Mongy Ramirez and the Hall of Fame Question

By: T.R. Slyder, TRSlyder@yahoo.com

You know how some people preface their argument with, "I'm sorry but.."? I'm not one of those people.

I just read an ESPN poll that asked the question:

With the news of his suspension, does Manny Ramirez get your vote for the Hall of Fame?
A) Always had my vote
B) Doesn't have my vote anymore
C) Never had my vote

While I think that is a very good question, and the answer choices provided are good choices, I was disappointed in America's answers. 50% answered A, 31% went with B, and 20% chose C.I'm sorry but, 71% of those answers are not acceptable. C is indefensible and A is not much better.

If Mongy has cloudy piss, and you still put him in the Hall, then what is the point of testing? If you believe in science, then you necessarily believe that Mongy cheated. For those that voted for option A, I think their rationale is something like this, "He may have flunked one test, but that doesn't prove he cheated for years on end. He passed numerous tests and for all we know, he could have taken a banned drug one time. That shouldn't erase a career's worth of work". Believing that statement is a perversion of logic. No one can deny that steroid tests have historically been rife with false-negatives (e.g. a guilty player taking a designer steroid that the tests cannot detect, resulting in a passed test), but who believes there are any false positives? If you believe in false positives, then the testing process has no legitimacy whatsoever.

What perplexes me is why do so many people feel that players are entitled to be in the Hall of Fame? If you believe cheaters belong in the HOF, what's the point of having a Hall of Fame? In response to the Mongy apologists who claim, "One failed test should not ruin a career's work" I say this, "You are wrong. It absolutely should." Much like I'm unable to prove that one flunked test doesn't necessarily mean there was a lifetime of cheating, apologists cannot prove that he did NOT cheat for a career. Positive tests create doubt, and the Hall of Fame should be doubt free. I could not care less if no player is inducted into the HOF for the next 15 years, the point of the HOF is to honor the best of the best, with the honesty of their achievements being assumed in the definition of "best of the best".

Already, I can anticipate the criticism to my argument- I claim we must have faith in testing, yet I am willing to discredit all of Manny's previously passed tests. According to my line of rationale, Manny's positive test should prove that he started taking steroids sometime after his last negative test, right? Wrong.

Mongy tested positive for a female fertility hormone, a banned substance (hCG) that is used after a steroids cycle to kickstart one's system into making its own testosterone again. No rational athlete would take such a system-jarring drug like that, especially if it were banned, if they were not taking steroids. An ESPN article states:

Ramirez's case was set off when a test in spring training revealed he had elevated levels of testosterone in his body. MLB followed up with a more comprehensive test that confirmed the testosterone had to come from an artificial source, the sources said........The hCG use, a doping expert told ESPN, would have been separate from the use of the artificial testosterone reflected by MLB's testing.

So in the Spring he had too much testosterone, and a recent test confirmed he still had artificial testosterone in his system that was different than the kind of testosterone found in the Spring. That defeats the theory that Mongy was a one-time user. Does that prove he had used performance enhancing drugs in any previous season? No, but it proves he is a cheater; by definition, cheaters cannot be trusted. So if you want to take your kids to the Hall of Fame, pay $16.50 to get in, shouldn't you not have to hope that the inductees' statistics are legitimate?

Would you pay to go to an art museum if you knew that all of the works were forgeries? What if only some were forgeries, but you weren't sure which? I'm in favor of removing all doubt. Mongy Ramirez has raised such doubt.