MLB: From national pastime to national disaster

Years from now, you’re going to take your children to their first major league baseball game.

The moon-shot homers and the flaming fastballs will instantly turn them into fans – moreover, infant color commentators.

And as the good parent, you’ll pretend to be just as excited.

Why pretend?

Because, unlike your son or daughter, you know the truth.

You know America’s pastime is no longer America’s pastime. You know the game our fathers and their fathers and their fathers grew up with is internally tarnished.

Like Barry Bonds’ record-breaking 756th home run ball, baseball will forever have an asterisk next to its name due to its association with steroid use.

When Bonds broke Hank Aaron’s prestigious home run record, some (San Francisco fans) cheered. Most booed.

Right before their very eyes, writers, TV personalities and fans alike were witnessing baseball’s downfall.

Soon after, optimistic talks pointed to one player – one superstar who could potentially dethrone Bonds and put this whole steroid era to rest.

The public tagged Alex Rodriguez, the youngest player to ever hit 500 home runs, as the sport’s savior.

Surprise surprise, the highest paid player of all time is linked to steroid use, too.

According to a Sports Illustrated report, Rodriguez tested positive for two anabolic steroids in 2003, his American League MVP season.

The report said Rodriguez, while a shortstop for the Texas Rangers, was one of 104 players who tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs.

His name ended up on the infamous list six years ago when MLB issued a survey testing whether mandatory random drug testing was necessary.

I’d say league Commissioner Bud Selig and his cronies were just a tad bit late, don’t you think?

Now that the face of the league is under scrutiny, I’m more than convinced baseball is nothing but a game of lies and cheats these days.

The blame, however, doesn’t solely fall on the players’ shoulders. The managers, trainers and more importantly, the somehow-always-innocent owners are the culprits, too.

They could have stopped all this illegality.

But instead, they turned their backs and supposedly knew nothing of the creams, needles and pills.

That statement alone is more humorous than any joke in my Uncle Jay’s Tonight Show monologue.

You don’t need ESPN’s Peter Gammons’ credentials to understand their dirty thought process – if sellouts were prominent and baseball’s popularity flourished across the country, it didn’t matter that players were gaining a competitive advantage.

The Babe Ruths and Jackie Robinsons of baseball are the ones I feel for the most.

The steroid era will forever cast a dark shadow on the sport the drugs made so bright and colorful.

No wonder Aaron wouldn’t sit in the stands to watch Bonds break his record.
Meanwhile, whether A-Rod admits taking steroids or not, his name will live in infamy.

The same goes for Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro, Jose Canseco, Roger Clemens and Bonds. As eye-popping as their statistics are, none of the aforementioned will be inducted into the Hall of Fame unless their families physically steal and cast the ballots themselves.

Jeb Bush, anyone?

So when you’re at that game with your children, just play along. Enjoy the sport as if steroids never had an impact. When they grow older, remind your kids of the heroes of baseball – not the players who deteriorated it.