Steroids & A Little Boy's Baseball Cards

Seattle-Area Boy Separates "Cheaters" From Baseball Card Collection

(CBS)  Jim Gullo is a Seattle-area writer who blogs for CBSNews.com as the How-To Travel Guru. He wrote this piece on how the Mitchell report on steroids in professional baseball has changed his 7-year-old son Joe's view of the game.

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Baseball came all in a rush to my son Joe last summer. He got a Major League Baseball videogame for his seventh birthday that featured real players, and suddenly he was hooked. All at once he learned statistics, strategy and personalities, putting faces and physiques to real players’ names. He began to make comments at the breakfast table like, “Travis Hafner is a good hitter, but he has a very small head.” Also, “Randy Johnson is super good, but he’s, like, 70 years old or something.”

We spent the summer watching games on TV, attending Mariners games in our native Seattle, and following the Red Sox through the World Series. Joe began to collect baseball cards; lots of them. Lists began to appear around the house in his careful hand-writing of his favorite players in fantasy line-ups: Thome, Konerko, Rodriguez, Jeter, Ortiz.

He began to ask questions, loads of them, all day long. Do I think Magglio will be a Hall of Famer? (Too soon to know.) Is Felix Hernandez good? (Yes, he’s good, but not yet great.) Who’s better, Oswalt or Santana? (I have no idea.) Is Jeff Weaver good? (Regrettably, not anymore). Who was better, Williams or DiMaggio? (Ask your mother).

He knew about Barry Bonds’ homerun chase and the accusations of steroid use. Joe made up his mind early, and on his own, that he wouldn’t recognize Bonds’ record when he passed Hank Aaron. As far as Joe was concerned, Hammering Hank would always be the Homer King, and that was fine with me. It was clear to Joe that if you cheated to play better, your records couldn’t amount to much.

Every morning when he wakes up, Joe sorts his baseball cards, a collection that now numbers in the hundreds. He makes groupings of the best hitters, best second basemen, most strikeouts, or all-star lineups he’d like to see. We began to plan trips for next summer that would allow us to see games in different stadiums across the country.

And then the Mitchell report came out. Joe reads the sports section, and I couldn’t keep the news from him. He learned that dozens of players had been named as cheaters and drug takers, buying and ingesting steroids and human growth hormones for more than a decade. Some of them were players whom he plays with on his videogame, and whose cards he studies and sorts. He read the lists of names and understood how steroids can grow muscles that make fastballs livelier, and make routine fly balls turn into home runs. And how it wasn’t fair when ballplayers cheat the game.

Joe dealt with the news in his own way. First, he segregated the cards of the named cheaters: Gagne, Lo Duca, Segui, Brown and Clemens. They went into a new pile that he had never previously considered, and were separated from the other players.

But then my 7-year-old child went a step further. Scrutinizing the statistics on the back of the cards, he began to sort his players by who he thought might have taken performance-enhancing drugs.

“Look, Dad,” he said, “this guy hit fourteen home runs in 1999 and thirty-six in 2000. He might have been taking drugs. And this pitcher had, like, four wins in 2000 and fourteen in 2001. Do you think he was cheating?”

What could I say? I have no idea if they were cheating or not. But if there is one thing we’ve all learned in the past month, it is that baseball players don’t seem to have the courage or the integrity to come forward and admit their mistakes until they’re publicly outed as having bought or ingested human growth hormone or steroids. Joe is trying to figure out how to deal with this new baseball landscape in his own way. I am wrestling with the question of how can I spend fifty bucks to attend a game next season with Joe and cheer for a third baseman, as yet unnamed by Mitchell or anyone else, who got a $64 million contract because he hit 48 homeruns in 2004, yet hasn’t hit more than 26 since. And a hundred more players with similar stories being told on the backs of their baseball cards.

Joe and I talk a lot less these days about going on baseball-viewing road trips next summer. But then, it is basketball season now and Joe has begun to collect NBA cards. And with them come new questions. Is Iverson good? Is Carter? No, really, is he?

[vittlesr]

But if there is one thing we%u2019ve all learned in the past month, it is that baseball players don%u2019t seem to have the courage or the integrity to come forward and admit their mistakes until they%u2019re publicly outed as having bought or ingested human growth hormone or steroids.

That''s the writer''s opinion.

[rushlimpdrug]

"...this is the OPINION page. Have you ever read a newspaper?"
Posted by kfreeman67 at 12:17 AM

Ah, so what is the writer''s opinion?

[blackyowe]

I walked away from following Major league sports a decade ago. Most take drugs and make way too much money. It''s ruined. Spoiled brats on drugs making millions are a big bore.

[kfreeman67]

By the way, all you whiners complaining about how this isn''t ''real news'', how Edward R. Murrow would roll over in his grave, blahblahblah...check the top left side of the page...this is the OPINION page. Have you ever read a newspaper? It''s "like wow like as if" this website is divided into SECTIONS!!...like FRONT PAGE NEWS, INTERNATIONAL NEWS, SPORTS, OPINIONS/EDITORIALS, etc. Mindblowing!

[kfreeman67]

Thuggery in football, gambling refs in the NBA, steroid scancals in cycling, baseball, track and field...now we read allegations that pro tennis has been infiltrated by the Russian mafia enticing players to throw matches.

