by Stephen Jones
In this tired story fueled, it seems,
by personal and institutional greed,
will suspension clear the smoke?
HGH and PEDs, the fiery secret
formula lurking hidden in MLB . . . then
one astute comment is its equation:
“Average talent becomes good,
good talent becomes great, and
great talent reaches the Hall of Fame.”
(In the past, the tightrope dance between
denial and admission seemed to mirror baseball –
where business often outweighed the game.)
But not this time: the list of the alleged is
too long, the evidence too compelling. MLB
will clean house, Selig will have his legacy.
To note: Braun may get his money, so may
others to be named. But Hall of Fame status
is unreachable . . . and no asterisk need apply.
Yeah well, a sad tale in the cases of Ryan Braun, Alex Rodriguez, Francisco Cervelli and a few others…but I still can’t escape the sneaking suspicion that Major League Baseball (and seemingly most fans and media personalities) have rushed to judgment and to me, it appears that due process is lacking. Isn’t the testimony from employees of Biogenesis, for one thing, based on deals for lesser charges for those people? If so, should one take the words of what is (or are, if the plural applies) akin to a jail-house snitch (or snitches)?
On the flip side, the players all accepted their suspensions this time, with the one exception. Either the evidence was there, or they were threatened with the loss of their paychecks.