This Era?

I recently heard this response from well-respected baseball analyst Tim Kurkjian when asked how he will decide whether today's players are worthy of being elected Hall of Famers, "Obviously, this era will always have an asterisk over it so...." He went on to say something about evaluating each guy on a case by case basis, but it really didn't matter. I was most struck by his initial words...this era.

Eras and time periods in history for the most part have a distinct beginning and end...we know specifically when World War II began and ended, we know the dates of the George W. Bush Presidency, we know the exact length of a professional athlete's career, but are we ever really going to know when needles began to be substituted for weights, will we ever know when the doctors at last can't outsmart the tests, will a would be Hall of Famer who has never found himself under a cloud of suspicion ever freely admit his guilt.

I don't think in baseball, the words "sure-fire Hall of Famer" will ever be comfortably spoken again. There's just too many questions, too many smoking guns, too many Jose Canseco books. The sport of baseball has always been ripe with cheaters...sign stealing, scuffed balls, spit balls, corked bats, pine tar and greenies, but steroids have consumed us, made us hate who we once loved, ripped our hearts out like an old girlfriend. I think it's time to admit that sports have always been about getting an advantage anyway one can and that steroids are merely today's example of that. Right now someone with a PhD in a distant lab is crafting the next performance enhancing drug and a second drug to cover that first drug up, and there's nothing you or I or baseball can do about it.

So yes...baseball, Bud Selig, Donald Fehr and a slue of super sluggers forever damaged the integrity of the game, but was there ever truly any integrity to begin with. Let's commit ourselves to enjoying the game for what it is and admitting that we may eventually find out when the Steroid Era first began, but we will never, ever know for sure that it has ended. Our Hall of Fame and our hero's of the diamond are both tainted, but that doesn't mean it has to taint our love for the peanuts, the crackerjacks and of course, routing for the home team.