writer says he thinks Latin American ballplayers are being singled about for criticism when it comes to the spread of steroid use in professional baseball.
Admittedly, players such as Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmiero and Manny Ramirez are among those whose names have come up when it comes to people wanting to impose some sort of punishment because of suspected use of drugs meant to artificially enhance one’s strength.
BUT I HAVE heard just as much outrage whenever names like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are mentioned. They all have had the A-word (for “asterisk”) attached to their names, although I’m not sure what the point of such an act would be.
The same people who now are getting all worked up in saying that Sammy Sosa’s 600-plus home runs (and three seasons of 60 or more) are no longer good enough to include the one-time Chicago Cub in the Hall of Fame seem to get equally vehement in their opposition to either Bonds or Clemens getting baseball’s version of immortality.
What convinces me the most that there isn’t much of an attempt to get at Latino ballplayers with regards to all the steroids talk is the way that the Hall of Fame types have treated Mark McGwire.
He was the man who topped Sosa in 1998 with his 70 home runs, and was baseball’s golden boy until his arrogance
in testifying before a Congressional committee gave many people the circumstantial evidence they needed to think McGwire also used steroids to bulk up those biceps that gave him strength to hit long fly balls over outfield fences.
NOW, WHENEVER THE vote tallies for the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., come out, McGwire usually gets so few votes that it is unlikely he ever will gain admission to the museum.
So much for the bronze plaque in his honor.
In fact, it seems that the people who have dumped on McGwire in recent years are now giving Sosa equal treatment.
As the Los Angeles Times stated in its recent commentary, the risk of all this steroids talk is that so many Latin American ballplayers who excelled during the 1990s and early 2000s (the so-called steroids era) will be deprived of the future honors that their statistical achievements ought to warrant them.
PERHAPS IT IS because that era was also the one in which Latin American ballplayers became so dominant in the game.
U.S. teams used to be capable of having a lone Spanish-speaking ballplayer or two. Now, the number of Latin American-born players is about one-quarter of all 750 major leaguers, and about another 15 percent are U.S. born of Latin American ethnicity.
In short, Latinos.
With so many Latino stars cropping up at the time under investigation, it would be obvious that the share of Spanish-sounding names would seem at first glance to be out of proportion.
BUT WHEN IT comes to the overall list of names that get mentioned, I hear the Anglo-sounding names listed just as prominently. Unless s
omeone is trying to claim (and I don’t think they are) that Roger Clemens is some sort of closet Latino.
Then again, we didn’t find out until decades after he quit playing baseball that the great Boston Red Sox hitter Ted Williams had Mexican ethnicity in his family tree. So I suppose the idea of Clemens from Texas having some sort of third cousin who is Mexican wouldn’t be the most ridiculous concept on the face of Planet Earth.
My bottom line is that I would hate to think that the Latin American-born ballplayers whose names get dragged into the steroids mess would somehow get a pass that their non-Latino ball playing brethren wouldn’t get.
I know some have tried arguing that ballplayers from places such as the Dominican Republic should get some sympathy because of the fact that some of the substances considered to be illegal in the United States are actually completely legal “back home.”
I DON’T BUY that.
While I don’t expect a ball player (or any athlete, for that matter) to be an intellectual heavyweight, I do expect them to know enough about what they can (and cannot) do with their bodies without violating the rules.
If it turns out that some athlete really didn’t know what substances qualified as a steroid that could get them fined, then I’d say they deserve the eternal ridicule of baseball fans for being downright dumb.
And that statement applies to any pelotero, regardless of his ethnic origins.
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eles Times – one where the writer says he thinks Latin American ballplayers are being singled about for criticism when it comes to the spread of steroid use in professional baseball.Admittedly, players such as Sammy Sosa, Rafael Palmiero and Manny Ramirez are among those whose names have come up when it comes to people wanting to impose some sort of punishment because of suspected use of drugs meant to artificially enhance one’s strength.
BUT I HAVE heard just as much outrage whenever names like Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens are mentioned. They all have had the A-word (for “asterisk”) attached to their names, although I’m not sure what the point of such an act would be.
The same people who now are getting all worked up in saying that Sammy Sosa’s 600-plus home runs (and three seasons of 60 or more) are no longer good enough to include the one-time Chicago Cub in the Hall of Fame seem to get equally vehement in their opposition to either Bonds or Clemens getting baseball’s version of immortality.
What convinces me the most that there isn’t much of an attempt to get at Latino ballplayers with regards to all the steroids talk is the way that the Hall of Fame types have treated Mark McGwire.
He was the man who topped Sosa in 1998 with his 70 home runs, and was baseball’s golden boy until his arrogance
in testifying before a Congressional committee gave many people the circumstantial evidence they needed to think McGwire also used steroids to bulk up those biceps that gave him strength to hit long fly balls over outfield fences.NOW, WHENEVER THE vote tallies for the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., come out, McGwire usually gets so few votes that it is unlikely he ever will gain admission to the museum.
So much for the bronze plaque in his honor.
In fact, it seems that the people who have dumped on McGwire in recent years are now giving Sosa equal treatment.
As the Los Angeles Times stated in its recent commentary, the risk of all this steroids talk is that so many Latin American ballplayers who excelled during the 1990s and early 2000s (the so-called steroids era) will be deprived of the future honors that their statistical achievements ought to warrant them.
PERHAPS IT IS because that era was also the one in which Latin American ballplayers became so dominant in the game.
U.S. teams used to be capable of having a lone Spanish-speaking ballplayer or two. Now, the number of Latin American-born players is about one-quarter of all 750 major leaguers, and about another 15 percent are U.S. born of Latin American ethnicity.
In short, Latinos.
With so many Latino stars cropping up at the time under investigation, it would be obvious that the share of Spanish-sounding names would seem at first glance to be out of proportion.
BUT WHEN IT comes to the overall list of names that get mentioned, I hear the Anglo-sounding names listed just as prominently. Unless s
omeone is trying to claim (and I don’t think they are) that Roger Clemens is some sort of closet Latino.Then again, we didn’t find out until decades after he quit playing baseball that the great Boston Red Sox hitter Ted Williams had Mexican ethnicity in his family tree. So I suppose the idea of Clemens from Texas having some sort of third cousin who is Mexican wouldn’t be the most ridiculous concept on the face of Planet Earth.
My bottom line is that I would hate to think that the Latin American-born ballplayers whose names get dragged into the steroids mess would somehow get a pass that their non-Latino ball playing brethren wouldn’t get.
I know some have tried arguing that ballplayers from places such as the Dominican Republic should get some sympathy because of the fact that some of the substances considered to be illegal in the United States are actually completely legal “back home.”
I DON’T BUY that.
While I don’t expect a ball player (or any athlete, for that matter) to be an intellectual heavyweight, I do expect them to know enough about what they can (and cannot) do with their bodies without violating the rules.
If it turns out that some athlete really didn’t know what substances qualified as a steroid that could get them fined, then I’d say they deserve the eternal ridicule of baseball fans for being downright dumb.
And that statement applies to any pelotero, regardless of his ethnic origins.
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