Add Another to the Hall of Shame - Manny Ramirez

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-Digger's Daily-

I don't even know where to begin this one. Manny Ramirez. You fool! Just when there was some hope of baseball players finally getting back to playing baseball and putting most of the performance enhancing drug crapola to rest.... here's news of another super star gone wrong.

Manny Ramirez suspended 50 games by Major League baseball. No official word from league officials as to what created the bad results. It's rumored he tested positive for "... testosterone in his body that was not natural and came from an artificial source, two people with knowledge of the case told ESPN's Mark Fainaru-Wada and T.J. Quinn. The sources said that in addition to the artificial testosterone, Ramirez was identified as using the female fertility drug human chorionic gonadotropin, or hCG." (espn.com news services, 5/7/09).

What in the world was this guy thinking? Manny quickly came out with a public statement which defies logic in today's state of the game where every player should know exactly what he's taking and potential consequences. Dope. "Unfortunately, the medication was banned under our drug policy. Under the policy that mistake is now my responsibility. I have been advised not to say anything more for now. I do want to say one other thing; I've taken and passed about 15 drug tests over the past five seasons."

Guess he forgot to mention what prompted this test. A questionable spring training sampling showing elevated levels of testosterone. hCG is commonly used by steroid freaks to restart their bodies coming off a steroid cycle.

So lets see how some of the games most prolific home run hitters of the 90's stack up. Barry Bonds, #1 All Time Home Run King (762), can't find a job and could be wearing stripes soon due to perjuring himself regarding BALCO investigation. Sammy Sosa (#6, 609) never officially named, however often refused Chicago reporters challenges to take a test. Mark "I'm not here to discuss my past" McGwire (#8, 589). Rafael "Finger Waving" Palmeiro (#10, 569). Alex "AFraud" Rodriguez (#12, 553). Manny "I've Been Officially Busted" Ramirez (#17, 533). An endless list from MVP's to World Series Champions of which we'll never know its' true depth.

I think today's announcement couldn't have been timed better for ARod. So much attentioned has been thrown towards the Yankees multi million dollar star steroid abuser this week in advance of a new tell all book nitpicking his please love me compulsion. News of Manny is a much needed distraction (for ARod).

I really hope Hall of Fame voters completely ignore these guys wheh their names appear on HOF ballots. Major League Baseball, from top to bottom (owners to locker room attendants), all played a very large part manufacturing and nurturing one of the games darkest moments. Guess who takes it on the chin? 1- Fans. 2- Baseball history. Records set during this era should be canned. I was never in favor of wiping out records but no matter how you look at it... nearly all are tainted. If there was ever a time for reinventing the asterik, now is it.

All of these artificial statistics. Some have erased the games greatest records from single season to career marks with more on the way. Individual games most likely decided by one juicer pitching to another. As baseball teams started scoring more runs... television revenues soared, players salaries skyrocketed, record books rewritten, championships won and lost....... and......... ticket prices through the roof. So high in one particular stadium (Yankee), that most of the best seats are vacant! The Yanks had the nerve to price tag their best seats at $2500.00 a pop. Ah yes, they soon realized prices might be a little out of whack so they "slashed" dollar amounts. Now premium seats can remain empty at $1250 a pop.

Greed, greed, greed. Yet, the game marches on. It's in a new season. A new generation of players slowing syphoning out steroid hacks. The foreseeable future will be a 20 year struggle of trying to tame smoldering flames generated from one of the darkest era's in sports. Reminders of these years will linger until all suspected players names have cycled off of HOF ballots.

(www.allworldallsports.com)