When the PED era was happening, everyone knew it was going on. There were many conversations about it going on at that time, but nobody cared. Everyone enjoyed the results, accepted it, and benefitted from it while it was going on. Heck, even fans and collectors were enjoying it because fans knew their favorite players/teams were playing better, while auction houses, memorabilia dealers, baseball card shops, and collectors all knew the better they played, the more their cards and memorabilia would go up in value. Yes, including myself. I remember all the talk going on about PED use then; watching all of the HR’s being hit; watching the HR races going on. Heck, before 1996, the most HR’s Brady Anderson hit in a season was 21 in 1992. He hit 50 HR’s in 1996. After 1996, the most HR’s he hit was 24 in 1999. Everyone knew it was going on! Everyone knew it was going on! Everyone knew it was going on and had no issues with it.
So where are we today? It happened…many knew it was happening…many benefitted from it…and then when it became a problem, many went silent; MLB, media, etc. They all got on their self-righteous, high-horses, playing stupid, and deciding to let the players take the blame and punishment for that era. Bud Selig is in the Hall of Fame. He knew it was going on, yet, when it became an issue, he played stupid and acted as if he was going to save Major League Baseball.
Reading all of the recent articles about voting for players during that era; expressing which PED users should or should not get in, is frustrating. People can justify it however they want, but for me, they are all either in or they are out. And we all know there are some PED users already in, so that’s where I stand and struggle with the continued picking and choosing who gets in or not.
As I stated before, I don’t know what the resolve is, but the above can’t be ignored. It happened, it was accepted, and that’s reality. You can’t only punish some of the players for it. Put them in, put an asterisk next to their name, and call it a day. That is how that era will be remembered.
Thanks, Tony
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