Manny is Trying to Ruin Baseball for Me

I never wanted it to come to this, I’m as big of a baseball fan as anyone, but Manny Ramirez’ suspension has forced me to make this conclusion: I cannot trust another player in MLB. Manny was a player who I thought was 100% clean, I wanted to believe that he was naturally one of the greatest raw hitters this wonderful game has ever seen. But after this suspension I no longer appreciate the home run or absurd power numbers some players put up without some sort of skepticism. I just can’t because I don’t want to believe in something that is fake. Now I know that he didn’t test positive for steroids but he tested positive for a drug that restarts a person’s normal testosterone production, which to me means he at one point took steroids. So when players go on camera and say they don’t take steroids; that doesn’t mean they haven’t taken steroids at one point or aren’t taking a supplement now that is enhancing their production.

I feel betrayed, tricked and fooled after this news, almost to the point where I don’t know if I want to watch baseball for a while. Manny was a character to me, a guy who genuinely enjoys playing the game, he seemed like a fan who had his greatest wish come true where he got to play the game he loves and get paid for it. Manny was one of my favorite players not on the White Sox, but now I don’t think I can forgive him for this ever.

He seemed like a normal guy like so many other baseball players, which makes it a sport I really enjoy to watch because it gives me the idea that I could go out there tomorrow and do what they do, only to know that I most likely would not hit a 92 mph fastball. But to learn that he cheated, why should I believe that any other player hasn’t used a drug to improve their performance. I want to believe guys like Jim Thome and Ken Griffey Jr, and retired players like Frank Thomas but Manny has me now at a point where I have to be skeptical when I watch the performances of any player from this era. Because of Ramirez, I will not be surprised when the next big name player is suspended; he has proven to me that this steroid epidemic was and is wide spread and there are people trying to ruin the game that I love so much.

Buster Olney of ESPN is going with the suggestion for revamping the penalty for drug use to use a zero tolerance policy and I agree with him. Players are flat out cheating when they resort to PEDs and they shouldn’t get to continue to earn a living from playing a game if they are caught cheating. Will this happen? I don’t think it will for a long time because the players union will not be for it but if a player is truly clean, they should stand up and demand this policy be put into place because they are the ones getting cheated the most. They are losing not only playing time to the guys passing them by cheating but they are also losing millions of dollars from being out performed by the cheaters. Something needs to be done and unfortunately I don’t think anything will get done for a long time. This is a sad day for me as a baseball fan and I’m sure I’m not alone when I say I feel betrayed.