3 MVP trophies, 653 career home runs, a .300 career average and the most grand slams in baseball history. Without the name you might say this baseball player is a surefire Hall of Famer. However, Alex Rodriguez is one of the most despised players in the history of Major League Baseball (MLB).
In 2009, Rodriguez admitted to steroid use, starting in 2001 and lasting through 2004. During the span he took steroids, can anyone guess the punishment that was bestowed upon those who were caught? If you answered there was no punishment, then you would be correct. MLB adopted a policy in 2002 where players caught would only need to go to treatment. This policy lasted until 2005 when first time offenders would be suspended. If you go through the timeline of events, Rodriguez used performance enhancing drugs while they were still tolerated under MLB rules, so what’s the problem?
The problem is that Alex Rodriguez is an easy person to dislike. He is the only player in MLB history to get two contracts over $250 million. We all would love to have that kind of money and there is no doubt that using steroids helped him earn some of it. But the question is wouldn’t you do the same?
Flash forward to 2013: Rodriguez was suspended for 211 games due in part to his involvement in the Biogenesis Scandal. One would imagine if he was suspended for that amount of time he tested positive for steroids, but you would be wrong. Reports surfaced that he tried to buy documents from Biogenesis that had his name on it connecting him, but is that suspendable?
Now that he is involved in a scandal in which they can suspend him for his prior use, they are trying to throw the book at him. It is easy to see that since MLB was late on the steroid front, they want to punish a huge name in Rodriguez. MLB has no one to blame but themselves on being late to the party on the steroid accusation front. Rodriguez did nothing wrong. He used the rules to his advantage and made the most of it.