David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez

Originally posted by Melanerpes
I agree -- because of the recent crackdowns, baseball is probably MUCH cleaner today than basketball and football.

Umm...why should a little 50-game suspension stop anyone? It's not like ManRam lost his contract or anything. If they want to get serious about stopping 'roiding, they need to start hitting these guys in the pocketbook.

Despite the ostensible outrage, nobody really wants to stop 'roid use - fans loved stuff like the McGwire/Sosa HR race. They loved it when Barry Bonds routinely knocked home runs in the drink in San Francisco. Fans don't want the players to stop cheating; they just want them to do it more smartly so that they can have the illusion of fair play without sacrificing the excitement of more power hitting.

I may not speak for everyone but I certainly do want players to stop cheating. I do not think that performance enhanced muscled up guys are even entertaining and their accomplishments replace the memories of our legitimate stars.
Sosa and McGwire clearly cheated; their race is a blemish on the game. I would like to see records given back to their rightful owners and we can celebrate Aaron/ Roger Maris.

The main deterrence is what it does to a player's legacy. The cheaters will always have to answer questions about why they cheated, and will never be able to reflect on their accomplishments without someone saying CHEATER!!!

And the pocketbook gets hit really hard when it comes to endorsements. How many companies are going to pay these guys anything to hawk their products? Who's going to pay these guys to make appearances?

And if someone who tests positive becomes a free agent, teams are going to be wary about giving a lot of money to someone whose stats might drop sharply because they're no longer using steroids.

It's probably true that Manny doesn't care about any of this stuff - but that would just be more Manny Being Manny.