I am a true fan of so many sports, but it becomes increasingly difficult to believe in the glory of athletic achievement when so many people are outright cheaters. Yes, we all know they''re innocent until proven guilty, but how many cheating liars, first denying, then showing up at the podium, crying and begging forgiveness, do we have to take? Is true glory from fantastic athletic achievement ever going to be believed again? How can a cheater stand there and accept a medal/trophy/check/plaque/whatever when they''ve cheated? How do they justify that in their minds?

Test everyone, often. As often as necessary. Throw out cheaters, even if they are the single biggest draw on the entire roster/team/squad/whatever. If the tests and rules don''t have any teeth behind them, NO ONE WILL FOLLOW THEM. As my daddy used to say, either **** or get off the pot. Either clean it up, or just throw up your hands and be content with what you''ve got.

[CME4BMWS]

Why is everyone so blind to what is really going on here? Major League Baseball, as well as the commissioner, CONDONES steroid use. Want me to prove it? If they were truly concerned about the drug abuse, they would have instituted a one strike rule with these steroids stories years ago. If it is proven beyond a shadow of a doubt that you participated, purchased, or used these performance enhancing drugs, you ARE GONE, PERIOD...with no chance of return, and/or no admittance to the BBHOF. But you know what? It ain''t gonna happen. Why? Because it''s all about the money. The owners demand more and more from the players. The players who aren''t taking the drugs, must then start, to stay competitive w/their counterparts, or lose their job, hence their living. MLB itself perpetuates this condition by looking the other way, to keep the money flowing, the owners happy, and the fans'' butts in the seats. It sucks, I know, but there is the truth. I am so sorry, not only for the little boy, but for all of us who can no longer enjoy the professional sports because of the thugs, the drugs, and the overall cesspool that these entities have become.

[The WB]

%u201CLook, Dad,%u201D he said, %u201Cthis guy hit fourteen home runs in 1999 and thirty-six in 2000. He might have been taking drugs. And this pitcher had, like, four wins in 2000 and fourteen in 2001. Do you think he was cheating?%u201D

What could I say? I have no idea if they were cheating or not.


A player improving _could_ be an indication that he''s in a better place psychologically, or his workouts are more effective. Unfortunately, the steroid scandal will likely taint _every_ player''s improvement, even the legitimate ones, with an air of illegitimacy.

[edward1975-2009]

Throw each and everyone of the cheaters out of baseball. Let them go find a 9-5, maybe then the rest will appreciate the game and all the "perks" that come from that level of play. Let the game be more important then the players again. Let the competition between true athletes be the story.

Kaelinda, these "athletes" that you are trying to protect with "innocent until proven guilty", the majority have already admitted, or their teammates, or their agents. This child has proven what so many people have thought about professional athletes, whether they want to be role models or not, THEY ARE. They should be held to higher standards, because of their exposure to, and admiration of children. They may deserve time in court to decide whether to jail them or not, but baseball''s court has already found them guilty.

[michellem99-2009]

I am female and I use to collcet baseball cards in the the 70s. I gave mine to a boy who lived next door when I moved years ago. Smart kid. Play ball drug free.

[kaelinda]

This little boy should also be taught that in America, a person is innocent until proven guilty. And if there is no proof of guilt, just the accusation alone can ruin an athlete''s reputation. Why should anyone believe Mitchell? What makes his word more reliable than any or all of the players? Who died and made him infallible? Let''s try to keep open minds and wait until all the facts are in instead of jumping to conclusions - if we jump to conclusions, we''re not always going to be proud of where we landed.

[excoachken]

I know it is the Holiday, but can''t we have a real story, not this drivel?

[mailrick-2009]

All so-called "professional" sports now are nothing more than corporations out to make money - by any means they can. Greed rules.

[antoniof123]

I like this kid, he has a great idea put all of them on the worthless list.

[briannorwood]

Attaboy, kiddo.

[vittlesr]

The writer makes a good point at the end. Are any of the athletes clean? Are the games fixed by the refs? If they are, just tell us, and we''ll know it''s professional wrestling, and decide whether we want to go on that basis.

And that kid better get a bigger binder if he''s gonna separate all of the steroid cards out.

[barbaraf4]

...and you''''re not relevant.... Posted by FloydZepp

Thank you! I never intended to be.

[rushlimpdrug]

By the way, someone may want to tell this kid how "Majic" Johnson got AIDS, and the records some of the other NBA stars have on the number of women they''ve sacked, and that great ref that could fix a game, etc..
Now that gives the father a whole lot of articles to write.

[piercetheval]

Basketball? It ain''t nothing but ping-pong! Baseball ****** itself out years ago when it started taking in players from other countrie. It''s an American game and there is enough talent in this country to field as many teams as they have. I want to see ''Yanks'' [U.S. citizens] playing the game. The kids I grew up with on the field. I don''t want to root for a Cuban, Guatamalean, Mexican, Serbian, Antartican etc. at the ball park. If you want an international game leave it to the Olympics or else have international ball games. Get rid of the ''Roid Heads and expunge their records from the other purists. Hank will always be the HR king to me and Ruth the HR King of the pre-war deadball era. Bonds and his ilk can cut bait

[rushlimpdrug]

I agree this is not news, it is actually stupid.

Wait till the kid finds out that in the NBA they don''t take drug tests because smoking marijuana is accepted by the players and front office.

I don''t expect the idiot father to tell his son this until the kid has collected hundreds of NBA cards and can write another sob story.