By ALYSSA HADDAD
Contributing Writer
Alex Rodriguez, the latest in the epidemic of banned substance users to be penalized in the MLB, faces a suspension for the entirety of the upcoming 2014 season and postseason. Last Sunday, 60 Minutes correspondent, Scott Pelley, interviewed several people involved in the scandal, including Anthony Bosch, founder of the former South Florida anti-aging clinic Biogenesis, MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, and Rodriguez’s lawyer, Joe Tacopina. Although Rodriguez has never officially tested positive for any banned substances, Selig admitted that in an effort to save the game of baseball, he was determined to make an example out of the Yankees third basemen. But in a game where towering home runs puts fans in the bleachers, is it possible to completely rid professional baseball of steroid use? More so, are fans even concerned with the sanctity of the game?
Bosch confessed to Pelley details from A-Rod’s doping while playing in New York.
He claimed that Rodriguez took Testosterone, Insulin Growth Factor 1, Human Growth Hormone and different types of peptides, all banned by the MLB and all “prescribed” personally by Bosch. Bosch took him on as a client in 2010, and was paid $12,000 a month in cash: a small fee for baseball’s highest paid player. However, despite more than 500 messages exchanged between the two from Rodriguez’s BlackBerry that seem to support Bosch’s story, he has tested negative for performance enhancing drugs in every one of the league’s random, post-game, urine tests. Rodriguez’s lawyer explained that the messages were discussing nutrition, while Bosch stood by his report that they were using code words in order to openly discuss his doping regimen.
So, how is it possible for Alex Rodriguez to pass over ten drug tests if he was regularly injected by Bosch? He asserted that it was because he gave Rodriguez advice on how to test negative, by submitting a sample taken in the middle of the urine stream, since most substances are found in the beginning or the end. On the other hand, Tacopina stated that the negative results only further prove that the Yankee was drug free, a theory that Bud Selig doesn’t buy. The Commissioner told Pelley that Rodriguez’s 211-game penalty was fitting for his actions, and was necessary to preserve the game.
But is it possible to even erase baseball of the use of all of its banned substances? Are steroids destroying the game, or are the players improving its popularity among fans that would rather see a home run derby than a pitching duel? Furthermore, are players feeling the pressure from the public to perform at a high level for a season that is longer than any other sport, or are they doping to selfishly inflate their egos? In A-Rod’s case, the yearly criticism he received for his disappointing execution in the postseason may have encouraged his alleged use of banned substances. On the other hand, Bosch told 60 Minutes that Rodriguez wanted to stand alone as the only person to belt 800 home runs in baseball history, and was willing to do anything to achieve that. Regardless of his motivations, it will be interesting to see how Alex Rodriguez’s doping scandal will continue to influence Major League Baseball into the 2014 season.
